Morbid - Episode 135: Ezra McCandless AKA Monica Mini Morbid

Episode Date: April 27, 2020

This tale is bananas. Ezra McCandless AKA Monica showed up bloodied and dazed on the door of a stranger, claiming someone she knew had tried to kill her. But a look closer revealed the woman ...bleeding on the doorstep might actually be the monster she claims to be running from. Skylight Now, as a special holiday offer, you can get $10 off your purchase of a Skylight Frame when you go Skylightframe.com and enter code MORBID. Stamps.com Right now, our listeners get a special offer that includes a 4-week trial PLUS free postage AND a digital scale without any long-term commitment. Just go to Stamps.com, click on the Microphone at the TOP of the homepage and type in MORBID.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:52 That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wonderypod or text wonderypod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. Angie's list is now Angie, and we've heard a lot of theories about why. I thought it was an eco-move. For your worst, guess paper. It was so you could say it faster. No way. It's to be more iconic.
Starting point is 00:01:12 Must be a tech thing. But those aren't quite right. It's because now you can compare up front prices, book a service instantly, and even get your project handled from start to finish. Sounds easy. It is. And it makes us so much more than just a list. Get started at Angie.com.
Starting point is 00:01:28 That's ANGI, or download the app today. Hey weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is a mini morbid. Little tiny small mini morbid. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini morbid. Mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbed. Mini mini mini mini mini more bed. Mini more bed. Mini more bed. Mini more bed. Mini more bed. And it's ash centric. I wrote this up and I was just like kind of like what's it called
Starting point is 00:01:55 like slap happy. And the title of my Google Doc is ash centric bitch. Ash centric bitch. Mini hashtag quarantine. Damn. I was having a day. You were having a day. It was having me a day. So we're not going to do too much business at the beginning of this, but like every other episode, we're going to say our shows quickly. And then we're going to start shouting out,
Starting point is 00:02:17 we're going to do 10 Patrons per episode. So, whoo, shows. June 2nd at the Good Night Comedy Club in Raleigh, North Carolina. We will be there either June 2nd at the Good Night Comedy Club in Raleigh, North Carolina. We will be there either June 2nd or another day. We will let you know June 3rd the Comedy Zone in Charlotte, North Carolina, you two Charlotte, Sunday or another day. October 11th two shows in Chicago at Talia Hall. I feel like those are going to happen and I'm very excited about them.
Starting point is 00:02:45 I think so. July 8th at the Comedy Work South in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Colorado, you and your elevation, we're gonna be there. Yeah. I lost my place. July 11th at the Wilbur Theater in Boston.
Starting point is 00:03:01 Please, please, please. Come on, guys. We really want to do that guys. I want you to see the comedy stylings of Emily Walsh. I know. Well, either way, we'll have to, hopefully, even if it does have to get reset, we'll get her. If it's not happening, we'll reschedge. But make sure you're buying tickets either way because they'll be good for whatever day to happen. So buy up those tickets. All's August 11th, Philadelphia, punchline comedy club, see you then.
Starting point is 00:03:30 Philadelphia, we can't wait to see you because we missed you so much on the original day. So much. September 16th at the Washington, or in Washington DC at the DC improv, I do that every time. You do. Monuments, Can't wait to see him. Lit. Two shows are happening September 23rd in Nashville at Zayn East. Nashville. We're coming at you all over you. And last but not least, go road tide, go Eagles. Is it War Eagles? War Eagles. So 24th Huntsville, Alabama, stand up live yes Alabama let's get it and get it now for some
Starting point is 00:04:11 Patreons Patreons were you're excited this week we're starting with a Madonna Kristen Kristen so hot right now then Jill Austroro, sorry. Jill Austro. And then the next one, J. Gatsby. What up J. Gatsby? Thanks for being a Patreon. You know my favorite literary character, so I appreciate you donating. Sergeant Lexi is next. Sergeant Lexi.
Starting point is 00:04:43 Carly Miller. Carly Miller. Anna Kinzel, Anna Kinzel, Jenny Calwell, Jenny Calwell. Rachel, I'm so sorry if I thought I'd be your last name. I'm gonna say Pinchenko. Rachel Pinchenko, love you. Ashley Lauren. Ashley Lauren, two first names. Two first names also Lauren is my little sister's name so that was weird to write. Real weird Ashley and Lauren, also a clothing brand by and then last but not least is Tracy Crispin. Tracy Crispin. Thank you so much to our beautiful beautiful Patronuses. We fucking love you. More than you ever could imagine. We couldn't do any of this without you. Not a single bit of it. So we appreciate you so much. So March 22nd, 2018 in O'Clair, Wisconsin. This guy, O'Clair, isn't that fun to say?
Starting point is 00:05:40 Is it, what's the dessert? Is it an E-clair? Yeah, it's an E-clair. Okay, so this is Eau Claire a little bit different, but this guy Don Cippell is sitting down to eat dinner. It's 4.15 in the afternoon and he's having himself an early bird special. We love that. He's stoked and I love that. Then all of a sudden there's a pounding knock at his door and he's not so stoked anymore. Then all of a sudden there's a pounding knock at his door and he's not so stoked anymore. Uh-oh. He opens the door to find a young woman in completely torn clothing. Her clothing is covered in mud. She's bloody.
Starting point is 00:06:14 Her mouth has dry blood around it. She's barefoot. And he notices the word boy has been carved into her arm. I would take a second and then I feel like I might just close that door. You know you don't know what's gonna happen until you're in that situation because that's a lot to take in. I'm trying to put myself in that position and I'm like I might close that door and be like, I'm gonna finish my dinner. You know what, Ring didn't exist back then, so you couldn't see who was at the door. Now you can, so you can just pretend you couldn't just keep eating your dinner.
Starting point is 00:06:54 Yeah, you can just be a really bad Samaritan. Like, I really want to help everybody, but like, that's a situation. I don't know if I want to get involved. Yeah, I don't. That sounds terrible. Yeah, it's horrible. So she says she's been attacked obviously. Obviously. She's just sobbing and she's like really not talking.
Starting point is 00:07:14 She's mostly just sobbing and just saying how scared she is. So Don, he said on like a real note, I would help this girl. No, of course anybody would. I was totally being a dick before. No, I know. So Don obviously calls 911 ASAP and they're like, do you know her name? And he's like, hey, like what's your name?
Starting point is 00:07:30 And she's like, I don't know. I don't know. Like she's so freaked out. She doesn't even know her own name. Oh my god. And she keeps repeating, call Jason Mangle. Call Jason Mangle. Yes. So earlier that day, Jason was surprised at a coffee shop to see his ex-girlfriend Ezra. They used to hang out at this coffee shop all the time. It's called Racy D'Lene's Coffee Lounge. And it's in this little, like, oh, Claire's like a little college town.
Starting point is 00:07:59 It's like really like hipster. And like fun. And like, I feel like you can picture this coffee shop. Yeah, I definitely can. So he's surprised to see Ezra at this coffee shop for a lot of reasons. For one thing, they had exchanged 600 messages the night before, and she had never once mentioned that she was going to be in town. Oh, damn.
Starting point is 00:08:18 She had recently moved back home because their relationship ended, because of an affair that she had with a friend of theirs. Oh, so this friend was Alec Woodworth. He worked at the coffee shop. He was also a substitute teacher and he was like super into philosophy, like he was really, really into philosophy. Oh damn. So a lot had gone down after their relationship fell apart. Ezra actually accused one of Jason's friends of sexually assaulting her. Oh wow. She broke things off not only with Jason but also with Alex and she moved back home. Okay. So the sexual assault case was actually dropped because suggestive text messages were found between Ezra and Jason's
Starting point is 00:09:06 friend that it was like they kind of felt like maybe this wasn't a sexual assault and it was consensual and also Alex told police that Ezra expressed to him that what happened between her and Jason's friend was consensual but that she just regretted it. Ooh, messy, messy. Yeah, so already a lot is going down. Yeah. So Jason was surprised when Ezra told him that she was going to go see Alex to show him some of her writings. So Ezra's like this really artsy girl.
Starting point is 00:09:37 She drives a car that has all this artwork of hers that she's done on it. She likes to write, she likes to paint. She takes really cool pictures, like anything artsy as a reason to. She sounds rad. She does. She sounds really cool. So she says that she's going to go see Alex to show him some of her writing. So obviously she was upset with Alex after he told police that she wasn't actually sexually
Starting point is 00:10:02 assaulted. Yeah. So Jason's kind of like, that's weird that you want to go see him. And also, she had been telling Jason that they, she wanted to get back together with him. And she was like, everybody's been, all these men have been manipulating me, like they're trying to keep us apart. I want to be back with you. Like, this is everybody else's fault. I didn't do anything wrong. So he's like, why do you want to be back with you like this is everybody else's fall. I didn't do anything wrong So he's like why do you want to message? This is it's hard to follow like I'm stressed out just listening to this. I hope I'm doing a good job of being like this is the Sitch because it is it's a lot to follow you are so Jason he just didn't trust Ezra. He was like you know like
Starting point is 00:10:43 You're not so trustworthy anymore based on everything that's happened. And so she leaves the coffee shop and she's like, well, cool, I'm going to see Alex. Like see you later. Okay. And he, Jason becomes concerned because when he thinks back on like their exchange, she's like, when I saw her, she seemed like kind of aggravated and unhinged. And also I was already confused about why she was here and why she was trying to see Alex if she was so pissed at him and he was like quote unquote manipulative
Starting point is 00:11:09 and why she hadn't mentioned it and they're like discussed and why she was there. It's just weird. So he bikes all the way to Alex's house and he wasn't sure what to do when he got there so he just started pacing back and forth outside the house. He's like wicked stressed. He's like a lion literally like, I don't know what the fuss to start pacing. So he's pacing outside of the house and then finally he goes in. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham,
Starting point is 00:11:34 the host of Wondery's podcast American scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the kids for cash scandal, in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash scandal, a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend.
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Starting point is 00:12:18 and America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder App. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill? Or are they made to kill? I'm Candace DeLong and on my podcast Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon Music.
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Starting point is 00:13:22 Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. And he says he remembers that Alex and Ezra both seemed like they were talking about something really intense. And it seems like when he walked in, they put their masks on and they were like, nope, everything's good. Like we were talking, we were just having like a crazy argument or talking about something like crazy.
Starting point is 00:13:44 So the shady. We were just having like a crazy argument or talking about something like crazy. So, then as he's trying to get to the bottom of this, like what the fuck is going on, the police show up. Oh. Because somebody, a neighbor of Alex's, had seen Jason pacing back and forth outside and they're like, who the fuck is this dude? Like, they were like, what's going on? Some lion man is just pacing outside of your house. You've got to be like, I'm concerned for my neighbor because he's got a lot of visitors that seem a little intense.
Starting point is 00:14:09 It's a lot going on over there. So Jason ends up speaking to one officer and another officer speaks to Alex and Ezra together. So Alex and Ezra are talking to one guy, one officer and Jason's separately talking to another. Okay. Jason tells the police officer that he's speaking to that he's really worried about what's going on between Alex and Ezra.
Starting point is 00:14:31 He told them how Ezra's behavior was strange, how he was like, I don't really know what she's doing here. And I'm just genuinely concerned about the two of them, like, being together right now. Yeah. The other officer who ends up speaking with Alex and Ezra was pretty convinced that everything was fine And honestly there wasn't anything the police could really do. No assault has happened Yeah, you can't go based off feeling that something is gonna happen So they end up leaving and Jason
Starting point is 00:14:59 Talks to Ezra and Alex for a few more minutes and he's like well, there's nothing I can do either like I got to go So he ends up piecing out. So then Alex and Ezra decide that they're going to go for a drive together. Okay. So Alex says goodbye. He or excuse me, Jason says goodbye to Alex and Ezra and they go on their drive. Okay. Unfortunately, that's the last time that Jason saw Alex alive. Oh So After Jason left as our analytics alive. It's the last time he saw Alex alive. Oh So after Jason left Ezra and Alex go for their drive and then later that day It's Ezra who ends up on Don Cipoll's doorstep saying that she's been attacked. So she's the girl from the beginning. Oh, that's what I was thinking I was like, oh man. So intrigue.
Starting point is 00:15:51 Intrigue. So she says she's been attacked and eventually she ends up at the hospital to be treated for all these like crazy Stab wounds and the carving in her arm and shit They're obviously they're trying to evaluate what the fuck just happened to this girl So they're like who attacked you who attacked you? she's like I don't know I don't know like I can't remember and then all of a sudden her memory comes back to her and she says it was Alex Wardworth who attacked her. She says he took her to a remote and muddy road to attack her but so then the police are like okay where's Alex And they go looking for Alex and he's nowhere to be found. Oh no.
Starting point is 00:16:27 Yeah. So the detectives go out to Don's house to try to talk to him, but on the way there, they see this muddy road and they're like, oh, like that must have been the road that she's talking about because it's not so far. And they pull over, they check it out and they see these footprints.
Starting point is 00:16:43 And remember, she was barefoot when she showed up. Oh, yeah. So they kind of walk a little ways up the hill, and they use binoculars, and they end up seeing Ezra's car, and they see a body hanging out of the back seat of the car. Holy shit. So it's like a car movie. It's literally terrifying. Um, so they realized there's the body hanging out of half in the car and half
Starting point is 00:17:06 out of the car in the back seat. And it turns out to be the body of Alex Woodworth and he's been stabbed 16 times. What? 16 times. What the fuck? So Ezra has a lot to explain about what went down, but she can't, she can't remember anything between between like getting attacked and going to and going to Don's house and ending up in the hospital like that's she only remembers like little tiny spurts quote unquote so intrigued by this eventually her memory comes back to her again like it did when she was like oh it's Alex that attacked me hmm she says they drove out there and while they were driving they were just like talking shooting the shit and Alex Oh, it's Alex that attacked me. She says they drove out there,
Starting point is 00:17:45 and while they were driving, they were just like talking, shooting the shit. And Alex finds this knife that was in her car, which also like that's a little bit weird. Why do you have a knife hanging out in your car? I mean, what? I mean, have a knife in your car, that's fine. Protect.
Starting point is 00:17:59 The next part's really weird. She says that all of a sudden they're just chit chatting, and she says, she says this so casually casually like this is what people find themselves doing on road trips That he just starts carving away at her arm with the knife. Oh, yeah, she's like maybe I just started carving into my arm just a couple things You know you know as friends pals do on a good road trip on a good afternoon Yeah, it's like you play a little eye spy, you listen to some good tunes, license plate bingo, and then you just start
Starting point is 00:18:30 carving each other's flesh. It's typical. Typical. So that's, she says he carved the word boy into her arm because during their friendship slash relationship, he found out that she had struggled with gender identity when she was younger. That's really fucked up. Yeah, I mean, he used to call her a boy into her arm for that like Jesus. When she says throughout the relationship, he used to like joke around with her
Starting point is 00:18:55 and call her a boy and she was like, he used to upset her because although she did struggle with who she was when she was younger like trying to to figure out which gender she identified with, she finally did settle on that she identified as a woman. Yeah, and that's so she was like, please don't use against somebody. Yeah, so she says that's where that came from. And she was, she says that she told him she didn't identify that way anymore, like, please stop covering that into my arms. Like, that's weird. What the fuck?
Starting point is 00:19:26 And then somehow they end up in the backseat. And Alex is straddling her and he's ripping at her clothes with the knife. And she says she's terrified that he's just going to quote get what he wants, or he's going to kill her. So she says she grabs the knife from the jagged end of it. And that's how she gets the cut that's on her hand. And she just starts stabbing away at him and then she runs. So what the fuck?
Starting point is 00:19:53 So there's a lot of issues with those are stories based on the evidence. One is the carving in her arm. So the carving is on her left arm. And so is the wound from grabbing the knife during the attack. Okay. The investigators do believe that Alex was driving. So if he had carved as his arm, he would have been doing it upside down. And this was like a very, this was very clear lettering. And also you would assume that he, I guess, would be doing it with his right hand upside. It just, it doesn't seem very likely that he's driving and then carving a word upside down into her arm. So the word was like facing into her?
Starting point is 00:20:34 Yes. Exactly. That makes sense. So they were like, that's like, that's a lot to believe about that. Yeah. I mean, is it possible, sure, but is it totally? Pretty far out. Yeah. Right. And then so that's one thing
Starting point is 00:20:47 that they're like that doesn't really make a lot of sense. So they question her a lot about this and eventually she admits that Alex didn't carve that into her arm. She did it herself. What the fuck? The other issue I had brought up is that the wound to her hand from grabbing the knife. So, we're gonna post a picture of the knife. It's like a, I'm not familiar on what kind of, like different knives are called, but this is a very jagged knife. It's almost like what we use when we have the pumpkin carving, if you picture that. Oh yeah, yeah, like a serrated edge.
Starting point is 00:21:20 Serrated, super serrated. So, had she grabbed this knife in a scuffle her wound would have gone through multiple layers of her skin Oh for sure. This was a ripped apart ripped apart like like horribly like gnarly wound. This was a very superficial wound Yeah, no, no and it's also I mean you can't really say this now But then when you start to talk about things later, it is interesting that most of the wounds that Ezra suffered are on the left side of her body and a lot of them are very superficial. And I'm assuming she's a righty. I was just going to say and keep in mind that her right hand is her dominant hand. Yeah, okay. Okay. Yeah, see you in a little fishy. So they question her about the the carving and her arm and she admits that she did that herself. So before they get to why the fuck she did that herself, yeah, because it's like okay, we'll explain now.
Starting point is 00:22:10 There are noticing, like I said, that a lot of the things are on her left side of her body. So they're like, tell us more about what happened. So she says, everything that happened went down inside the car. But the other problem is most of the blood evidence, like a lot of the blood that was lost in this fucking attack, is outside of the car. I was gonna ask about that. That doesn't make any sense. Nope, sure does.
Starting point is 00:22:35 And this is for me the smoking gun. The first wound that Alex suffered was a stab wound to the back of his head. Oh yeah, I mean that tells you everything, that tells you everything you need to know. That's so fucked. So fucked. He also, he didn't have very many defensive wounds at all, which points to the fact that he had been taken by surprise.
Starting point is 00:22:56 Yeah, he was like basically almost incapacitated by being stabbed in the back of the head. Yeah. And that stab wound to the back of the head. Yeah. Um, and that stab wound to the back of the head along with like all this other conflicting evidence painted a very different picture about what went down that afternoon. Oh, fuck.
Starting point is 00:23:13 Ezra's story has so many holes. It's like the holes in this, it's more than Swiss cheese. It's like holy, holy, holy shit, what happened? Like don't write a screenplay girl. So why did they end up in such a remote area? Yeah. Why was this knife? By the way, had been taken from her father's home. So why was it in her car all of a sudden? And where's the first stab wound to Ezra? Because she doesn't have any stab wound. She just has all these weird superficial cuts and carvings. So she claims that they ended up in
Starting point is 00:23:43 the back seat and she was so scared she was going to get hurt or killed but it's like you were never even stabbed. Like that's very strange. Yeah. How did they end up in the back seat and why is the first stab wound to Alex in the back of his head? Yeah. And then my biggest question is if this if you were attacked at what point did you carve your own arm and why? Yeah. That's that like I don't understand how that piece fits into this story. And that's like very specific to like to to carve boy right into your arm. Like what?
Starting point is 00:24:15 And it's like if you were just attacked, wouldn't you just run away as fast as you were, especially because you don't know if the person who you supposedly have been attacked with, they could still be alive. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And I wonder if Alex was facing out or in the car, like as his body was halfway and in halfway out? I'm not totally sure, because the picture itself, it's blurred out, they won't release the
Starting point is 00:24:43 actual picture, but I think his head was in the car. Because that makes me think that she attacked him outside. And he tried to jump into the car to get away from her. So I'm actually happy you said that because I didn't write it down. But I watched, there's a good 48 hours episode on this. And that's exactly what the DA said. She, that's her thing. Look at me and the DA.
Starting point is 00:25:08 The DA, honey. Look at me and the DA. I'll bring her up a little bit later too. So there's all these questions that we're gonna get answers to at Asr's trial. Because after Alex's body is found in the car, like I said, having severed 16 stab wounds, Jesus, that's a big figure.
Starting point is 00:25:24 All this evidence leads to something a lot different, leads to something a lot different than what the police thought that they were really dealing with in the first place. So Ezra is arrested, and she's tried for first degree intentional homicide. Well, so the prosecution answers a lot of the questions that were left with, and we're trying to answer right now. And in my mind, their answers make the most sense. Like this is very cut and dry once they get into it. The prosecution argues that as we're went to Alex's house that day, fully intending to kill him.
Starting point is 00:25:56 They argue that she went to his house after taking the knife from her dad's house, she just quote unquote ran into Jason at the coffee shop where she knew he typically hung out and she tells them that she's going to be with Alex. So that sets up her alibi already. Yeah, like that's perfect. And as her life was literally falling apart because all she wanted was to get back together with Jason. She was mad because she had had an affair with Alex and she wanted to get rid of him. And she was mad because he's the one that dropped these sexual assault charges
Starting point is 00:26:31 that were going to be happening to Jason's friend because Alex came forward and told the truth. Yep, so that makes sense. So this girl's a creative girl. She's somebody who could paint, she could write, she loves attention. So this was perfect, this plan was perfect for her. She paints herself as the victim She writes herself back in adjacent's life and then she gets all this attention and sympathy for being attacked
Starting point is 00:26:53 Holy shit So they say that she lured Alex out into this remote area con and by surprise by stabbing him in the back of the head Stabs him 16 times which I'm sorry, like that clearly points to a crime of passion. Yeah, because it's like, if you really, because you listen to the number and you're like, holy shit, that's a lot. But then if you actually take your hand
Starting point is 00:27:14 and stab 16 times in the air, that's a lot. And that arm is gonna get so tired. And it's a lot of times. It's like, that's a lot of times to sit there and look at what you're doing and realize what you're doing. And it's like the first one they were able to conclude was to his head. And then he suffered a lot to his torso and his groin, which that's very sexual. And that's very like I hate this about you. It's personal. That's personal. That's personal. Yeah, that's personal. So
Starting point is 00:27:49 Sorry, I know what's my place. So she stabbed him 16 times and district detour. Why can't I talk? District detour me. That district detour me. Andrea Noldloff points out that Ezra most likely planned like you were saying, she and I personally think that Ezra planned on driving away, but she changed her plan when she realized that she couldn't pull Alex outside of the car. Yeah. Because I don't think she had obviously accounted for him like trying to get in the car and get away from her. No.
Starting point is 00:28:13 And she's a tiny girl. I think I'm not exactly how tall she was, but she's like a pretty like small thin girl. Yeah. And he was like a guy of regular statues. Well, then I could pull him out. It would be hard. I think this played right into her plant too. I can walk away barefoot covered in mud and look even more victimized than I would if
Starting point is 00:28:31 I drove away. Exactly. But I do think that in the beginning, she had the intention of leaving him out there. And then this almost worked better for her. You just said, I don't know. It makes sense. But I wonder if he tried to get back in the car, but died trying to get back in the car. And then he did a pathway, and then halfway out of the car.
Starting point is 00:28:51 And maybe she had already planned on what I don't know. It's hard. Well, and that's like a very specific thing that's like hard to tell. Yeah. That's a hard one to figure out if she was planning. Because I feel like it, she gets a lot more sympathy with the walking away in the mud and the bad foot and and she's like just like the perfect the perfect dramatic craziness. She then the prosecutor argues that she then spend hours at the time at the crime scene tearing up
Starting point is 00:29:20 her own clothes and the other thing is she doesn't thing is, it almost reminds me of the Lulu Lemon murder because it's like, she spent so much time making herself look like the victim, but she didn't, all the cuts were so superficial and a lot of times when somebody's doing something like that, they're not cutting at their clothes and they're trying to make it look like they were attacked and their skin was cut through their clothes, but this person is just going for the clothes,
Starting point is 00:29:44 not the skin underneath. And it's like they're not sitting there cutting your clothes and not for you. Right. And if I'll post her sweater and her pants and stuff, and it's just like these like vertical lines, just like, it's just, it's like very like, fruity crew. Not convincing. Yeah. Doesn't make any sense. So she then spends time at the crime scene carving her own arm for some reason which that's very psychological And this is a mini morbid so I didn't look too much into that so bizarre. Yeah, it's very interesting and then She stayed there the whole time and none of Alex's wounds actually would have killed him
Starting point is 00:30:24 None of them would have been fatal so he he could have survived. Like he absolutely had police or first responders gotten there in time. He would have been saved. But he bought out. Yeah, because Ezra went as far as to take his phone and smash it, making sure that he couldn't call for help. So that's an evil one. call for help. So that's an evil one. Evil bitch. But listen, she has an answer for all of this. Oh, I'm sure she does. If you see this girl and stand, so I got this because people wrote in and suggested it. And I read one person's email and they were like, this girl's like apology and like the
Starting point is 00:31:00 whole time she's on stand is probably one of the scariest things I've ever seen in my life. I want to watch it. You gotta. I'll send you the link. So now it's the defences time to state their version of events. First of all, so Jason gets brought up to testify. And Ezra loses her shit. She is trying to adjust herself to look like's like excited to see him. She's
Starting point is 00:31:25 smoking at him. She's absolutely obsessed with him. She's like acting like she's so giddy and she obviously knew that he was gonna be there to testify. So she's dressed in a pink blazer which the DA pointed out that they were trying to make her look like very meek and timid because- Oh yeah like the little girl. That's not at all. She used to dress. She also used to come into the throughout the whole entire trial. She comes in with like a different hairstyle every day. Like her hair is like perfectly done one day. Her hair is curly and she has bangs.
Starting point is 00:31:55 So it's like one day it's all down and like perfectly like quaffed. The next day it's in a ponytail. Like it's very, very planned. Yeah, oh absolutely. And also this next, very planned. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And also, this next piece is planned. So she, they ask Jason to identify her and he points at her and she's wearing the pink blazer. So they're like, can you use an object to identify her?
Starting point is 00:32:14 And he's like, oh, right there in the pink blazer. So then she adjusts the pink blazer to show that she's wearing a green sweater. And you find out in the 48 hours that Jason had given her that green sweater while she was in the hospital after the attack, the quote unquote attack. I am shooketh. So it's like, she's like not,
Starting point is 00:32:39 I don't think she's like taunting him, I think in her mind, like they're supposed to be together and she's like, look how much I love you. But for him, like, it's a huge mind fuck. I'm literally googling it right now and I'm seeing these pictures and I have a debt. It's scary as shit. It's so scary. This girl is bonkers, like, tone-be-narrers. You have to watch the whole episode of The 48 Hours because I was, I was reeling the entire time. Oh, I gots to.
Starting point is 00:33:05 So, wow. So then they put Ezra on the stand. And in my notes, I go, big mistake. They should not have fucking put her on the stand because for one thing, when they ask her to spell her name, she is so fucking excited to spell her own name. And she goes into this tale of, because her real name is not Ezra. She was named Monica.
Starting point is 00:33:30 I had a feeling Ezra was not her real name. When I was looking at her, I was like, so this is a girl who really, really wants to be like the hipster princess. Oh, 100%. She definitely gave herself the name Ezra. And throughout the documentary, they like show all these different pictures
Starting point is 00:33:45 from her Instagram and she's like really trying hard to be like hipster girl. Like, artists, nobody gets me, LaDiData. Yep. We've all been there. I used to try to be like that too. Didn't work out. Never named myself Ezra though.
Starting point is 00:33:59 So she goes into this story about how she changes her name from Monica to Ezra McCandless because she felt that it fit much better. And I think McCandless is like, I think he might be like a song. I think his name is like John McCandless and he's like a free spirit and like all the stuff. So she was like, I'm a free spirit. I'm a free spirit. So she's stoked to talk about her name.
Starting point is 00:34:25 And then she says that her and Alex were driving and that her car got stuck in the mud. And that's when this whole anxiety thing started because her car was stuck in the mud and she was so upset and she couldn't breathe because she was so anxious. Because she's a frail, frail gal. She is apparently.
Starting point is 00:34:42 So she then changes her story on the stand about grabbing the knife, which I think her lawyer probably told her to do because she was like, yeah, it's like really clear that you didn't grab that knife because a lot more what happened. She's like, that story is really plainly bullshit. So you might want to change it. So this time on the stand, she doesn't say that she grabbed the knife. She says that they're already in the backseat and she's like afraid for her life and that she needs Alex in the groin, which causes the knife to fall. And then she cuts her hand picking the knife back up. So then they end up outside of the car. So she, the first, when she was first telling investigators what happened, they were never outside of the car. Everything went down inside. So now she has to account for all the blood outside of the car.
Starting point is 00:35:34 Of course. So she says they're outside of the car and she stabs him one more time, one more final time in the side before running away with his phone so that she can call for help because she didn't have a cell phone of her own because she was a spirit. She's a hipster goddess. She doesn't need modern technology. Who cares? I mean, but I'm really confused about how she had an Instagram though. I don't really understand how that worked. So yeah, you lie. So that's why she took his phone, she says, and she says that it ends up smashed because when she was running away She slips and falls because she's so distraught and it's so upset She like hurts her arm and then the phone gets smashed
Starting point is 00:36:12 So that's how she says it got smashed this bitch has an answer for everything bullshit And then my main fucking question she tries to answer there like so why did she Because she sits there and says she carved her own arm. Like she finally admits that in the investigation. So they have to explain that. They don't really explain it. Her lawyer asks her like, okay, so how did boy end up carved in your arm? Like, why did you do that to yourself? And she says that it was a reaction to everything that had just happened. I'm gonna pause and let that sink in. You were just attacked. No. And then you said you're so scared because you were running away, like you're so frantically running away that you end up smashing the phone that you were gonna use to call for help. So when did you then pause and carve boy into your arm? What?
Starting point is 00:37:10 She didn't, that is not what happened at all. Right, she did that after she was already sure that Alex was dead, and then she did that to make it look like he was like an abusive horrible person. The fact that she was like, that was my reaction. It's like everything I had just gone through so much. And it's like, but no. Like that's not a reaction.
Starting point is 00:37:31 That's not, no, that's not a reaction. So that only leads to more questions, like I said. Yeah. If you were so busy running away, then where did you get the time to do that? But that's all she gets you. She doesn't really have much else to say because there really isn't a lot of ways that you could come up with to defend that probably. I would be
Starting point is 00:37:50 like I have two questions for you. How dare you? And who do you think you are? Those are my final questions. So you know how she like ended up with all this memory loss. She didn't know what her fucking name was and all this other bullshit. So she says after the attack she all this memory loss. She didn't know what her fucking name was and all this other bullshit. So she says after the attack, she experienced this memory loss and it felt like she was in a tunnel. So she doesn't have answers for certain questions because this is convenient, very convenient memory loss. She says she doesn't know what happened between killing Alex and the time that she ends up at Don's home. But that she does answer questions for some things that happened in between them. But they're all the time about this. She's like, oh no, I can't remember.
Starting point is 00:38:26 I don't remember. Yeah, it's like cool to go fuck yourself. Cool, cool, cool. So the defense brings in Harvard, a Harvard psychologist who actually testifies that drama can cause memory loss, which like, it's true. Of course it can. But not the case here. This was not the case here. So then that's basically the end of the defense's argument. They're like, you know, that's what happened.
Starting point is 00:38:49 Like self-defense, like they end their whole defense fucking thing on self-defense. Like they're still saying she was attacked and she had to do, she had to stab somebody 16 times to get away. Yeah, obviously. Sorry, I don't buy that. No. Um, so I think, uh, Ezra was basically a narcissist,
Starting point is 00:39:11 and I really think that she believed that she could say she was attacked. I really think she thought she was gonna get away with the claim of self-defense. And I think she, at the end of this thought that her and Jason were gonna get back together and live this happy little life. Oh, 100%. That was her goal. And like I said, at the end of this thought that her and Jason were going to get back together and live this happy little life. Oh, 100%.
Starting point is 00:39:26 That was her goal. And like I said, like she was showing, I think she was showing up to trial in these like cute little outfits and these cute hairstyles to one be like, I'm so put together. Like I could never do this. And she was impressed Jason. She knows Jason is there. Yeah. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:39:42 So like, that's like the ex girlfriend. You always are, you always want to look good in front of your ex. Exactly. You wanted to like look what you'll miss and I was what she was doing. And he's like I'm all set because you're a psychomer. Because you're a fucking murderer. Because I'm really afraid of you. So it takes the jury three hours to come back with a verdict because obviously because you know because guilty and so guilty of intentional homicide is exactly what is written and that's exactly what the jury decides guilty as charged guilty before her sentencing as revered's her apology to Alex's family I want to climb through the fucking laptop screen and strangle this
Starting point is 00:40:24 girl when she does this quote I want to climb through the fucking laptop screen and strangle this girl when she does this. Quote. I want to and she's fake crying. No tears are coming out. Of course. At all. The best kind of crying. Love that. She says, I want to say how sorry I am that they have lost their son. But sorry doesn't cut it in my mind. That word is not enough to show. Nope. That word is not enough to show, or nope, that word is not enough and never will be enough for this loss.
Starting point is 00:40:49 And then she makes it about herself. I love how she calls it a loss. That's what I'm saying. It says that you lost your son. Not I took him from you. Exactly. Like what a piece of shit. So that's the first shit shit in this.
Starting point is 00:41:03 And then the second shit shit is she goes I loved Alex very much and I also feel a great loss Well, maybe you could have changed the events then and not killed our fucking son. Thank you Okay, she goes and I am so sorry So like cool that you made out about yourself You literally like said sorry to them and then you were like, but me too, also. But like, I'm hurting too, so sorry. We're all hurting together and his father was probably like, I want to kill this guy.
Starting point is 00:41:31 Oh yeah, I'd be like, I'm gonna murder her. Oh my god. So the judge told her before he read her sentence that he didn't think her apology was sincere at all. And then he sentenced her to life in prison. Yeah, bye, Ezra. So she'll have to serve at least 50 years before she's eligible for parole. Bye, bitch.
Starting point is 00:41:50 Bye. And Alex's father says, this is the most noble thing ever because I give him so much credit. He says he forgives Ezra because hate is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. You know, I've heard that phrase before.
Starting point is 00:42:07 It is a really great phrase. It's true. I mean, it is. It really does describe it really well. But I think it takes a really big person to be able to do that. So I give him a lot of credit. And then more credit than I can even express
Starting point is 00:42:20 because I don't know if I can get there. No fucking way. And then Jason says that he thinks about Alex and Ezra all the time and that he wishes he could go back in time and he wishes he could go back in time and somehow fix this or poor Jason. He probably feels like he was right there right before I went in. It's really sad. And he, when him and Ezra were together, he thought that they were going to get married.
Starting point is 00:42:42 Like they refer to each other as like husband and wife. That's crazy. And I love that she, when she was at that, Don was at the guy she went to his house. Yep. When she was like called Jason. Jason, it's like, and you can hear it. You can hear it on the 911 call. Like that's what happened.
Starting point is 00:43:01 So this was clearly all to get Jason back. Oh my god. That is some serious pining. And it's like narcissistic as shit. It's like, you really the narcissistic delusional, like you thought that all was going to work. When you think that you can murder a person and get somebody back in your life, you are so far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. Real far gone. I was gonna say thank you to our listeners because I had never heard of it and I was just like flicking through the suggestions Because I like to do that for many more of it me too, and I was like whoa gotta do this one I love that our listeners give us suggestions because there have been so many things that I like I'll flick through them and I'll pick one and I'll just kind of start looking it up and I'm like what the fuck
Starting point is 00:44:00 I've never heard of this like yeah so many and I love that like Everybody can kind of like share that like we can all share different cases with each other. I like that too. Some of us haven't, you know, I mean, it's fun to like share these things with our listeners. It's crazy that this happened in 2018 because I don't remember hearing about this at all. I don't remember hearing it. And that's the thing.
Starting point is 00:44:20 It's like these things happen. And you just don't like locally. They'll be news, but like we don't hear about it. You would think that that would be like bigger news though like you would think but like a lot of people hadn't heard about like Katrina Homer and stuff and that was like a woman found me half of her body like that should be huge news. It's crazy. So there's makes news and what doesn't. There's a lot of things to that I can post for the Instagram that you're gonna be like, oh wow, that's wild. That's amazing.
Starting point is 00:44:48 So if you want to go check out our Instagram, you can go do that at morbidpodcast. Hit us up on Twitter. A morbidpodcast. Send us a Gmail for a case suggestion or a listener tale or to tell us that you think we're cool. Or a spooky road. Oh, spooky roads? Yeah, that's gonna be soon. At morbidpodcast.gmail.com. Join the Facebook group, morbid colon, a true crime podcast.
Starting point is 00:45:14 Donate to the Patreon if you're feeling so inclined and you'd like to hear your name on a future episode. patreon.com slash morbidpodcast. And guess what, guys, follow us on Spotify because there's a follow button on there. And and also you can listen to us for free on Spotify because it doesn't cost anything to listen to a podcast. Be sure it doesn't. In Spotify rules. We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you change your own name and you do some crazy shit and you try to get these
Starting point is 00:45:44 people to fall in love with you And then they don't and you end up in jail And you carve a random word in there for no reason at all You can never explain it. And you say somebody else did it, which they did it Yeah, that's the thing you did it. You don't have any reason for it? It was a reaction Bye It was a reaction. Bye! Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music.
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