Morbid - Episode 456: The Bonebreaker Case

Episode Date: May 4, 2023

When the body of fourteen-year-old Chris Steiner was discovered floating in the Wisconsin River on July 10, 1994, it brought a heartbreaking end to the search for the boy who had mysteriously disappeared from his Baraboo, Wisconsin home a week earlier. Officially, the cause of death was drowning. His death was a tragic accident, and nothing more.But was it? A year later, a harrowing 911 call from 14 year old Thad Phillips would bring to light a monster in the boys' own neighborhood, one that would change the ruling in Chris Steiner's death and horrify the community forever.ReferencesAssociated Press. 1997. Court awards $21M in torture case. October 14. Accessed April 6, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/5ded061aa228f6b8a597557fb8724258.—. 1995. "Teen-age suspect in kidnapping-torture was taunted by peers about 1994 death." Wisconsin State Journal, August 11: 24.Chickering, Pam. 1994. "Baraboo teen-ager missing." Baraboo News Republic, July 8: 1.Clark, Anita. 1996. "Expert: Clark is a sadist, not insane." Wisconsin State Journal, September 18.Dvorak, Rich, and Troy Laack. 1994. "Clue's sought in teen's death." Baraboo News Republic, July 13: 1.—. 1994. "Missing youth's body found." Baraboo News Republic, July 12: 1.Elbow, Steven. 1997. "Expert witness denied voice at Clark trial." Baraboo News Republic, November 7: 1.—. 1996. "Formal charges filed in Steiner case." Portage Daily Register, September 26: 1.Grunig, Tara. 1995. "Clark charged as adult in Phillips case." The Daily Register, September 8: 1.Jaeger, Richard. 1995. "Autopsy discovers broken bones." Wisconsin State Journal, August 5: 1.—. 1995. "Kidnapping-torture similar to year-old case." Wisconsin State Journal, August 3: 1.—. 1995. "Teen questioned in '94 drowning." Wisconsin State Journal, August 4: 1D-2D.O'Connell, Mike. 1995. "13-year-old boy kidnapped, tortured." Baraboo News Republic, August 2: 1.—. 1996. "Clark's defense." Baraboo News Republic, September 17: 1.—. 1996. "'Do you know Chris Steiner'." Baraboo News Republic, September 17: 1.—. 1996. "Jurors bring swift decision; Clark faces 110 hard years." Baraboo News Republic, September 19: 1.—. 1995. "Report confirms incident details." Baraboo News Republic, August 2: 1.Seely, Ron. 1994. "Teen's parents left to wonder." Wisconsin State Journal, August 7: 21.State of Wisconsin v. Joseph C. Clark. 1998. 97-3584-CR (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, September 3).State of Wisconsin v. Joseph C. Clark. 1999. 98-2402-CR-NM (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, March 25).Wisconsin State Journal. 1996. "Broken-bome assault case brings plea of no contest." Wisconsin State Journal, September 6.—. 1996. "Shooting delays murder hearing ." Wisconsin State Journal, October 11.—. 1997. "Teen killer who tortured victims gets life in prison." Wisconsin State Journal, November 21.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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than the national average savings rate. Apply for your Apple card now in the wallet app on iPhone and start growing your daily cash with savings today. Apple card subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple card owners, subject to eligibility requirements. Savings is available to Apple Card owners, subject to eligibility requirements. Savings accounts provided by Goldman Sachs Bank USA. Remember FDIC? National Average Savings Rate is from FDIC website. Terms apply. Hey weirdos, I'm Alena. I'm Ash. And this is morbid. And it's morbid in the morning. It is, but it's one of those that I'm not sure why I kept for the morning because it's not gonna start your day out on a great note. Fantastic.

This is a pretty gnarly one. That makes me nervous because my tongue already hurts. I know, you're having tummy troubles. I know. What's going on? I don't know. I think they're just like a random shit going around in the universe. Yeah, maybe.

You know, we saw Karen and Sabrina from two girls one ghost recently. We had a little brecky with them. That was so fun. I loved them so much. And Karen had a shirt on that said, what was the shirt? And you were like, wow.

I was like, wow, that's relatable. It's something like, my tummy really hurts, but I'm being brave. I need to get used to it. That's how I feel about it. That's how I feel about it. I feel very proud. That's to get used to it. That's how I feel right now. That's how I feel right now. That's how I feel right now. I feel very nervous.

I was hilarious. That's very much at you, Sher. I got on my car this morning and like my tummy really hurts but I'm being brave. But I'm being really brave about it. I'm going to try it over and I'll be right there. Oh, I love it so much. Also, if you haven't listened to two girls one ghost, what do you do with them? It's a fun spooky ass time and they're wonderful.

They're so funny. You'll listen to them. But yeah, so Ash just tell me her, but she's being really brave about it. Thank you. So there's that. I keep finding, and I was saying this this morning, Tash, that I'm in this phase of life where I can't stay up after the girls go to sleep. I sit on the couch and I just pass out. Yeah. And it's been happening for like weeks and I'm like, why can't I stay awake?

See, it's funny to me. It's like, it's very concerning to Elena. She's like, I don't like it. Yeah, I hate it. It's so funny to me because that's been me for like the past like six months to a year. I go home. I turn on a TV show in five minutes into that TV show, I'm just like, home.

It's a mouth. So usually I'm like, I can handle like a few hours of sitting and like doing something else at night, but now it's as soon as I sit on that couch, I'm out. We're doing a lot, man. It's not great. I don't love falling asleep like that. I got to figure out, you know what it is? It's, it's like it. It's like it. Hello, I figured it out.

No, it's, I'm not doing anything physically for my body right now. Like I've, I've taken a hiatus from like doing any kind of physical activity with my body. Oh, see, that's not the problem for me. And I think that's a problem for me. Cause I think when I exercise,

you feel better. Like when I do the bike or something and I'm on like a good routine with it, I feel like it a problem for me. Because I think when I exercise, like when I do the bike or something and I'm on like a good routine with it, I feel like it like energizes me. Okay. And a way that I don't think is happening right now. So maybe I, I think I stopped when I got like, sick at one point, I was like, oh, I gotta take a break.

Yeah. And then I just didn't do it again. And I've been meaning to do a girl. I gotta do it. We also got, we got walking trends for our desk. Yeah. So I think it's, I think it's necessary. I need some physical activity. Yeah, walk a mile in these luba tongs. Exactly. In these luba tongs. Yeah, that's maybe you walk in in luba tongs. No, not me.

I was like, what are you? I'm just walking in a mile. But I know I think it really is like part of it at least. Maybe I'm hoping that physical activity will make me, I think it will make me feel better as like, yes, in general. But I don't know. You might still fall asleep early. Maybe, but maybe I'll feel better about it. Well, also you, you're not giving yourself enough credit.

You have two brand new puppies. That's true. I think that's definitely having to do with it. They're doing great, by the way. Yeah, but like you learned how to, or not you like your youngest learned how to sleep. So then you were sleeping for a minute and your body was probably getting used to that.

And then you were like, oh, you know what's a good idea? Let's fuck this up entirely and get my sleep dogs. And that's probably what happened. So you're probably, people get tired sometimes. No, it's wild, I don't love it. Listen, all you capricorns out there, you might feel this sudden feeling that you've never felt before called tired.

It sucks. Lay down. All my Capricorns can attest like it's, we don't like it. Just lay down for it. We don't like it because it's not conducive to productivity and that really annoys me. What about a 20 minute nap?

That's like super good for productivity. Maybe you should start doing that during the day. Maybe it's time for you to develop a nap time, O.D. Maybe you gotta have a nap time. Maybe it's time for a nap. Time for a nap, everybody. I'll wake you up with some oatmeal. It was some cream of wheat.

Some cream of wheat. I used to live with this lady that loved cream of wheat. You know, it's a real food. So it's so fucking real. I don't know what else to say. You're like, you know what? Cream of wheat exists. It's that you can eat it.

So I don't know. I don't know if you should. You can, I don't know if you should. But why don't we get into this terrible, terrible case with that will probably keep me from sleeping even further? Oh, fantastic. Let's do that. This one is wild. Someone suggested it, a few people suggested it,

and I was like, and when I saw them suggested, I was like, I'm sorry, what? Because they were like, can you do the bone breaker case? They did not say that. What? Excuse me? And then I looked it up and I said what excuse me I didn't know this existed. Oh no. And this is real rough. So let's begin July 10th 1994. We got a 90s case. It's the 90s. This is when the body of 14-year-old Chris Steiner was found

floating in the Wisconsin River. He was discovered after a nearly weak, long, desperate search for him, who had, and he had mysteriously disappeared seemingly into thin air from his parents' home in Baraboo, Wisconsin. His cause of death was officially labeled as death by drowning, and the theory police were going with was that he snuck out of his house

by his own volition that night to go swimming with friends doubt it. They ruled it was just a tragic accident. Yeah. There was no, according to them, there was no other evidence to prove anything else. But was it an accident? No. Or was this the beginning of a case that has torn my entire nervous system to shreds? A ladder.

It is, that's literally what I wrote in my notes. Oh my God. It was the ladder. I am a that's literally what I wrote in my notes. I wrote it. It was the ladder. I am a psychic. You are. We are one. So let's begin with Chris Steiner's death because this is so tragic. On the, I, reading about his parents just ruined my, my whole, yeah.

I feel like with a case like this, same, any case in general where somebody loses like a teenager in their life, that's horrible. In the middle of the night, right. He was in his home and then he just wasn't, right? And then they found him floating in a river a week later. And they have no answers. Like, at first, this was just an accidental drowning and his parents never believed that. Well, because parents know.

They just know, but they had to wait like a long time to figure out what actually happened to him and it's Terrible. So on the morning of July 4th, 1994 Kathy Steiner, Chris's mom went to wake up her son 14-year-old Christian known as Chris Steiner Who would have been asleep in his bedroom at this point? So she went in his room She opened up the door and she found that the room was empty. Now, Chris was supposed to work a 7am shift at McDonald's that morning, so alarm bells immediately went off, because he had just started that job,

and he was excited about that job, so he wouldn't have just bailed. So Kathy informed her husband George that Chris wasn't in his bed, and together they searched the house. During the search, they found that the window screens in their other son's bedroom had been sliced. Ooh, I don't like that. Yeah. And both the front and back doors to the house were unlocked. Oh, shit. Yeah. And there was no sign of Chris anywhere. So they immediately

called the police to report a missing. But imagine this, whatever happened, this person came through their other child's bedroom into this child's bedroom. Like, how do you wrap your brain around that? Fucked. Now, according to George and Kathy, they had last seen Chris around 10 pm the night before. He said his father had gone in to check on him

in his bedroom, and he was in there. Yeah, and he said, quote, he had fallen asleep on his bed wearing the clothes he had on that day. And Kathy was like, that was very usual, especially since Chris had worked a long shift at McDonald's. That evening, so and it was his first day on the new job. So he was like, he was exhausted. Yeah.

So he just passed out on his bed and his clothes. We just let him do it. Whatever. Now, initially, George Steiner suspected that the window screen to the first floor bedroom had possibly been cut by one of Chris's friends, because he was thinking they convinced him to sneak out of the house to go swimming. Okay. I think they were hopeful that this was just some really shitty decision making by his

friends. Right. And when police checked with Chris's friends, though, they all were like, yeah, no, like we did not see Chris last night. And none of them had even seen him that night. And they were like, we definitely didn't go to the house. They all had like things that they, I don't think all of them had like rock solid alibis,

but I think they were like we were home. Right. So now they ruled out the potential for his having simply snuck out because it just wasn't looking like that was it. And investigators kind of shifted their focus to maybe not somebody intruded into the house and came and got him, but instead,

Christmas to run away. As it's the 90s. The screen on his way out. Yeah, it's the 90s and he's a teenager, of course, he ran away. Now, and it was so common at the time, I don't. It still is. Everyone's in a while you'll hear something

where they're like, they probably just ran away. And it's like, at the time I do it still is everyone's in a while. You'll hear something where they're like they probably just ran away It's like how often is that happen? Yeah, I don't think that many people are running away. Yeah It's a but even the detectives working this case We're having a little trouble believing that themselves because they were like it just doesn't fit with any of this like you said the Sly screen was weird and They said that one of them said quote he was believed to be a runaway, but there's not been any sign of him in a few days. That's what I think it's so, is it,

S-A-U-K County? Yeah, so county, okay. So county sheriff's detective Mary Ward had said that to the press that there was just no sign of him since then. Yeah. And that didn't really add up because it's like if he ran away,

you would hear from him or someone would have. Yeah. Like where's he running to? That's a thing. No one hears from him. Like he probably like, if that was the case, would have hit Shike with somebody or stopped. Yeah.

Or got a gas station. Yeah. Like where is he staying? Right. And according to his parents, they said he had never run away before and they couldn't think of any reason that he would before or now. And they said there was no run away before and they couldn't think of any reason that he would before or now and they said there was no stressful events, no triggers that could really have set him off.

Everything was pretty normal. He just started a new job. Yeah. He had just finished. So like I mentioned before, the day he'd gone missing, Chris had started that new job at McDonald's and he was working with his older brother Jim. Oh. And he was super excited about being out of school because it was summertime, and he was looking forward to earning all this money at his first job. Like, this was a very exciting thing for him. Totally. And Kathy Steiner told reporters, quote, he even had it figured out how much he was going to make working Sundays and holidays.

At the time, he had just finished eighth grade and was eager to start high school. Hey, God, just finished eighth grade. Just finished eighth grade. That's, oh, that's awful. A child. Yes. And when you look at pictures of him, he's so cute. No. And friends and family worked closely with detectives. They were very forthcoming with any information. Nobody seemed to be holding back anything or being shady. Well, that's good. And they all spent a week. All his friends and family were posting missing flyers around Baraboo and the surrounding counties. The police were on it.

They were doing tons of searches. And George and Kathy Steiner were speaking to every media outlet that they could get their faces in front of. I can't imagine how hard that would be. That is, my brain can't even wrap around that. Because to have to talk about it and beg people, like they were literally saying,

like, if you have any information, please come forward. Like, if you know where our son is, like, just begging for help. To have to do that. And unfortunately, the search came to an end on July 10th. That's when Chris' body was found floating in the Wisconsin river by two jet skiers.

According to Sheriff James Smith, quote, the body was quite decomposed when it was found. And investigators actually had to use dental records to identify him. My God. Because remember, this is July. And he'd been in the water for a week. Yeah. So the autopsy was conducted the following day. And the pathologist on the case was Dr. Robert Huntington.

And he speculated that Chris's body had been in the water at least two days, but probably longer. He determined that the cause of death was probably drowning, but he said the advanced decomposition from being in the water made it kind of difficult to determine if anything else had happened. So detectives knew where the body was discovered, made it kind of difficult to determine if anything else had happened. So detectives knew where the body was discovered, but where it went into the water, where it

went into the water, was something that they weren't sure. It was still a mystery, because it could have floated a long way. That's the thing. That's what's tough when it's like water. Yeah, and it's like, so they couldn't tell where he went into the water, and they couldn't tell if he had gone into the water already dead. Or they couldn't tell where he went into the water and they couldn't tell if he had gone into the water already dead Or they couldn't tell where the drowning had occurred nothing like that. Oh, man And there didn't appear at the time to be any signs of physical trauma like bruising or cuts

So they looked at it and said this seems like an accidental drowning Unfortunately, there was really only minor abrasions, but they said that could have been from being in the water. Okay. So given there was no sign of struggle in the home, I don't know why they're ignoring that slice screen. I was like, that seems struggling to me. Yeah. No apparent trauma to Chris's body. The sheriff's office started operating on the assumption that Steiner and his friends were out partying and were too afraid to come forward with any information. That's nice. Which doubt everyone involved. Great. Also, these are like 14-year-old boys and girls that you're being like, I think

you're just too scared to admit that you got him killed. And it's like, yeah, like what? And they're all like, we were not with him. Like, can you imagine that being put on you at 14? No. Sheriff's deputies searched the shoreline in the surrounding area? They were hoping to find a campsite, a party spot that they could be like, here it is. This is where you went into the water. But the river had actually risen considerably in the days before he was found. So if there was any evidence of that gone, gone. Now in the absence of any evidence to prove that anything else but accidental drowning had happened here, the Columbia County Sheriff's Department went

with the accidental drowning theory and the case was closed. Wow. That's just pretty quick. That's it. This was very little comfort to the Steiners because obviously that it was very little comfort to the Steiners, because obviously that, it was quick. There was like a lot of, oh, like it seems like that's

probably it, like it, that's very important. Things were very important. And they still had no answers, no real answers, what had happened, they didn't find a spot. They had no one that is admitted that they were out partying with him or that they had come and got him. And they know that partying with him or that they had come and got him. And they know that they're something. They know that's not like him.

Yeah, and they were like, we don't have any answers. All you're telling me is that you're pretty sure that he drowned. Like, if anything, you're just making more confusion. It's awful. And they were just left to wonder what happened to him. That's terrible. And their grief and confusion was made even worse, because there was odd evidence left in the house that night that he was missing.

There was the slit in the screen and there was also muddy chuprints suggesting that someone had to come into the house while everyone was sleeping and Chris had left with whoever it was. But there was a lack of any other mess or struggle evidence which indicated that he knew whoever had come in and left with them willingly.

Right. So that was even weirder, that they were like, it seems like somebody else was here, but again. Oh, that's freaky. Yeah, isn't that so spooky? Yes. And it's also like, why not look further

into those footprints? That's the thing, who was that? Right, like you would, like they know Chris's size and clearly like if they're like, no, that wasn't Chris's size, then who the fuck, who did that? Right. They know Chris's size and clearly, if they're like, no, that wasn't Chris's size, and who the fuck, who did that? Yeah, and take a look at his shoes. Right. Do you have that kind of shoe?

Right. We got thread on the bottom. But later. Look a little further. Yeah, and later, George, his dad said, quote, what hurts so much is that you know there were other kids with him. Something happened out there. Something terrible happened out there.

What we don't understand is how somebody could have left him there without calling. Oh. And that's what they were left to think happened. That everybody just left him somewhere. That's awful. And George and Kathy Steiner had to bury their son at St. Joseph's cemetery in Baraboo on July 14, 1994. More than a year was going to pass before they would get any more information about what happened to Christina. Oh god. Oh, it's time to talk about my favorite freaking meal kit and America's number one meal kit. Hello, Fresh. I freaking love it. With Hello Frash, you get farm fresh pre-portion ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered where?

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Again, that's hellowfresh.com slash morbid50 and use code morbid50 for 50% off plus your first box ships free. Hello Fresh, America's number one meal kit. 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. I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the

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daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. So that brings us to July 30th, 1995, a year later. 9-1-1 dispatchers in Columbia County received a very scary and unusual call from a panic teenage boy. He claimed he'd been kidnapped, tortured, and locked in a closet for two days by his teenage neighbor, Joe Clark. What? Yup. The dispatcher traced the call to a home, and officers arrived at the scene very quickly only a couple minutes later,

where in this scene was Joe Clark's home, where he shared with his parents. I was gonna say he lives with his parents, correct? This is where they discovered 13 yearyear-old Thaddeus, Thad, Philip, stop. He was disoriented and suffering from severe dehydration, broken legs, and other bruises and injuries. Holy shit.

And he had broken out of a closet. Now, first responders rushed him to St. Clair Hospital. He was immediately taken into surgery for the broken legs. They basically had to save his legs. They were so broken. Wow. Like, they were so shattered in so many places that they weren't sure they were going

to be able to save his legs. Holy shit. That's like on another level. Yeah. Now, mean, and this is like a child, like an actual child. Meanwhile, Barabu police waited for 17-year-old Joe Clark to return home. And when he returned home,

they immediately took him into custody without incident. Well, the fuck is this kid? Oh, so Thad Phillips had a terrifying ordeal. He, his ordeal had begun two days before this, shortly after midnight, on Friday night July 28th. Thad was watching television with his sister, his five-year-old sister, by the way. Oh. And this was the last time either of his parents saw him before he went to bed.

Oh my God. This is wild. Oh yeah. Because this case is like these teenage boys are in their own home. Right. That's the scariest thing to me. Like they're not out. They're not walking down the street. They are in their own home. Right, that's the scariest thing to me. Like they're not out, they're not walking down the street, they are in their own fucking home.

Like he's hanging out with his five-year-old sister. Yeah. Now at some point, that had fallen asleep on the couch with his five-year-old sister. Right? As we just started talking about that. But he was with his five-year-old sister too. Like they both had fallen asleep on the couch. That's adorable too. And he was awoken in-year-old sister too, like they both had fallen asleep on the couch. That's adorable too.

And he was awoken in the middle of the night. And he thought he was awoken by his parents, trying to lead him into his bedroom. Yeah. So this was not his parents. This was his teenage neighbor, Joe Clark, who had walked into his fucking house and awoken him up on the couch.

What? He lived like a half a mile down the street from the Phillips house. And that didn't see, like couldn't, like, understand that this was him. He was disoriented. He was only half awake. So he didn't really like fight back her question a lot

when Clark helped him off the couch and out the door. Oh, God. And he had guided him down the street to the Clark house and into his second floor bedroom, Joe's. What? Now, at that point, like, he started waking up, He guided him down the street to the Clark House and into his second floor bedroom. Joe's. What? Now, at that point, like he started waking up and was just like, what the fuck is going on?

But at the, and then Thad's father, Donald Phillips woke up around 4 a.m. and he went to the living room to make sure the children had gone to sleep in their beds and he only found his five-year-old daughter sleeping on the couch and no sad. And he was like never would he have left his five-year-old sister alone, sleeping on a couch. Like he never would have done that. He would have carried her into a room. Of course. So he was like, what the fuck is going on? And more confusing, his shoes, his sneakers were exactly where he'd left them earlier that evening. So wherever he went, he went barefoot. Oh my god. Yeah, he was like, he, that was his parachute.

How haunting would that have been? Yeah. So the Phillips had only recently moved to the area a few months earlier, too, on, like a welcome to the neighborhood. And neither Donald or nor his wife really felt comfortable going to a lot of the neighbors for help, because they didn't know them. Yeah. And they were a little, at this point, they were probably concerned. Like, I do, I don't even know these people. One of them, right? So they started, they spent the entire morning checking any place they thought that could have gone.

Like the Columbia County Fair, the Baraboo swimming pool, they went to a camping spot at the Baraboo River, and they spent the rest of the, most of the day searching for their son. But when they couldn't find him, Donald Phillips called Baraboo police to report him missing. And at no time during this search, did it occur to either of that's parents, or anyone else for that matter,

that the boy was being held only less than a mile away from their home. That is unbelievable. In a teenager's closet. And the parents had no idea. Oh yeah, we'll talk. So by the time they'd arrived in Joe Clark's, excuse me, the time that he had arrived in Joe Clark's bedroom, that was definitely like I said, more awake and more,

like what the fuck's going on. So he was very confused about why he was bringing brought there in the middle of the night. And that had seen Clark in the neighborhood. They've never really spoken. Oh, like he was like, I'm stranger. I've seen you, but like what the fuck is going on? And they had a four year age difference.

So like they never really would have hung out or been friends anyways. But Clark told that he just wanted to hang out. And that's why he had brought him to his house. That's why I abducted you. I just wanna hang out. That accepted the explanation, I think it was probably because he was so out of it. Yeah.

But after a very short period of time, he was like, I would like to go home. Like it's like 3 a.m. And to be honest, he might have accepted the explanation in my opinion because he was like, you're terrifying. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. And I'm not gonna flip out here. I'm just gonna be like, cool, let's hang out.

That's exactly what I thought when you said that. But he was like, I would like to go home and this is when Clark lost it. Oh no. He shoved Thad to the bed and began attacking him. And months later, Joe Clark told a judge, he'd blinked out. Oh, okay.

And didn't remember what happened after he pushed him onto the bed. I bet. And he said when he woke up, he said that Thad was belly-aking about his legs. What? Which Joe Clark is such a manipulative piece of shit. Sounds like it.

Like, I love my favorite excuse for these fuckers. It's always like, I blacked out. I don't remember. So wild that you just blacked out. No, that doesn't happen. Yeah. You went out of your way to break into this boy's house I've always checked out. I don't remember. So wild. They used to block down. No, that doesn't happen. Yeah. You went out of your way to break into this boy's house and steal him off the couch next

to his five-year-old sister and then you just blocked out and then you just, you didn't mean to hurt him though. Like, nothing was going to occur. Like, you're an idiot. Now according to the report filed with the sock, sock, sock, sock. That's really hard to say. Totally like sock. Sauk. Yeah. I think that's probably more like it.

Sauk County, yeah, that makes more sense. Sheriff's Department, once that was on the bed, Joe Clark, this is really graphic, by the way, I just want to point this out. If you don't like bones and breaking bones. Oh, I don't, can I go? I mean, hopefully the name of the thing kind of made you stay away if that's something

you don't want to listen to. But Joe Clark grabbed him by his left ankle and began twisting until the bones and his ankle broke. Goodbye. Over the next two days, Clark subjected Thad Phillips to brutal outbursts of violence. And that included Joe repeatedly jumping on his legs, causing fractures to both femur bones. Holy shit. Femur bones.

Femur is so thickica. Yeah. How, like, is Joe a big kid or no? That's the thing, he's like not a like massive kid. No. But it's like, it was just the rage and violence that he had. I'm like no. No, the fuck are your parents?

He also caused knee fractures and dislocation. No. Uncle fractures and dislocation ankle fractures and dislocation and tibial fractures in both lower legs. So he broke his femur bones on both legs and his tibia on both legs. Knee things free. And knees. Every part of both of his legs was shattered. That is an absolutely insane. Months later, Dr. Michael Plute, who was the surgeon who performed Thad's first two surgeries, sent to the Sheriff's Department that quote, the force used to break Thad's bones

was equivalent of Thad having been in a car accident. Oh my God. Yeah. And there was more injuries on top of that. Like he had contusions, he had a brazen, brazians and he was also severely dehydrated because he wouldn't eat or drink anything during the time because he was scared that Clark was going to poison him.

Yeah, I would think the same thing. Now, when he wasn't physically torturing Thad and breaking his bones, Clark was taking immense pleasure and psychologically tormenting him. What? Jotal Vad quote, he was fascinated by busting people's bones. What? And that he had done this to at least two other boys. One of whom he said was Chris Steiner. And did that know Chris Steiner. He was like, I know that name.

Like he'd heard of it. Yeah. And at one point, he said, quote, Clark had exposed himself. This is very upsetting, by the way, he had exposed himself and proceeded to master bait in front of that and placed a pillow over Thad's face to smother him. Though it's unclear whether he was doing this in an attempt to kill him. What the fuck is wrong with this kid? What you find out is that like this kid Joe Clark, and he's not a kid and 17, he's an animal.

He's a fucking monster. He literally got off on suffering, like watching someone suffer. Like he's a straight up monster. Oh my God. Yeah. On Sunday, July 30th, Joe had left the, had to leave the house. So he carried Thad's body like broken body. And

you know this guy wasn't carrying him in a nice way. So this guy, this poor kid Thad has two shattered legs from the waist down. They're just broken. He must have been in like complete shock. Oh, I can't imagine the pain. And like, I can't even imagine. And he had carried him to a closet in his bedroom. And after binding Thad's legs with a bandage, he locked him in there. What the fuck? Yeah.

This is like, oh my god, this is an unimaginable. It really is. The fact that somebody could do this, but a 17-year-old, like, this sounds like a movie that I would never watch. And one that you would be like, that's insane. That's like, because that's why I wouldn't want to watch it. Yeah. And so that is in the closet with two broken legs.

He's been psychologically and physically tortured. It's dehydrated. It's dehydrated as hell. And he sees a guitar in the closet and he's like, well, this is my only chance. So he uses the guitar to break a hole through the door. Like bust through the door. How this kid had any strength to do that?

I have no idea. And he was able to unlock it. He dragged himself down the stairs with two broken legs. And you know his legs were banging on every step. Oh my God, stop it. He found a telephone and he called 911. Holy shit. And by the way, no parents around. Thank you. I was, that was my next question. Yeah. The Phillips family were relieved that that had been found and they raced to St. Clair Hospital.

But they found that doctors were now trying to put several rods and pins and stabilizers in Thads' legs, which they were like, what the fuck? Like what do you mean? And Donald Phillips told investigators that he'd never seen Joe Clark before. Donald is the father. And he said, as far as he knew, Clark wasn't friends with his son. He was like, I don't know who this kid is. Right. Like I've never seen him. And at the time, Phillips was like, this must be some kind of like one time freak attack. Like what the hell is this? Like he was just like, this must be some kind of like one time freak attack. Like, what the hell is this? Like, everybody was just like, he must have snapped.

Like, what is wrong? Because they hadn't seen anything like this. And they had heard that say, hey, he said he did this to Chris Steiner. Oh shit. Now, while doctors went to work on saving Thads legs, again, they had to work to save them. They were thinking they were gonna have to amputate

both of his legs. I can't imagine what she was in. Oh my god. And it looks like he played sports and stuff. He's a little cutie. And mentally, what his state was in. I can't even imagine. I really had to learn how to walk again.

Because he was awful. He would berate him and scream at him. He would say awful things. And then he's standing over him masturbatingating while he's suffering like so fucked up that The trauma that's like layers and layers of trauma. Well sheriff step utes transported Joe Clark to a juvenile detention center And they sat down for an interview which I'm sure was a terrifying interview Wild now at no time during the arrest interviews or trial, did Joe Clark really become forthcoming or honest

with anybody? Not surprised. Yeah, and initially Clark was held on kidnapping charges, obviously, which gave detectives a little more time to investigate other potential charges. And according to Clark, he'd seen that in the yard a couple of times on previous occasions and went to the Phillips house after midnight on the 29th

after seeing the Phillips car is absent from their house. What the fuck? Yeah. So he's an actual predator. He's like a stalker. Like he was watching the bad Phillips in his own fucking yard on several occasions then waits for it to look like his parents aren't home.

Steal some off the fucking couch. This guy had no idea, I know he's doing much worse things, but it's like he had no idea if the parents were home or not, and he's just leaving his five-year-old sister on the couch. Yeah. Has no... Oh, it doesn't give a shit. Yeah, he doesn't give a shit.

If you have the audacity to walk in his house, it's like he's home like that, you don't care about anything. He said when he showed up at the house at midnight, the door was unlocked. And so Clark John let himself in the house. Yeah, it's definitely your house now. And he found that sleeping on the couch with his five-year-old sister. And he said he, quote, assisted him off the couch. Oh, yeah, you're so great. And then he said he walked slash carried him into his house.

Like, abducted. I think I believe that's the word you're searching for. Now beyond that, he said that he again blinked out. Yeah. And does remember anything that happened. But two days, does remember a damn thing. Now based on Thad's report, that Clark, because now he had said, hey, by the way, because he was with it enough to say, by the way,

he said he did this to Chris Steiner, Sheriff's Investigators in Columbia County reopened their investigation into Chris Steiner's death, and we're very eager to find out what Joe Clark knew. So when Steiner's body was discovered in the Wisconsin River that previous year, again, he had been in the water for nearly a week, and the decomposition

was considerable. That's why it made that autopsy so difficult. Because you're bones deteriorate. Well, it's like, they don't, they deteriorate, but it's like, it's tough to figure out what is post mortem injury and what is paramortem, pre mortem, like there's no, it's hard. Yeah. It's very hard, especially in a river like that when you can slam into things and break bones. I'm a little confused why broken bones weren't discovered here. That in-noted from what I, but I don't know.

Okay. And just saying to me, I'm a little... And a full autopsy have been done previously? That's, yeah. So that's, that's confusing to me. That is. But that's just me. That's weird. That's weird. That to me. That is. But that's just me. That's weird. That's weird.

That's suspicious. That is a little weird. So Steiner's body was actually zoomed and reexamined for this thing in the. And it was x-rayed this time, which I'm like it wasn't x-rayed before. Yeah, weird. But I imagine that's probably because they went in with a pretty preconceived notion that he had accidentally drowned and had left his house on his own beliefs. So perhaps it wasn't quite a full autopsy. So this is a good lesson for not going into something like this with a preconceived narrative of what went down. Right, that's kind of your whole job, not to do that.

So they did the x-ray and, huh, after an x-ray, the coroner reported that Steiner had indeed suffered broken knees and broken ankles very similar toer reported that Steiner had indeed suffered broken knees and broken ankles very similar to the injuries that that Phillips had. Holy shit. And the findings of the second autopsy and their implications came as no surprise to Kathy Steiner. Chris Steiner's mom, right?

She had always suspected Clark. What? Yup. She said, quote, he was the last one to talk to Chris that night. And she said he wanted him to go somewhere with him, but Chris refused. He also knew that Chris's brother was not going to be home that night. Oh, she's like Kathy. Kathy knew. Kathy fucking. And that's why he broken through the brother's room. Because he wasn't going to be in the brother. Wasn't going to be there that night. Oh my God. This kid, like, he did, what's the BTK thing

that he said he would do? He would, like, troll. I think he's called that. He's fucking trolling neighborhoods. It's true. He's like, so disgusting. And according to Kathy, Joe Clark had been hanging around her son a lot

in the days before he disappeared. And she said that Clark was, quote, very domineering and said he, quote, hung around younger boys because he could bully them. Yeah. So he's a disgusting predator. Yeah, he's a fuzz- Is what he is.

As the coroner's office conducted their second autopsy of Christina's body, investigator served a search warrant at the Clark home in Fairfield, Wisconsin. Among the evidence seized in the search was, quote, a 48 by 40 inch plywood board with quote, unquote, satanic writing and illustration scribbled on it. A film canister quote, with possible marijuana seeds. So remember it's the 90s.

Yes. A leg brace and a body brace. Several horror films on VHS, which by the way, Dave found out which horror films were, like I'm on the river. And I love it because Dave when he wrote this to me was like, these are the films that were found. So among other things, Joe Clark had terrible taste in horror movies. It was witchcraft, okay, which is, I don't know which year there's a few

witchcraft movies, but none of them look like they're pretty awesome. One, I want you to look this one up, guys. Okay. Children shouldn't play with dead things. Oh, what the fuck? It looks, if you look at the IMDB page for that, it has like a little trailer for it or some little clip. It looks ridiculous and so weird.

Ew, even the cover, I'm like, yeah. And he also had close encounters of the third kind. So he's not killing it in the horror game here. Definitely not. What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times or fell in love with a vampire, or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed? What would you do?

I'm Whit Missildine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived a notorious serial killer, you'll hear their first-person account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery. These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you,

this is actually happening. Followed this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts, you can listen to ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wundery app. So that was found. There was also, and this is the most chilling to me, they found several sketches of house interiors in the area. What? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that is, that's like some angelic level motherfucking creep shit bringing it to the rewatcher. They... Why? ...sketches of house interiors. That's on a different, like, what the fuck? And it's like, was he sitting there

fucking drawing people's houses? That's the same. ...in their house. And it's like, or was he, to me, I'm like, was he going around the outside of people's houses at night and like peaking in and like getting the layout that way? Right. Before going in. Probably.

Like what's up? He could go back home and study it and say like, oh, I'm gonna go in here. I'm gonna go in this way and then I'll leave this way. This door usually is unlocked. Like what the... Horrifying. That is so chilling. Horrifying to me. Oh.

They found that broken guitar that that said he used to get out of there. And they also discovered three lists that were titled Get To Now, Can Wait and Leg Thing. And each of these lists had several names of local boys in the area I don't know if they were ever told. I hope they weren't. But they were literally on a, you read on a list get priority. Like priority. Can wait or leg thing. What?

Like what? So he was like predatory watching young boys in the area and like putting together lists and then going off of those lists. This is one of the wildest cases I've ever heard. It is and it's like, again, 17. Where the fuck are the parents? Not even, we're gonna find out

where they were these two days, but where the fuck are you all before that? That your kid is drawing sketches of interiors of homes and writing lists of boys in the area, creeping on boys in the area, and you have no idea. Yeah, like what are you doing? Like, you gotta do something here. Oh my God.

Now, with Clark being relatively young, 17 years old, his crimes being fucking brutal to the point of stunning seasoned investigators and his history of getting in trouble, there was some pause as to whether the... Soak. Soak. Soak.

I can't fucking say that word. South County juvenile justice system was even equipped to handle a case like this because it was also gonna attract a lot of public attention and interest. But after two days of debate and consideration, Judge Virginia Wolff, which I was like, what a badass thing.

There you go. Ruled that Joseph Clark would be tried as an adult. Yeah, if he was and I would have been so pissed because that's an adult crime. That shit is adults, everything that you've done. And on September 7th, 1995, he appeared before a judge in Circuit Court where he was charged with attempted first degree

intentional homicide, burglary, kidnapping, intentionally causing great bodily harm to a child, mayhem, causing mental harm to a child, mayhem, causing mental harm to a child, and two counts of child enticement. Damn. If convicted on all counts, he was going to get about 170 years in prison. I hope you got all of those. So the waiver of Joe Clark into the adult court meant that the offender's name could

be released to the public. So of course, this made people very interested in this case and knowing what the fuck his motives were. Right. What is going on here? It's wild. So according to Clark, Joe Clark's father, Ron Clark, we're getting into the parents now. Joe was in a motorcycle accident in May of 1993, the year earlier, in which quote, he was thrown 30 to 40 feet through the air and landed on his head. And he said, potentially causing some brain trauma. And his father said that maybe he had kind of

snapped. He was a real hot tempered after that. Now the following year. Oh, there's more. I get her face. There's more. So the following year, things took another really difficult turn for Joe Clark, according to his parents. Okay. He'd gotten into this car at this motorcycle accident. And the following year, Christina was found dead. Apparently, kids at school immediately and regularly taunted him about the death, saying that he had done it.

Yeah, he did. So kids at school knew he had done it. What the fuck? They didn't know, but like, he expected it. He did it to them, but they were like, this fucker did it. Wow. He must have been like, I can't imagine being like, oh yeah, like that was definitely my fellow classmates

that tortured that boy to death. He for sure did it. Like what? Yeah. And his father said to reporters, I even heard with my own ears, a girl come up to him in the parking lot at school and say to him, did you kill Chris Steiner?

Well. And I wanna say, parents, does that concern you at all? That his entire peer group believes that he killed one of their own? Like, what is making them think that? Like, I know kids can be fucked, I understand that, but maybe sit him down and be like,

why are they saying this? Like, yeah, because there's some kind I understand that, but maybe sit him down and be like, why are they saying this? Like, yeah, because there's some kind of reason behind that. Talk to him. Yeah. Why are you not talking to him? Why are you just going, wow, fuck, that's crazy. That's wild. Let me reflect up.

Like, sit down with your fucking childs and go, why does your entire school think you killed this boy? Right. Because if this is just like a witch hunt here, which is what they describe it as later. Oh my God. Yeah. Then we need to do something about it.

But like if this is based off of things you have done or said, then you need help, my boy. Right. Like that should be the discussion. Like let's get you some help. We need to get you some help, even if you are falsely admitting to this or eluding to that, you did it.

You need to get help. And we are here to help you. Exactly, even if you are falsely admitting to this or alluding to that you did it, you need to get help. And we are here to help you. Exactly. They did none of that. So during her testimony in the Phillips trial, Joe's mother, Bertha Clark, said to the jury that Joe was genuinely distraught over Snyder's death, and it caused a noticeable change to him. But what I think is when she says

he was genuinely distraught, I think what she means is he was trying to act distraught. Yeah. Because it's like, you're forgetting that he did it. Right, like you're letting go of that whole fact. Let's not say he was genuinely feeling any kind of feelings about that because it's like, no, he brutally tortured this child to death.

So no. And she said, Joey was hurt because his friend had died and people were trying to blame him for it. Could you imagine how that would make him feel? But birth a girl, he did it. Like I'm sorry, girl, what? So they didn't believe that he did it. No.

And also it's like, I'm sorry, can you imagine how it makes Christina's parents feel? To know that your child, your 17-year-old child, abducted him and murdered him. Abducted him from his home, from his bed, in his bedroom, dragged him to this house and tortured him for God knows how long. It also feels like, hey, Bertha,

what do you think about him? All the fucking images he has sketched of your neighbor's house. The interior of people's houses. What do you think about that? What about the lists of those names? Like that doesn't concern you at all. Like we're not gonna touch that.

Let's not put on rose colored glasses. Now according to the parents, the harassment at school became so bad that they had to withdraw him from Baraboo High School. And he was unable to, before he was even able to finish his senior year. Well, don't murder people and that won't happen. Yeah.

And when they pulled him out of school, they said he worked a few entry-level farm jobs. He had some stints as a cook and dishwasher at a local restaurant, which is hard. That's too funny. But Joe's parents also came under a little scrutiny after this. One would think.

Because they were trying to figure out, everybody's trying to figure out what the fuck is an explanation for this kid's violent anti-social behavior here. And how the fuck did this happen in your home and you had no idea? Exactly. Now, on the evening that Thad was abducted from his home, the clerks were visiting their daughter in nearby portage, and they weren't planning to return until the following day. So they had left Joe alone in the house for most of the weekend. His father did say to reporters, and again, he's 17. So like, leaving him alone is not a felony here.

No, that's not crazy at all. His father told reporters, we called Friday night, so it's not like we were out of touch with him. So that's fine, whatever. I'm not worried about that. No, me either. But according to investigators who conducted the initial search of the Clark home, the house was in a state of big disarray when they arrived.

The kitchen was strewn with beer bottles. And when they looked in Joe's personal journal, which was taken into evidence, he details his parents' extreme alcoholism. Oh. And he's at one point, he says, mom and dad are downstairs getting drunk again. I don't like admitting it, not even in my journal. That's sad. It is sad.

Now, according to Joe, his mother drank routinely during an interview. She was like, he was she drank routinely and intensely to the point of passing out all the time. Wow. She said that's not true. She had never drank to the point of passing out. That's not true. She had never drank to the point of passing out that's not true. And of course, the press and public at this point are hearing all this stuff and they're

speculating on Clark's possible motive and the circumstances that led him to become this. But they were going to have to wait for the actual trial to get any real sight into his psychology and they were going to get it. Oh God. So initially, Joe Clark's trial for the crimes against Thad Phillips were gonna be getting early September and it was gonna be presented in two parts. The first was gonna be basically to determine did he commit these crimes? And the second was gonna say,

did he do so because of, quote, mental defect or disease, so insanity. But when he appeared before a circuit court judge on September 5th, 1996, Joe pleaded no contest to the charges against him. Interesting. So the guilt and innocence phase was moot now. They didn't need it.

Now all they had to do was determine whether he was mentally incapacitated when he abducted, tortured, and attempted to kill Thad Phillips. So the trial to determine his competency began September 16th, 1996. During this time, his defense attorney, Mark Frank, presented the case for insanity. Frank's case really rested largely on that head trauma thing

and the potential brain injury suffered when he was thrown from, I think it was a dirt bike more than a motorcycle 1993 According to medical records he suffered a blood clot above the covering of the brain not below it Which made a quick recovery after surgery But since the accident Frank told the jury that Joe Clark quote has had and continues to have an abnormal condition of the mind Joe Clark quote, has had and continues to have an abnormal condition of the mind. Now, according to Frank the defense attorney, the injuries that he got from the accident required treatments, including having arteries to the brain cauterized, which could affect mental

processes. He called several witnesses who also gave testimony saying that there were dramatic changes in his behavior and in the years since the accident, he had hallucinations, psychotic behavior, suicidal impulses, delusions, social impairment and personality. Wow. These are all, none of them are experts, they're all just people.

Oh, okay. So unfortunately for the defense, under cross-examination, several of these witnesses were a little less effective than they were when they had been initially presented by the defense. Joe's mother, Bertha, for example. And this part annoys me how they went about this

because I think there was just a better way to go about it, but that's just me. Okay. Bertha had to walk back a lot of statements about his injuries because she made them seem worse and worse and worse and definitely wasn't like overplaying them. Sure. But when prosecutor Pat Barrett came to cross examine her,

they basically said that the woman's eighth grade education could not be expected to understand our cane medical terminology. Okay, well. And it's like, fuck off. I don't think we need to do that because I don't care if you have an eighth grade education or what, if it's your child, like you know,

you know what I mean? I don't think that's a great way to go about it. I think that's kind of like poking. Yeah, it is. It feels like, well, and I think they were, I think they were treating her that way probably because of what had come out. That's the thing. That's just kind of like, well, and I think they were, I think they were treating her that way probably because of what had come out. That's the thing.

That's just kind of like, and actually to demonstrate this, they handed her a paperclip and a ruler on the stand and asked her to tell the paperclip size and centimeters. Okay, so they're humiliating her. That's the thing. I don't think humiliation is necessary. No, I don't need that. I don't understand that.

Because regardless of the comfortable. Yeah, that's the thing it makes me uncomfortable. humiliation is necessary. No, I don't need that. I don't understand that. Because regardless of the comfortable. Yeah, that's the thing it makes me uncomfortable. I was like, that's not a good. I wouldn't feel good about that. No. I understand that we're trying to prove that she's really not a great witness. Well, you're taking men's explaining to the next level.

Well, there's very easy... Like, we can tell that she is lying in over exaggerating things and that she is not a great credible witness. And if you can tell that without pointing to her education, like, and that's the thing, you're just, you're kind of going for like low fruit. That exactly, that's what it feels like to me, but whatever.

And although she was not an effective witness when it came to describing the physical trauma, her son suffered in the accident. She did insist that she'd seen a big change in her son after the accident, which could absolutely be true. She said, there's something terribly wrong. He needs psychiatric treatment,

which is like, okay. Correct. Did you try to get him any? Yeah. The answer is no. And if you were that concerned, you would have. Yeah. And Barrett countered this statement

by producing a big amount of reports from various school and social service agencies who had all done assessments of Joe in previous years after he had punched another student and threatened to kill a teacher. Oh my god. On other things. So there were warning signs there. And the reports contradicted the claim that Joe required considerable considerable care after the accident, totally contradicted it. And also the fact that he had been, he was evaluated for psychological impairments after that as well. And it was, it was an unremarkable report, like not at all.

Yeah. So it doesn't look like we're getting this insanity defense. Exactly. And Barrett pointed out, well, Bertha Clark may see a need for psychological treatment now, his parents had at no time tried to get him help before this. Yes. Before sitting on the stand and screaming at everybody that he needs help, seems can none of them had even lifted a finger to try to get him help.

It shouldn't take your son murdering or kidnapping another child and holding them hostage to make you realize that. You know what? He needs help. And it's like, okay, well, to late. Sometimes I know it can be hard to get help, but you didn't even make the effort. Right.

There's no evidence of them ever making effort. Not shitty. And the problem with the case put together by the fence was that it relied almost exclusively on the testimony of just regular witnesses, like laymen. No exes. No exes. Yeah, no expertise to speak on physical, mental, or emotional health of this child before or after the head injury. And none of the,

they had four psychologists evaluate Joe Clark after his arrest, and none of them were willing to support a diminished capacity defense. So that tells you everything you need to know. And as if the prosecution's well-executed for the most part, aside from the evaluation. Aside from the evaluation. They're well-executed cross-examinations of the defense witnesses. As if that wasn't bad enough, Frank, Mark Frank's odds of success plummeted even more when Barrett called his first witness, which was Thad Phillips.

Oh, shit. So Phillips detailed the absolutely horrific ordeal for the court. He said, he grabbed Mike throat and twisted my right ankle. I could feel it snap. Oh my God. He said, when I looked down, my foot was on backwards. Holy shit.

He said, he pushed my leg up at an angle towards my head. He kept pushing it and pushing it until it broke. Oh. He also told the jury early on in the ordeal. He had asked Clark if he had ever done this before and Clark responded saying, do you know Chris Steiner? Wow. And according to Thad, Joe Clark also told him that there was an unnamed boy he had paralyzed.

What the fuck? Yup. And the boy's testimony, the money was so heart wrenching and compelling that everybody was just like silent. I believe like a poor crying, like it was just awful. And at one point, he became too emotional and he said he can't, he was like,

please can I stop talking about this? Of course. And they did, recess was granted. Good. Now among the last, and maybe the most important witnesses to be called by the prosecution was well-known forensic psychiatrist Park Deats.

He had actually testified in the Jeffrey Dahmer case, the Ted Kaczynski case, and Betty Brodrick. Ah. Now, according to Deats, Joe Clark, quote, is a serial sexual sadist who takes pleasure in breaking his victim's legs. But his anti-social personality disorder is not a legal defense to his crimes. Deet said Clark is faking his amnesia and falsely claiming every kind of hallucination known to man in order to avoid responsibility for his crimes.

And he said as evidence of deviant pathology, he said that Clark wrapped Thads' legs and ace bandages and put three pairs of white gym socks on his feet before masturbating in front of him. What the fuck? And he said, quote, Clark's fetish for gym socks, which he took from the Phillips home before abducting the boy. And the fact that he masturbated in front of the injured victim showed he was aroused by making people suffer.

That's so, so gross. Yeah. Now the following day, September 18th, and that was like damning. That was real damning. Yeah. Yeah, he stole gym socks from the house. Yeah. That's on another level.

Yeah, this whole thing is on another level. It's really it. The jury deliberated for just one hour before unanimously rejecting the defences claim that Joe Clark was suffering from any kind of mental incapacity when he kidnapped and tortured that Phillips. The verdict really wasn't a shock to anyone in the courtroom. An observing attorney in the courtroom that day actually said he had sympathy for Mark Frank, the defense team, in the defense team.

He said it was, quote, a dog case, but somebody had to take it. So basically, they're all like, yeah, you're not winning this one. Right. Moments after the verdict was read, that Phillips was smiling and hugging Pat Barrett, and he was very happy with the outcome of the trial. He told reporters at the sentencing hearing on November 14th, Joe Clark was sentenced to 100 years in prison for the kidnapping and assaults of the girls.

Bye. Now, in October 1997, a civil court judge ruled in favor of Thad Phillips in order Joe Clark to pay 31,566 in medical damages, $6 million in compensatory damages. And 21 million in damages to the victim. Holy shittake mushrooms. Clark had no money at the time. Yeah. And he's like, you know, seven. And he's in prison. He's unlikely to really hurt anything. So how did he get that payout?

The judge ruled that he was that she was going to allow him to make money from the case so that he could pay this. Okay. She said, given the sensational nature of this case, it is entirely possible that the defendant could reap some financial game through media coverage in the future. Okay. And she was like, and it's going to go to them. That must have been okay with that. I guess so. Now on to the murder trial. Yes. I was going to say.

Yes. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say.

I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. I was going to say. And Clark had been among the small number of potential suspects that had been interviewed following the discovery of Steiner's body. Oh, wow.

Yeah, and Steiner's parents had strongly suspected him, like involvement in the death, like from the beginning. So investigator, what the gators pretty much were like, okay, we got our guy. And their suspicions only grew when following Clark's arrest the previous year. A second autopsy of Steiner's body had shown those injuries that were so similar to Thad. And then Thad's testimony that Clark had just admitted to him that he had done that. He had done that.

That was really the last piece of evidence that they needed. So less than a week after the verdict was read in the case against Clark for the attack on Phillips, Columbia County just Cirque de Tourney, Mark Bennett announced that he was going to be filing criminal charges against Joe Clark for the murder of Chris Steiner. In a press conference a day later,

he cited the testimony collected during the Phillips investigation in the subsequent trial, but saying, we feel those statements are very relevant, but we do have other evidence. Some included in the complaint and some not included. Okay. So after the press conference, Ron and Bertha Clark, Joe Clark's parents, they spoke out against the county, the Columbia County District Attorney's Office. They accused investigators of misrepresenting the facts of the case. And they said, quote, we're talking about two kids who

got in a fight. The police made up the rest of the story. I don't think that that's what we're talking about two kids who got in a fight. The police made up the rest of the story. I don't think that that's what we're talking about. I think we're talking about one kid that went home after killing the other and putting him in a river. It's like, I think we're talking about different things here. Your son and Joe abducted and tortured somebody and was like convicted of it. Like is sitting in prison as we speak.

I don't know how you deny it when this kid called 911 from your fucking house. How do you deny this? That's just like, what? They didn't go down the street and call and be like, I was at that house. He was in your fucking house. And you have a broken closet door to prove

that he broke out of it. It goes beyond denial. Like, you can't, that's ridiculous. Like are you kidding me right now? And now you're going to say that they're real voting him when he admitted to killing this other kid in the exact fucking same way. Like yeah, it sucks that your son is a murderer and not a come to terms here. Exactly, because you're disrespecting another family by saying it has several other families.

It's like come on. They thought their son was being unfairly accused of murder and they said that he's only being accused because he was seen with Chris the day he disappeared. And it's like, no. He's being accused because he said he did it. And Ron said, that's the charges they wanted to bring in the first place.

Thad Phillips was just a way to get there. Thad Phillips was in your home, dude. You mean the fact that your son like, absolutely abducted, tortured, and tried to kill Thad Phillips in your home, dude. You mean the fact that your son like, absolutely abducted, tortured, and tried to kill that Phillips in your home? That was just a convenient way for them to get him on murder charges. I don't understand how these people can't, like.

That's the thing. I understand that it's, I can't even fathom how hard it is to come to terms or grips with your child being this fucking level of monster. I don't speak again, like. But it's like you can't. No. You're sounding wilds right now. And disrespectful. Disrespectful. And disrespectful saying that they were just trying to pin this on him. Are you saying that the entire thing was set up? Like, that's bones are broken because they just wanted to get a murder

conviction on this random kid. I don't understand. No. So the preliminary hearing was to be held in early October, and Thad Phillips was going to be the state's main witness in the case. Although they had other evidence, his testimony was really going to be, that was already known to the public. It was pretty much key to prosecuting the case. But a few days before the hearing was to begin, Thad Phillips got into an

argument with another boy, which resulted in the boy shooting Thad in the shoulder. Oh my god. According to the shooter, uh, named Michael, Thad and a friend had threatened to kill him, and we're entering his home without permission, so he shot Phillips in the back. What? Yeah. I didn't see that coming. Yeah. Nobody did. Apparently Thad recovered by the following month. And in early November, Joe was formally charged

with three criminal counts including first degree intentional homicide of Kristiner. But that was like, what was Thad in trouble? I don't think he was in trouble because he was the one that was shot. But I was wondering if it was the person who was talking about truth to him. I don't think they had a lot of evidence to the contrary, but whoof, what a life. I was just going to say like Jesus, like you are very young to be having all this stuff

happen. No, the trial began on November 4th, 1997 with Kathy and George Steiner being the first of a lot of witnesses called. In their testimonies, both parents told the jury how they discovered their son was missing, the frantic search that followed, and then them finding out that Chris' body was found in the river. Kathy Steiner told the jury about the argument her son had had with Joe Clark that afternoon. Oh, right.

I forgot about that. And the significance of which was compounded by Thad Phillips' testimony, in which he detailed the extent of his own ordeal in Clark's confession to the murder of Steiner. So they had everything they needed. Now, there was a lot of overlap between the two cases, obviously.

In the Steiner murder case kind of unfolded pretty much the same as the Phillips case did. A lot of the same evidence, many of the same witnesses. And this time, however, Ron and Bertha Clark attempted to provide an alibi for Joe. They told the jury Joe was asleep in his bed on July 3rd, 1994, the night that he was, uh, Steiner was believed to have been abducted. And you're just telling us this now, how convenient. Well, in the prosecutor quickly challenged that. She confronted Bertha with the photographs of empty bear cans in the house,

that being in such disarray, as well as Joe's journal, where he repeatedly wrote about his parents' drinking and how they were always passed out, they were always incapacitated. And basically, they said, if this was indicative of a pattern, we really can't trust your alibi.

True. And it's the truth. Yeah. And that's the whole point of this is to discredit the witness. Of course. Now, after several days of testimony, the jury sided with the prosecution

and he was found guilty for the first degree murder of Christina. Yeah. Two weeks later, he was brought before Judge James Evanson for sentencing. Evanson called Clark a mean sadistic killer, and noted that the evidence was overwhelming

in proving Clark's guilt, despite his continued statements of innocence. Before passing his sentence, Judge Evanson asked whether Joe Clark had anything to say to the court, and he said, I've done nothing wrong. You're condemning an innocent person. For sure. You've done nothing wrong. Totally. Okay. Hey, look at that over there. Yeah. He was just in your house with broken legs. Yeah. Wanted to break through your closet for fun,

Zees. Luckily, Joe Clark was sentenced to 110 years in prison for the murder of Chris Steiner, which he had to serve concurrently with his 100-year sentence. He was already serving for the murder of Kristiner, which he had to serve concurrently with his 100-year sentence. He was already serving for the abduction and attack on that Phillips. 110 years. He will have to serve at least 70 years of his sentence before even being eligible for parole. Good. Now, outside the courthouse, his parents said the sentence was basically bullshit, and

they called the trial a witch hunt. Yes, for sure. A witch hunt. Like, you your, what? It's not like he's this innocent boy that they plucked out of nowhere. He was, there was a boy in his house, calling 911 with broken legs, saying that this kid had abducted him from his house. I, I can't with these people.

And apparently, and they accused the authorities of conspiring against their son. They said, it's only a bunch of circumstantial evidence, testimony from a bunch of kids they dragged in here from jail to tell stories. I don't know. I think it's based on a bit more than that. All right. Doesn't change the fact that he's in jail for 270 years. So in the fall of 1998, Joe Clark did appeal the ruling in the Phillips case.

I figured. And apparently, challenging the factual basis for his convictions on the homicide, fall of 1998, Joe Clark did appeal the ruling in the Phillips case. I figured. And apparently, challenging the factual basis for his convictions on the homicide, Mayhem, and mental harm charges. Excuse me? What? The petition said that Clark had been wrongfully convicted of Mayhem. This blows my mind.

Because Mayhem is defined as an act committed by one who with intent to disable or disfigure another, cuts or mutilates the tongue, eye, ear, nose, lip, limb, or other bodily member of another. So Joe's lawyer said, well, due to advances in science and medicine, that Phillips didn't suffer any permanent damage. Oh, my God.

So his sign cannot be guilty of mayhem as it's defined by the law. Oh my God. I gotta ask her, how the fuck do you sleep at night? Like that is, you go home and you put your fucking head on a pillow like, damn, I don't know about that. I know, I know like defense attorneys have a hard job.

I have a very hard job, some of the hardest jobs. And I know you gotta do what you gotta do. But in this situation, I'm like, there's a lot. I mean, I be like, dude, that's not, that's not something I want to do. I'm not stupid by name. You got to give this one up. Like, you got to let this one go, to be saying that, that due to medical advances, that didn't suffer any permanent damage. Like, how about permanent mental damage? Are you fighting? Choking. And you're literally saying, well, if it was like back way back when, didn't suffer any permanent damage. Like how about permanent mental damage? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? And you're literally saying,

well, if it was like back, way back when, and this happened, sure, he could be cause, it would be mayhem, but because we're smarter now, and technology has advanced, we can't do that. Also, he has like rods and shit in his leg. Yeah, that's not permanent damage. Yeah, that's not permanent damage. Oh, it just blew my leg.

If my leg is no longer just my leg, that's damage. Luckily, the court justices disagreed with that argument and they upheld the original finding. And that like the back office is when they got that. They were like, whoa, they were like, wow, shoot for the stars, I guess, my guys. How's that reach? They said, we do not see anything in either the historical notion of mayhem or its current placement in the statutory scheme, which would require victims' disabilment or disfigurement to be permanent. It is reasonable to infer that Clark knew that these injuries would disable his victim from escaping, especially in light of Clark's additional threat to paralyze the victim if

he tried to leave the house. Yeah. Therefore, the trial court's findings of a factual basis for mayhem was clearly not aromias. Now additional challenges were made to the attempted murder and mental harm to a child charges, which I'm like, you got to stop. Yeah, like, where is the line? And they were trying to do it the same way with the strict interpretation of the law. Like looking for loopholes, actually.

And these arguments were very unpersuasive. All of them were upheld, which is like, you are really going after mental harm to a child charge based on strict interpretation of that law. I would never. Like, you. I, I, that I don't get. There was a second appeal that was filed in March 1999 and it argued that several pieces of evidence in the Steiner murder case specifically Thad's testimony and the list of names discovered on those lists and the investigations, they lacked merit.

What? And the verdict should be reversed. I don't think so. Essentially what the petition argues is that because these pieces of evidence were from a separate trial. From the Thad. The Phillips trial.

From a separate trial. They should not have been allowed to be used in a separate trial. From the Thalips trial. From the separate trial? They should not have been allowed to be used in the murder trial. And the justices were like, no. But like these two events correlate. Like I... The trial court properly exercised its discretion in determining that the evidence was relevant for purposes of motive, plan, intent, and identity, and in determining that its probative value was not outweighed by unfair

prejudice. After reviewing all the evidence, the ruling was upheld. So Joe Clark is going to be in jail, forever and ever and ever and always. And then there's just like no info on if he paralyzed a boy. That one, just when I loved everywhere for that, they could not find what that was. So maybe he was just shit talking. So he could have just been shit talking or he, he did it to someone who was in, you know, a bad position and wouldn't be able to come forward. Yeah. Damn.

Wow. That was something. That was a really intense case, very upsetting. I feel so bad for in a lot of ways. Chris and Mark TyLayered. Chris and Multi-Layered. Yeah. And now Chris Steiner's family now knows what he went through

before he died. I know. That's even worse. Absolutely. Like they have, it's closure is such a weird word we always say, but they have that closure of knowing what happened now instead of just wondering what happened. But my God at what cost. Like that. I know. Knowing that just wondering what happened. But my God, at what cost?

Like that. I know. No, I think that's what happened. I don't know. I wonder how they feel about knowing. I hope they're okay. I hope they are too. I hope that's okay.

I know. I hope that's doing great. Honestly. Wow, that was a lot. I hope Joe Clark's parents got it together at exactly the same time. I honestly do. I hope they got it together. I hope they were able to accept the truth. What had happened. Yeah. And move together. I honestly do. I hope they got it together. I hope they were able to accept

the truth. What had happened. Yeah. And move forward and stopped denying it. Hopefully, healthily. Yeah. Like hopefully you got it together. Yeah. Yeah. You know, but oh, that's a sad story all around. It's an awful, awful, awful case. And where was that again? Wisconsin. That's crazy. Yeah. Guys who are just supposed to be known for cheese. I know what are you doing? Calm down. Calm down over there. Well, thanks for listening. Yeah, and we hope you keep it weird. Well, but not so weird that you forgot to say weird at the end of your own show. And I don't think you should ever keep it as weird as Joe Clark did because they're also being present for 200 and forever years. Yes, don't keep it that weird at all. Billy, go have a so much. Right. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple

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