450: CA Surrogacy Scandal, David Prevatte, Sandra Birchmore & Baby Angelita Updates

Join Annie as she breaks down what’s happening in true crime this week.

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

• 1:37Speaker 00

  Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all new episode of Serial Asleep with me, your host, Annie Elise. Happy Thursday. Lots going on this week, lots to discuss. I hope you're having a good week so far. It's Thursday, so for any new listeners, Thursday is basically the day where instead of a deep dive, we go through everything that is happening this week in the true crime world. The segment is called headline highlights because that is what it is. We highlight different headlines and what is going on. And then the deep dives, of course, came out on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Monday on this feed, Tuesday on the tend to life feed, which is my second true crime podcast feed. And in case you missed any of those,

• 2:22Speaker 00

  there's actually two big deep dives that came out earlier this week. The first being here on this feed, on the Serial Asleep feed, Krista Pike, not only talking about the botched execution, everything that went wrong, what this means going forward, but more into the actual backstory of what sentenced, what she did to be sentenced to death and to be sentenced to execution. Because so many people I think are getting not confused, that's the wrong word. They're getting lost in everything regarding the failed execution that there, in my opinion, there hasn't been enough highlighted on why she was even executed to begin with, or attempted to be executed and what that crime was that she did. And it's a horrific one. We talked

• 3:06Speaker 00

  about it a little bit last week. 300 stab wounds, a carving of a pentagram, eating breakfast with a piece of the skull from her victim as like some sort of sick twisted trophy. So in the deep dive on Monday, went into the full backstory of that case so that you really have a full understanding as to why she was even sentenced to death. Then on Tuesday, on the tend to life feed, deep dive into the Thomas Randolph case, which I'm sure many of you have been seeing on Netflix. If you're a Netflix watcher, it's called The Widower, and I think it's like number three on Netflix right now. But of course, like Netflix loves to do, they left out so much footage, a lot of weird interrogation and so many details.

• 3:48Speaker 00

  So did a whole, you know, what Netflix missed, what they left out in the full backstory deep dive on Tuesday. And now we are here today on Thursday. And like I said, lots to talk about because there are a lot of cases, couple updates to cases, and just things to get us going. So without further ado, I would like to welcome my co-host today, someone you have never met before, someone who is straight from the club right now, Amy Collette, in your leather pants.

• 4:17Speaker 03

  My leather pants. I know, I am kind of in club wear.

• 4:21Speaker 00

  You are in club wear, like the mock neck, the leather pants.

• 4:25Speaker 03

  Well, I'm in a mock neck to hide. It's laser season, so.

• 4:29Speaker 00

  It is laser season. You look great. You look great.

• 4:34Speaker 03

  I'm copying you.

• 4:35Speaker 00

  I know. We're just, it's laser season, guys. So if you don't know that, that means in the winter, if you're ever going to do skincare, now is the time to do it because you get to be bundled, you get to be cozy inside, you're not like out in the sun, which will reverse the effects. So don't judge.

• 4:50Speaker 03

  It's what happens when you live in California.

• 4:51Speaker 00

  You want glass skin? You gotta put in the work. Okay, so today, let's get into these updates. Actually, I have a note right here in my notes. Before we get into the updates, we're doing a Patreon giveaway. Yay. So wow. I feel like I just sounded like dad. Yay.

• 5:11Speaker 03

  It sounded like a cartoon, kind of.

• 5:14Speaker 00

  I'm excited about it. Can you not tell? I'm excited about it. All right, let's see what this giveaway is. Okay, we're doing a Patreon giveaway, and we are giving away a mix of, ooh, new merch and vault style merch, items that are not coming back. So if you have been wanting to get your hands on some of our old best seller pieces that we have kept in the vault, or some of our new pieces that you want to add to your collection, now is the time. Head on over to Patreon, enter the giveaway. All you have to do is be an official True Crime BFF member or higher. Entries close Friday at noon Pacific, so make

• 5:54Speaker 00

  sure you get in before the deadline and get your free merch. Get your merch on. What's that song? Get your, not get your freak on, hold on. It's like, get your, not get your merch on. Jess, do you know what song I'm talking about? Get your. Get your eagle on.

• 6:14Speaker 03

  I was gonna say, get your freak on.

• 6:15Speaker 00

  Get your eagle on, girl.

• 6:19Speaker 00

  Is that a real song?

• 6:21Speaker 03

  Are we that dated?

• 6:23Speaker 00

  What does that even mean?

• 6:24Speaker 03

  Are you making this up also? Is this even a song?

• 6:28Speaker 00

  Get your eagle, no, like get your, it's on the tip of my top, whatever.

• 6:36Speaker 00

  By trouble funk?

• 6:37Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 6:38Speaker 00

  What is, what does, what does one mean when they say get your eagle on?

• 6:45Speaker 00

  You never know. All right. Well, get your eagle on. Yeah, get your eagle on. All right. So with that being said, let's jump into today's cases. And I actually do want to kick off today's headline highlights with an update in a case, one that, I don't know, I feel really about this case because we've been talking about it for the last few weeks in headline highlights. It's the baby Angelita case. And last week, there was a good update. The 14 year old girl was rescued. Her father was arrested. The mother was also being charged with something, but we weren't sure what. And if you remember, it's the case where

• 7:24Speaker 00

  newborn infant was found on the side of the road deceased, and the father and his 14 year old daughter fled. And it was alleged that he had been sexually assaulting her, that the baby was a product of incest. They then killed the baby to cover it up, and then he went on the run with her. But like I said, last week, we announced that he was arrested. She has been safely found. However, more information has now come out. And I might end up doing a deep dive into this case because I have it pieced out in so many past episodes. And you know how I am, I'm a little type A in the sense that I want all of the updates in one area, or all the details about the case in one area. So let me know if you do

• 8:07Speaker 00

  want a deep dive into this. But like I said, I know last week, we started with some good news in this case. But unfortunately, now it has taken a little bit of a turn. Because now we have some absolutely horrifying new details in the baby Angelita case. And this is coming like right out of our backyard here in California. And I just want to warn you, some of these details, not even some, all of these details are extremely disturbing. When I was first hearing about it, I think it was at the tail end of last week, maybe it was over the weekend, I couldn't even believe what I was hearing in this press conference, to where I had to go back and like, am I really hearing this right? Is this really what they are describing? So during a press conference on October 8th,

• 8:49Speaker 00

  investigators revealed that they believe that the newborn that they had found on the side of the road in Monterey County was actually run over by a car, and that the car was driven by this newborn's own mother, 14 year old Diana Ortega, and that this was shortly after giving birth on August 1. And when they went into the details of this, again, I know I already gave you a warning, but I want to give you another warning because it is probably one of the most gruesome things that I have heard of a mother doing to a child in order to get rid of the baby. I'm talking worse than Alexi Traviso, worse than Lakin Snelling,

• 9:33Speaker 00

  worse than Megan Boswell. While all of it is bad, yes, this is just so.

• 9:41Speaker 00

  Evil. I don't even know what other word to describe it. And while I say that, I also am torn a little bit because I understand that this girl is 14 years old, was sexually assaulted by her father. I would imagine a lot of this was at his instruction as well. But let me just tell you. So baby Angelita was found with, quote, "extensive crushing injuries", and she was found lying in the path of the tire tracks in blood-soaked dirt, which led the detectives to believe that she had been moved from where she was born, which was likely right there on the side of the road, then moved to underneath the car tire before the car drove away. And when they were describing this, as we know, baby Angelita was found

• 10:24Speaker 00

  on the side of the road. So what they were saying is that they think that Diana gave birth off the side of the highway in the dirt, you know, kind of how like there's brush and dirt that is on either side of the highway, or either side of the road, that she gave birth there, then carried the baby over to where the car was parked, placed the baby under the tire, got in the car, drove away, quite literally smashing this newborn infant. The car was also caught on surveillance footage, and investigators pretty quickly traced it back to the girl's parents, Sergio Perez and Ofelia Ortega. Then, while they searched the family's home two days later, they actually found Diana hiding underneath a pile of clothing.

• 11:07Speaker 00

  Now, during an interview separate from her parents, Diana told the detectives that she had given birth after having a sexual relationship with a teenage boy. But it was about to get way more complicated than that. And I want you to take a listen to this press conference first, before I give you those details.

• 11:23Speaker 04

  The 14-year-old was interviewed in a comfortable setting outside the presence of her parents, where she could speak freely. She said she had a sexual relationship with an unidentified juvenile male, and later gave birth. She added she had not received any medical attention. Immediately, a separate sexual assault investigation was opened. Due to her age and concerns for her physical well-being, as we, as investigators believe that she had recently given birth, she was transported to the hospital by detectives. At that point in time, there was no indication, such as disclosures from the 14-year-old or her mother, that her father, meaning the 14-year-old's father, was also the father of baby Angelita,

• 12:08Speaker 04

  or had in any other way abused the 14-year-old.

• 12:11Speaker 00

  So when the DNA results came back, the investigators actually discovered that the baby's father was not a teenage boy. The baby's father was Diana's father, Sergio. Text messages between Diana and Sergio showed that Diana was actively hiding her pregnancy from her mom, and she had texted her father Sergio about four hours after she gave birth, saying that she, quote, "couldn't hold it in anymore, and the baby came out", and that because of that, her mom was going to see. She also went on to say that she thought that her mom would kill her. She said that the baby also was very big. Then, when the investigators were scrubbing the digital devices, investigators found searches on her

• 12:51Speaker 00

  phone about hiding or, quote, "terminating a pregnancy", including a search which read, "What happens if the cops find a newborn baby from a minor?", which they say that Diana searched that about four hours after she gave birth, which was right around the time that she also texted her father. And like we talked about last week, Sergio then fled to Mexico with Diana after the baby was found, where he was eventually then arrested, and she was rescued, and we talked about that last week. So now, he's awaiting extradition on multiple charges, including incest and sexual offenses involving a minor. And as I said at the top of this segment, Diana's mother, 36-year-old Ofelia Ortega, has also

• 13:32Speaker 00

  now been arrested. However, what's interesting is she has not been arrested or charged in connection with the sexual assault, the murder, or any of that, which I think is very interesting, because to me, that leads me to believe that maybe she didn't know about the sexual assault that was going on inside the home. We know that Diana said that she was scared that her mom was going to find out, that she was going to kill her, which, why she would think that this is her fault, I would imagine that's a thought that Sergio put in her head. But what her mom was actually arrested on was being accused of using forged documents to put Diana to work in agricultural fields. And that started back when Diana was only 13 years old. She's also accused of forging documents, allowing her to drive without

• 14:16Speaker 00

  a license, and also keeping Diana out of school. So she's now facing felony forgery-related charges and misdemeanor charges related to child endangerment and delinquency. And I think that this is interesting, because on one hand, you could argue she didn't know what was going on inside the house, and that that is evident in the text messages that Diana was sending to her father, talking about how fearful she was that her mom was going to find out. However, the fact that she was sent to work, she wasn't in school, was she not in school because they were worried that she would disclose something, or that somebody would notice something? Was it strictly so that she could be a workhorse for them and make them money? I think there's a lot of different things that are open to

• 14:59Speaker 00

  interpretation here, and the why behind all of it. But where I'm conflicted, and I'm curious to know your thoughts, Amy, obviously, it is a whole new kind of level of evil to give birth and put the child under the tire and drive off. It's tough, though, when you talk about a 14-year-old girl who has been groomed and sexually assaulted by her father, and is keeping secrets, seemingly from her mom, and doesn't have friends because she's not going to school, doesn't have a teacher looking out for her, and her mind is probably so warped. And what really was known inside that house, I don't know. I, like, because I know that she needs to be held accountable in some respect, but she's also a victim in this. So like, I don't know.

• 15:43Speaker 03

  I mean, it, when you, I mean, anytime you talk about anything happening to a baby, it's devastating and unimaginable. And then you talk about something like this, I mean, as you were describing it, it's like, sometimes, I can't even believe the things that people are capable of. So, yes, there obviously needs to be a consequence. But then you think, this girl was really forced to grow up at a young age. I mean, not only with what was going on with her father, which that just kind of distorts your entire reality and your whole world. I mean, your parents are supposed to be your two safest trusted people. So like, to have that happening, and then you're not in school, like you said. So not only are you isolated, but you're not experiencing any of the joys that, like,

• 16:24Speaker 03

  children do. I mean, and then, now you're working, and who knows, are you, were you, like, being bred? Like, I mean, I don't know.

• 16:33Speaker 00

  Well, and that kind of brings me to my next question, is like, when did the sexual assault start? How young was she? Because I don't know if you're familiar with the Madeline Soto case, but it's very similar in the sense that Stefan wasn't the biological father, and I believe that her mother, Jen, knew what was going on. I believe that in my core. But I think that, from what we had seen, from when they did the data dump on the devices and all that, the grooming and the sexual assault had started at such a young age. But as she grew older and got her period, then, like you say, it's a mistake in the sense that nobody planned for a pregnancy to happen. They didn't expect it, because who knows how long before she hit puberty, this was going on. So, yeah, and I think

• 17:16Speaker 00

  you said too, was she, like, bred to be this workhorse child servant, almost, to her parents, to whatever they needed? I would imagine he took her because he didn't want her to, like, say anything once the DNA results came back and once the baby was found. But then, that brings me to a question to the mom, Ofelia, what was she, if she didn't know about the sexual assault happening?

• 17:38Speaker 03

  That's what I mean. Like, what were you thinking? Your husband and daughter just fled? And like, what would be the reason? That's why I was, something, there's definitely a lot of questions there.

• 17:46Speaker 00

  There are a lot of questions. So, I know I said, let me know if you want me to do a deep dive, but I think I'm gonna do a deep dive.

• 17:52Speaker 03

  Sounds like there's a deep dive coming.

• 17:53Speaker 00

  I have too many questions. I need to get into this. I'm actually gonna make a note right now. Um, yeah, we're gonna work on this deep dive, because there is a lot, I feel like, that is still out there in terms of questions. And I guess it's tough, too, because who knows how much information I'll be able to dig up, given that she's a minor. But I think we could probably start piecing some things together.

• 18:13Speaker 03

  Well, and do they, should she have siblings?

• 18:16Speaker 00

  It's just devastating, the whole thing. And yeah, why was her mom pulling her from school and making her work in fields and forging her identification? And...

• 18:24Speaker 03

  Yeah. What was the dynamic in the home?

• 18:26Speaker 00

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• 20:55Speaker 03

  Well, the next one is also one that is disgusting and horribly sad. And it's one that I think you probably have seen, like a lot of people have been messaging you about it.

• 21:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 21:06Speaker 03

  So I guess maybe a deep dive might be coming as well on this.

• 21:09Speaker 00

  Another one. Deep dives for all. One for all. It's like Oprah, you get a deep dive. You get a deep dive.

• 21:14Speaker 03

  There's been so much craziness lately.

• 21:16Speaker 00

  No, I know. And it's like, again, I'm so type A. I need to do the deep dive because I feel like I need to know every single thing about it.

• 21:22Speaker 03

  And I mean, there is so much more information that keeps coming out.

• 21:25Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 21:25Speaker 03

  Speaking of which, this one dates back to 2017 and it's the case of David Privat. A North Carolina man who's currently on trial for the sexual assault and murder of his five year old niece Peyton Fields. Now, this is a case we're talking, goes back nine years ago, but it's now just finally going to trial. So this goes back all the way to November 13th, 2017. When medical staff at Pender Memorial Hospital in North Carolina contacted the sheriff's office around six o'clock in the morning about a five year old little girl who had been brought into the emergency room in critical condition. Her name was Peyton Fields and according to police records, she'd been sexually assaulted and strangled.

• 22:05Speaker 03

  Her injuries were so bad that when she first got to the hospital, she was completely limp and had no vital signs. Meaning doctors couldn't find a measurable heartbeat and she wasn't breathing on her own. Now they eventually did get Peyton stable enough to be transported to a hospital that was better equipped. She was transferred to New Hanover Regional Medical Center. However, just a few days later, she tragically passed away from her injuries on November 16th. Her autopsy ultimately confirmed that she had been strangled to death and had been the victim of sexual assault. So obviously at that point, this case had gone from bad to worse. They had a sexual assault, a strangulation, and now a murder. But the sheriff's office was pretty tight lipped about what they were finding.

• 22:48Speaker 03

  And after a few weeks in the community, as you could imagine, the community was just starting to get extremely frustrated. And all kinds of rumors started circulating. They're speculating about what happened. And eventually on December 8th, the sheriff's office released a statement. But basically, they didn't really say much. What they said is that they understood the people wanted answers, but that they needed to protect the investigation. They also assured the public that they were staying in contact with Peyton's immediate family and were keeping them updated of everything. But that they weren't willing to really say much else and believe that it was an isolated incident and that nobody else needed to be concerned about their safety in the community. But then fast forward just six months later to June 2018.

• 23:32Speaker 03

  Investigators finally gave a clear picture of what they were looking at. And more specifically, who it is that they were looking for. Because on June 22nd, 2018, Peyton's uncle, David Privat, was publicly identified as a suspect in her murder. And not because he had actually been charged with killing her. Instead, David had threatened the life of the investigator working on Peyton's case, which ultimately made them believe that he had something to do with it. And here's where things got interesting because David was already behind bars at the time. He had been arrested in April of 2018 on a completely set of unrelated charges, including intimidating a witness, breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, and burning a building under construction.

• 24:17Speaker 03

  And he was only around 19 years old. And apparently while he's sitting in jail, he decided to make some pretty serious threats against the detective investigating his niece's murder while on a recorded jail line. Which, when I saw that, I'm like, are you effing kidding me? Who does that? According to arrest warrants, on April 28th, David called his mother Lisa Hunt from jail and told her that when he got out, the investigator had quote, "got it coming to him." And that he would probably end up going right back to jail. He also had said that the investigator was quote, "coming to an end." So obviously very incriminating statements. Why would you ever say that on a recorded line? I have no idea. Obviously an idiot.

• 24:57Speaker 03

  Now David gave a jailhouse interview when he was first named a suspect and he denied having anything to do with Peyton's death. He actually said that he was the person who had found her unresponsive and apparently having a seizure in the morning and rushed her to the hospital. And he said that the fact that he had tried to help her and was the one that found her should be proof that he was innocent, which I felt the exact opposite.

• 25:21Speaker 00

  How, yeah. How many times are people like, I found the body.

• 25:24Speaker 03

  At 6:00 AM when she happened to be having a seizure, but then we brought her in and she was limp and

• 25:29Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 25:30Speaker 03

  appeared to be assaulted.

• 25:31Speaker 00

  That doesn't mean you're innocent.

• 25:32Speaker 03

  Exactly. And despite being publicly named as a suspect, David wasn't charged with anything related to Peyton's murder at that point. Investigators didn't even have enough evidence to move forward. So he just remained as a suspect while the case stayed open. He eventually served 10 months on those unrelated charges and then was released in January of 2020. And that's pretty much where everything stood for the next few years. Nobody had been charged with Peyton's murder. And although investigators suspected David was responsible, they still needed the evidence to be able to prove that. But around 2020, 2021, the North Carolina State Crime Lab started using DNA analysis software and investigators were able to go back in and reexamine that physical evidence from Peyton's case.

• 26:17Speaker 03

  And when they did, they found David's DNA on the pair of earbuds that investigators believed were used to strangle Peyton. So on February 4th, 2022, more than four years after her death, the Pender County Sheriff held a press conference announcing that David Privat had finally been charged with first degree murder, first degree statutory rape and first degree statutory sex offense. David was arrested in Louisiana and was held on a $1 million bond. And since then, he's stayed in jail awaiting trial, which means he's now been in custody for over four years. So David's trial began on September 28th and it's been a pretty normal trial. But there's been two things specifically that have been getting people talking.

• 27:01Speaker 03

  The first is the way that David's been acting. The way he's been spending his time in the courtroom, blowing kisses to people, smirking at the cameras, reacting to testimonies. It's kind of been overall just very animated, which in a courtroom, especially in the middle of murder trial, doesn't really land well. The other thing that people are talking about actually happened on Monday of this week. When David's rape charge was dropped mid-trial. And this actually goes back to that DNA evidence. The judge ruled that the state didn't have enough evidence to support both necessary requirements for that charge. So he dropped it all together. Primarily because his DNA wasn't found anywhere on her that would suggest he was the one who sexually assaulted her.

• 27:45Speaker 03

  And her DNA wasn't found on him when they swabbed him. So now he's just looking at that one murder charge. And I know we just wanted to get the detail of Peyton's story out there because a lot of you have been asking about it. But like I said, there's going to probably be a deep dive coming because it sounds like as the trial moves on, there will be more information.

• 28:03Speaker 00

  Yeah. And I think that a lot of people are split right now based on what he did, what he didn't do. Especially now that the DNA evidence was like, or the rape charge was thrown out because of the lack of DNA evidence. I think people are like, so did he really not do it? Did he do, like, a lot of people are torn. So I don't know. It's pretty divided out there.

• 28:22Speaker 03

  That was kind of my question to you is like, the way it was kind of worded was, was it dropped because on a technicality and it just didn't?

• 28:30Speaker 00

  I think just lack of evidence.

• 28:31Speaker 03

  Touch on both, or was it that he actually wasn't there?

• 28:35Speaker 00

  No, yeah, I think just lack of evidence.

• 28:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:37Speaker 00

  I don't know. It's rough.

• 28:39Speaker 03

  I would imagine for their family, it's like they've waited all this time.

• 28:43Speaker 00

  I know.

• 28:44Speaker 03

  Now it's this charge is being dropped midway through, and that's a roller coaster. I can't even imagine.

• 28:50Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, speaking of trials, this next case is one that has been all over my feed once again. It's one that we have covered extensively years ago, and again, did a more recent deep dive back in, gosh, when was it? 2025, I think. And it's the case of 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore. Because Matthew Farwell is officially on trial. And to give you a little bit of backstory in this, Sandra was only 12 years old when she joined the Stoughton Police Explorers Program in Massachusetts. And then a couple of years later, she met an officer through the program named Matthew Farwell. He was a police officer who worked at the program. He worked, you know, patrol, all of the different things.

• 29:35Speaker 00

  And sometime shortly after they met, he had started messaging her online before allegedly starting a sexual relationship with her back in 2013. And she was only 15 years old when that started, which Matthew was a full grown man in his late twenties at that point. He was a cop. He was someone she should have been able to trust, uh, trust because she was in this explorers program. And I can't remember if the explorers program was for not at-risk youth, but troubled youth. No, I think I'm misremembering that. But my point being, he was somebody that she definitely should have looked to for guidance and trust, and he absolutely preyed on her and groomed her.

• 30:14Speaker 00

  But in my deep dive, it goes way farther than just him. Like, there was so much bad behavior with all of these men involved. And it seemed like it was really just their own personal praying ground. It disgusting. So they were having this sexual relationship from 2013 to 2020, about seven years. And in that time period, he also got married. So he was cheating on his wife pretty much the entire time. But then, according to prosecutors, not only did the relationship continue for years, but in late 2020, Sandra decided that she wanted to have a baby. So prosecutors allege that Matthew agreed to get her pregnant in exchange for her keeping quiet about the relationship and his affair.

• 30:58Speaker 00

  Because as I said, he was married. So one of these things where, okay, I'll appease you. I'll give you a child, but you can't tell anyone we're doing this. You can't, I don't want you to disrupt my family life, my marriage, or anything like that. So by December, Sandra told him that she was pregnant and that he was the father. However, in January of 2021, one of Sandra's friends reported the inappropriate relationship to the police. And then, just weeks later, on February 4th, Sandra was found dead inside her apartment. There was a duffel bag strapped that had been wrapped around her neck, and it appeared on the surface to investigators that she had taken her own life. So her death was initially ruled a suicide.

• 31:38Speaker 00

  However, in 2024, an independent pathologist that was hired by her family determined that she had actually died from strangulation. So Matthew was arrested by the FBI that August, and he was charged in connection with her death. And at the time, it was suspected that he killed her because he didn't want her to have the baby. And there to be DNA testing that would then trace back to him that would expose not only his affair, but the underage relationship, the predator nature of him being a cop and him preying on Sandra and grooming her and all of these things. So now he's on trial. And prosecutors allege that Matthew had murdered Sandra, all to keep their relationship quiet,

• 32:16Speaker 00

  while the defense is saying that she did in fact take her own life after he ended things with her and told her that the baby wasn't his. Interestingly enough, too, because everybody thought that the motivation in all of this was that he was trying to silence her, keep the relationship from being exposed, keep the baby from being exposed that it was his. Everybody thought, myself included, oh yeah, she was pregnant from him. She was in love with him. And she wanted to have his baby, and she was about to blow up his whole life. Well, interestingly enough, DNA testing in 2025 actually confirmed that Matthew was not the biological father of Sandra's child. So not that he murdered her for nothing, but kind of like he, I mean, obviously the relationship was being exposed.

• 33:01Speaker 00

  It was reported to the police, but maybe what he thought, maybe he thought he was the father and that he was covering that up. Well, the truth is, he wasn't the father. So Matthew has pleaded not guilty to all charges of killing a witness or victim, and also causing the death of an unborn child. However, if convicted on the first charge, he faces a mandatory life sentence. So arguments officially started on Tuesday of this week. The trial is expected to last about five weeks. So I will definitely keep an eye on it. I will keep you posted. I will link the deep dive here in the show notes for you. If you want to go back and just hear the whole backstory, how the dynamic was between the two of them, what the other cops involved did,

• 33:40Speaker 00

  the cover up, because there was a lot of bad behavior, like I said, and this is also very close to the Karen Reed situation. Shit show, I should say, and people covering up and being involved. And this actually got brought up in the Karen Reed trial too, because there were a couple of the same key players involved. So you can go listen to that deep dive, but I will certainly keep you updated here.

• 34:02Speaker 03

  You lost me at, it seems like a good idea to appease your mistress by allowing her to have a baby.

• 34:11Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 34:11Speaker 03

  If that doesn't scream evidence.

• 34:13Speaker 00

  I know, but like, just trying to make them happy, kind of how they say, well, get married, or yeah, we're having it, we'll start a family.

• 34:19Speaker 03

  Like, I'll get you pregnant?

• 34:20Speaker 00

  I know.

• 34:20Speaker 03

  I mean.

• 34:21Speaker 00

  That's just more evidence against you, idiot.

• 34:24Speaker 03

  And a responsibility for your whole life, and that poor baby. I mean, most importantly.

• 34:28Speaker 00

  Well, he obviously doesn't give a shit.

• 34:29Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 34:30Speaker 03

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• 35:32Speaker 05

  Hi, it's me, Your Gutters. I want to start by saying I'm fine. Everything is totally fine. There's just, there's a lot of debris up here, and I've been managing it mostly on my own for about eight months now. And I just thought maybe you could find someone on Angie to clean me up? You don't have to make it a whole thing. It doesn't need to be a whole thing. I just, I could really use your help.

• 35:57Speaker 03

  Your gutters have waited long enough. Find a pro at Angie.com.

• 36:03Speaker 03

  Well, unfortunately, this next case is another one dealing with babies, children. I mean, it's just, why is that all we're covering today?

• 36:11Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 36:11Speaker 03

  This is a really disturbing one, and it's coming out of Kentucky. On September 23rd, police in Pineville, Kentucky responded to a 911 call about a person found dead inside of a home. And when they got there, they discovered the body of a woman, 41-year-old April Barlow Cilio. Now, details have not been released yet about how exactly April died, but investigators quickly determined that she had been murdered. But it wasn't until the next day, when the medical examiner conducted an autopsy, that they discovered something even more awful. April had been pregnant when she died, but her unborn baby had been removed from her womb. And as investigators went back through the crime scene, they actually recovered what they believed to be the baby's remains.

• 36:55Speaker 03

  Now, I know you probably have a million questions, as I did too, but unfortunately, the police have been extremely tight lipped about the details of this case. They haven't said how April was killed, how her baby was removed, or even how far along in the pregnancy April was. We also don't know whether the baby was alive when it was taken from her. Now, as investigators started looking into who could have done something so absolutely horrific, their attention turned to a man named DeMarcus Johnson Wright, who was from Tennessee and apparently already had a very extensive criminal history. According to authorities, DeMarcus had several outstanding warrants in Tennessee for violent offenses,

• 37:37Speaker 03

  including allegations of aggravated robbery, kidnapping, domestic violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm. Investigators haven't said what led them to believe DeMarcus was a suspect, but just two days after April's body was discovered on September 25th, a judge in Kentucky issued warrants for his arrests on charges of first degree robbery and kidnapping. Then, on September 30th, additional warrants were issued, charging him with murder involving domestic violence and tampering with physical evidence. And by that point, investigators believed DeMarcus had fled Kentucky, and they eventually tracked him down in a home in Clarksville, Tennessee, which is more than 250 miles away from where April was killed.

• 38:20Speaker 03

  So that's when the US Marshals got involved, and around 11:00 PM on September 30th, a team of federal, state, and local officers arrested him at that residence. Investigators later searched the home and recovered what they described as evidence connected to April's murder, although they haven't said exactly what it is that they found. DeMarcus was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center in Tennessee, where he's being held while he awaits for extradition back to Kentucky. But here's the thing, we still don't know whether April and DeMarcus even knew each other or what their relationship even may have been, which was something that was really surprising to me. So we don't even know what his motive could have been. And like I said, police haven't said

• 38:59Speaker 03

  how they exactly what led them to DeMarcus, or why they think that he may be connected to April's murder in the first place. And while investigators are still trying to piece that all together, April's family is now trying to process a lot of that, which I can't even imagine. Not only did they lose April, but they lost her unborn baby. April was married to a man named Antonio, and she was a mother of three children who now have to grow up without their mother. Her sister spoke out about how April was someone they could always call, hug, and laugh with, and how difficult it has even been to understand how they're supposed to say goodbye to her. But she also talked about April's three children now who are left trying to understand why their mother was taken from them.

• 39:40Speaker 03

  And that's just what's so heartbreaking about this. They not only lost her, um, but they lost her unborn baby. And I'm, I'm curious to know about the details and what the connection might be. Because when I first was doing the research on this case, I thought perhaps the baby was DeMarcus's.

• 39:56Speaker 00

  Doesn't seem like it.

• 39:57Speaker 03

  Well, no, now and then to find out that she was married with three kids. So then I'm like, what would the motive be? And

• 40:03Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, my mind goes to a lot of dark places, but I don't want to really share that until we know anything. But yeah, what, yeah, what their connection was, what the motive was, which I'm sure they have. If, I mean, if they made the arrest, they have evidence. So I'm sure it's only a matter of time until we find out.

• 40:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:18Speaker 00

  So sad. Well, this next case has been all over my feed lately, and it is one that is super strange. And I will just say now, a deep dive is coming. But a couple in California is accused of abusing their own children, some of them as young as two months old. And while, yes, on its own, on the surface, that is horrifying enough. What makes this case even more bizarre is that the couple had 21 kids, most of whom were born through surrogates. Now, to understand how all of this unfolded, we have to rewind a little bit to May of 2025, when police in Arcadia, California, had been contacted by a local hospital about a possible case of child abuse.

• 41:02Speaker 00

  A two-month-old baby had been admitted with a traumatic head injury and was bleeding inside the skull. So the detectives started investigating what happened. That then led them to the family's home. And this wasn't just any type of home. We're talking about a massive mansion, a 10,000-square-foot home worth around $4 million. And honestly, looking at the photos of this property, it looks like a freaking castle. Like, it looks so huge. It had nine bedrooms, and according to neighbors, it was set up almost like a hotel. It had a lobby, individual suites, kind of like, not a bed and breakfast, but almost like that.

• 41:41Speaker 00

  I mean, I guess hotel is the best way to describe it, but certainly not just your warm cozy house. So detectives obtained a search warrant for the property, and they seized surveillance footage from inside the home. And when they reviewed it, they allegedly saw a nanny, 56-year-old Chunmei Li, violently shaking and hitting this two-month-old baby. Now, that had happened on May 5th of 2025, right before this baby was admitted to the hospital. And these hits were apparently so hard, it caused the infant to lose consciousness. Now somehow, according to the police, the baby's parents knew what had happened, but didn't immediately seek medical attention.

• 42:23Speaker 00

  Instead, they waited until the baby started having seizures, which was two days later, and then took the baby to the hospital. So on May 9th, arrest warrants were issued for the nanny, as well as the baby's parents, 65-year-old Guojun Xuan and 38-year-old Sylvia Zhang. The couple was arrested without incident, but Chunmei is still on the run to this day, the nanny. Totally left, you know, vanished and still is on the run. However, as detectives continued reviewing the surveillance footage after the arrests, they allegedly discovered that this wasn't just one isolated incident. Other nannies who were working inside the home also had been physically abusing the kids.

• 43:06Speaker 00

  And there were a lot of them living at this home. So obviously, because of that, the police contacted DCFS. And by July of that year, 21 children had been removed from the couple's care. 15 of them were taken away from the mansion itself, while another six had been found living somewhere else. And these children ranged in ages from just two months old to 13 years old. However, the majority of the kids were between one and three years old. Which, first of all, having that many kids under one roof is wild in and of itself. I mean, I think too, what, the Turpin family, they had what, 11, I think it was? I can't remember exactly, but like 21 kids.

• 43:49Speaker 00

  And I'm going to share in a little bit what I believe my, you know, what I think is really happening inside this house. But anyways, as news of the investigation spread, neighbors started coming forward with some pretty disturbing stories about what they had witnessed at the house. Several of them even said that they had actually called the police in the past because they were concerned about how the children were being treated. One neighbor said that the kids all looked very similar, that they always had shaved heads, and that they would sometimes be lined up together on the porch to use the bathroom. He also claimed that he had seen them being, quote, "physically disciplined" more than once. But according to the police, when the couple was asked why they had so many children, their explanation was pretty simple.

• 44:32Speaker 00

  They said that they just wanted a large family. So the two of them were ultimately charged with felony child endangerment and neglect. They pleaded not guilty, and they were each held on a $20 million bail, despite the DA seeking a $100 million bail for each of them. So now, fast forward to last week, when prosecutors revealed even more disturbing allegations about what had allegedly been happening inside that house. Also, the LA County District Attorney actually referred to this property as "a house of horrors." Prosecutors said that this wasn't just a situation where the nannies were abusing the kids behind the parents' back. They alleged that the parents were actually watching this abuse go down,

• 45:14Speaker 00

  and that they had hooked up a system of 32 surveillance cameras all throughout the home. And in some instances, they were even encouraging the abuse to happen. In one particular incident, prosecutors say that the father walked into a room that they called, quote, "the learning center," and he saw a nanny hitting a child. However, instead of stopping her, he allegedly told her to hit the child harder. Then he reportedly struck the child in the head multiple times with an open hand before lifting the child into the air by one arm. Later, when his attorney was asked about these allegations, he insisted that his client was innocent, and he claimed that he was only caught up in all of this

• 45:55Speaker 00

  because he was being targeted for exercising his constitutional right to have a big family. Sorry, that's not how it works. When you have surveillance footage and you have evidence on camera of him being a participant in the abuse, it's not his constitutional right to have a big family and that they're like, wrongfully targeting him. It has nothing to do with that. And the abuse allegations are only part of what makes this case so unusual. Because investigators also started looking into how this couple has ended up with so many children in the first place. And apparently, they actually operated their own surrogacy company, and they paid women from all over the country to have the kids for them. According to prosecutors, they allegedly lied to at least two women who had agreed to carry babies for them,

• 46:40Speaker 00

  telling them that Sylvia was struggling to conceive, and that's why they were hiring the surrogates. But once those 21 kids were removed from the couple's care, that wasn't the end of it. Because the two of them were, yeah, arrested, but at least five more babies were born into the family via surrogate. And they were born in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Those babies were also taken into state custody, although none are included in the criminal charges that have been filed in LA County, because they, of course, weren't born yet, so they weren't subject to the abuse inside that house, which, thank God for that. So as of right now, the parents are still in jail. At least one nanny, the one that is facing charges, is out on the run, and the case is spreading through the headlines like wildfire.

• 47:25Speaker 00

  And listen, this case has so many different elements to it that that's why I want to do the deep dive, because there are certain people involved who are talking, past surrogates who are talking. There's also what I believe the motivation was behind all of this. There are just so many different layers, so the deep dive is coming very soon. But I will just say this, based on them classifying certain rooms as the learning centers, what I believe may have been happening here, especially given that the majority of the children who were recovered, even though the range is aged from two months to 13 years old, and the majority were between one and three years old,

• 48:06Speaker 00

  I think that these kids were being bred to have American citizenship, and then being like corporal punishment and corporal learning and being sent back to China. That is what I think is happening, and that maybe they were sent back to either work there, to be obedient there. I don't know, and I'll, I go into more of this in the deep dive, but I certainly have a lot of thoughts as to what was going on inside that house and why the father was an active participant, why they had these, quote unquote, "learning centers," why there were so many nannies slash teachers, why, once they aged out at a certain point, they were then nowhere to be seen and sent off. There's a lot of things going on here.

• 48:49Speaker 03

  So I've, you know, I sent this the second I saw it, and I find this very interesting because right when I got into real estate in like 2011, it was a very random market, like distressed market. I was like cold calling, like desperate for clients, and I was getting an influx of calls from people overseas who wanted to rent homes that were distressed, and they were offering exorbitant amount of money. And they're like, we'll pay all cash, we'll pay the year upfront. They wanted big homes with a lot of bedrooms, a lot of bathrooms. And there was a language barrier, so oftentimes I would need to get people in to help. And like, my broker was like, this described exactly what you were saying.

• 49:34Speaker 03

  Like, this is what this is likely happening, and here's the documentation. And like, they could never really provide the adequate documentation. It was like more led with finances, but that's what they were doing. And they would bring in these surrogates and these nurses and have these birthing centers, is what they would call them. And it'd be sometimes eight, nine mothers at a time. And it was, I mean, rampant back then.

• 49:59Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 49:59Speaker 03

  And so when this came up, I thought, oh my gosh.

• 50:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 50:03Speaker 03

  I wonder, like, if there's going to be more, I would imagine, coming forward.

• 50:06Speaker 00

  Oh, absolutely. And all of the nannies, now, I'm sure, like I said, some of them are talking, some of the surrogates are talking. It's going to explode. And there, it's just, and can you imagine being that landlord of this home, assuming that they're renting it, which I would imagine they are? I would, maybe you don't know what's going on inside there, but I have a rental home, and I know what my tenants are doing. Yeah, and so it's like, at what point do you look at what's happening and then look at your other hand with the money that you're receiving and decide you're not going to report what you know is going on inside your home because you're getting such a large amount of money?

• 50:42Speaker 03

  A lot of people do that.

• 50:43Speaker 00

  It's

• 50:44Speaker 03

  It is wild.

• 50:46Speaker 00

  It is so sick and wild. I guess the theme of today was babies who are being wronged, right?

• 50:52Speaker 03

  Children and babies.

• 50:53Speaker 00

  Children being wronged, which

• 50:55Speaker 03

  By their own family.

• 50:56Speaker 00

  By their own family, which how the hell did that happen?

• 50:58Speaker 03

  That's

• 50:58Speaker 00

  But it's disgusting. So I know today's episode was definitely a more difficult one, guys. Thank you for tuning in. As a reminder, we are doing that Patreon giveaway, old vault styles of merch that will never come back, and also new merch, which, by the way, is coming very, very soon. So head on over to patreon.com/AnnieElise, check that out. Also, two previous deep dives this week, the one on Krista Pike and her whole backstory, what landed her in that execution chamber, and Thomas Randolph, the what Netflix left out, the widower, all of that. It's on this feed and also my second true crime podcast feed. If you're not following yet, go follow it, 10 to life. And until the next one, be nice, don't kill people, and stop hurting children.

• 51:43Speaker 00

  All right, bye.

• 51:56Speaker 03

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