Morbid - Episode 467: The Murder Of Elizabeth Riser & The Attempted Murder Of Brandi Hicks

Episode Date: June 12, 2023

On May 23, 2000, teens Elizabeth "Liz" Reiser and Brandi Hicks went down to the local video store in New Philadelphia, Ohio to rent a movie. While there, they met a man who told them he had no way to get home and would pay them $20 if they would give him a ride. Both girls believed in helping their fellow human, so they agreed after a bit of hesitation. What began as a routine act of charity quickly spiraled out of control, resulting in the murder of Liz Reiser and the attempted rape and attempted murder of Brandi Hicks by the man they had intended to help, Mathew Vaca. The crimes committed against Reiser and Hicks were brutal and sent shockwaves through the small Ohio community. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to morbid, early, and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. You're listening to a morbid network podcast. Audible lets you enjoy all your favorite audio entertainment in one app. You'll always find the best of what you love or something new to discover. Audible offers an incredible selection of audiobooks across every genre, from best sellers and new releases to celebrity memoirs, mysteries, thrillers, motivation, wellness, business,

and more. And as an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including the latest best sellers and new releases. The Audible app makes it super easy to listen anytime, anywhere, while traveling, working out, walking, doing chores you decide. And me personally, right now I've been switching between Paris's new autobiography and Pamela Anderson's, and they're both narrated by both of them, so when I'm listening in the

car, I feel like my girlies are there with me. New members can try Audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500-500. That's audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500-500 to try Audible free for 30 days. Audible.com slash morbid. Reboot your credit card with Apple card. The credit card created by Apple. It gives you unlimited daily cashback that you can now choose to grow in a high-yield savings account at 4.15% annual percentage yield. That's more than 10 times higher

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. Orbid! This is morbid! We are here! I'm here in my comfy chair right now. Or bizz! This is more bizz! We are here! I'm here in my comfy chair right now.

Yeah, we're in comfy chairs. We don't have squeaky chairs anymore. I know it takes us a long time to figure these things out and to remedy them, but we get there eventually. We are who we are, and that's all we are. It's true. Papa, you know, I am who I am. That's all done.

Guys, did you, I'm not gonna talk about it because I haven't seen it yet. Have you seen the finale of succession? No. Please let me know. I have four left. I have a lot of feelings about it and I need to talk to someone.

I have four left and I like wanna get through them because I'm excited, but then I don't wanna get through them because then it's over. You do wanna get through them. No, I do. I wanna get through them. You're gonna get through them. You're gonna,. You do want to get through them. No, I do. I want to get through them. You're going to get through them. You're going to.

I feel it. You're going to make it. You're going to make it. You're going to make it through. But yeah, this is a succession household over here. Oh, hell yeah. So everybody, let's talk about it because I need to talk to somebody.

John and I are just like want to talk to everyone about it, but no one's seen it. Did you talk to anyone about it? Did you talk to him separately? I haven't yet, but I'm going to. I figured I'm gonna break the seal. But yeah, so that's where I am. And then tomorrow night is the...

Or the... Yeah, this week at GPR. Ah, I ran home for a little bit while you were doing your thing. Yeah. Our Rotten Hale was delivered. Oh, Ash got us some uniforms to wear. Rotten hail sweatshirts for the Vanderpump rules reunion part two. Or do. And then I ordered John and Drew number one guy in the group because they're tied,

obviously, but those didn't come yet. Oh, maybe the Cuban time. I think they're going to. I feel it. and then well Oh, I watched the summer house finale last night really fucking good. Oh, there you go page forever Just giving you a little update on our lives the Celtics lost game seven last night Um about that sport heads John and I were very sad. Yeah, it was a pretty rough one We were yeah, it was a really sad moment. I just want everybody to feel that with me. I'm sorry. They didn't show up. So they really did. Sometimes you can't. They really didn't. I thought we were going to get... Sometimes you can't. Sometimes you don't. You know what? Maybe we just weren't specific in our manifesting when... Because you know, like the whole thing going

into Game 7 for the Celtics was like, we're gonna make history and it's like maybe we should have been a little more detailed with that because I feel like that was a historically awful game. Oh no. So like maybe we did make history as like blowing it in the worst way possible. So like, you know, next time we'll get them because we'll be a little more, I mean, a little more specific with our manifesto. Yeah. It was a rough one. It hurt. I love the Celtics. So this was really sad. But here we are. Here we are today. I was like, how many playoffs until the five. Yeah. She was like, are we in the, is this the champion trip? I did not understand. I am gay. She said go sports. I said drag races on Friday. So yeah, there's that. That's the update on our lives.

And I'm about to tell you a really fucking terrible story. And I think I was just stalling before telling you it because it's really sad. Oh good, mine this week is also very terrible. So fantastic. Oh good, okay. So this one is one that I had not heard of, which is incredible.

Yeah, usually doesn't happen. This story is so awful that I was like, why was this not more highly publicized? Okay, you need to shut your mouth right now because I was the same. Had that, not only is it the same, I had that conversation with Dave and typed out why is this not more highly public?

Wow, look at us. Weird. That's weird. We've been on the same case wavelengths the last couple weeks, which is very odd. Yes. Very strange. And you know what? I moved out of my comfort zone.

I'm in 2000 today. She said, I've been to the year 2000. And it's fucking terrible. So we were there. Mama will be moving back out to the old times after this, but I came here for all of you, pause for the collective groan. There you go.

Exactly. So I'm going to be talking today about the brutal murder of Liz Reiser and the attempted murder of Brandy Hicks. Oh shit. This is it's awful. Okay, so in the early morning hours of May 24th 2000 that that's the other reason why I'm shocked I've never heard of it. It's like it was in an error when I feel like I would have heard it happen but on May 24th 2000 the Riser family was roused out of On May 24, 2000, the riser family was roused out of dead sleep in the absolute worst way. Twelve-year-old Jordan Riser was the one who heard the knock at the door. It was 4am.

And his bedroom was happened to be closest to the door, so he was the only one who heard it. No one is expecting to hear anyone want to be led into your house at 4am. No. And if they are, they're not coming in. They're not coming in. They're not coming in. But he peeled himself from his bed and he opened it. And he was stunned because standing in front of him was a uniformed police officer.

Oh no. At 4am, that's not a good thing. No. He couldn't even formulate a sentence. He was just like staring at this officer for a minute, being like, I'm 12. Like at my doorstep? Like at my doorstep? And the officer asked something about Jordan's 17 year old sister Liz,

who hadn't come home that night. And Jordan was like, I'm confused. I don't understand what you even want. So he kind of muttered something to the officer and was like, I'll just get my parents, like, hold on. Yeah. But his parents, Becky Reiser and her husband, Jeff Reiser, were obviously

very much asleep at 4am and so Jordan walks into their room and is like hey a Police officer is at the door and wants to speak to you which has to be like in the in the grand scale of things that you don't want your child to walk into your room in the middle of the night and tell you that All of that and then way down is I threw up. Yeah. Like that's that that is I can't fathom my child's walking into my room and saying there is a police officer at the door. No, at 4 a.m. And when you have a child who is not in the house that night, no, no, no, no, that's the worst nightmare that you could ever fathom. So Beckyiser said, he says, this is what Jordan had said to his mother, this is Becky Riser. Yep.

She said later that he had said to her, he says that Brandi was in the river and Liz is missing. What? So Brandi is Liz's best friend who she was with that night. Okay. So he comes in there and he goes, Brandi's in the river and Liz is missing. Jesus Christ.

At first, none of this registered again, middle of the night, what the fuck? But all of a sudden, the words hit and she came tearing out of bed, launched herself down the stairs and out the front door to the front porch to find a police officer standing on the front porch. So she was like, because at first, she must have thought, like, am I dreaming? Is she sleeping? Yes, I'm talking walking.

Is he having a nightmare? What's going on here? And then she walks out there and no, no, we're going to hold. That's real. So the officer introduced himself as officer gentry of the Dover police. It's a place in Ohio. Oh my God. Weird.

Is yours in Ohio? Yes. What the fuck? Weird. What? That's really weird that we're doing that. We're not like communicating about cases. It'll never do. That's really weird.

But officer Gentry asked whether the couple's daughter Liz had been home that night. And Becky said, no, she's staying at her friend Brandy's house for the night. Oh no. And the officer said, OK, well, we checked at Brandy's house and Liz isn't there. But that's the only explanation that they got it first. So like nothing to tell her, hey, why are you looking for her?

Yeah. Like, he was just like, which I can't say this is like the officer's fault because you'll find out he also didn't have a lot of information. He was just kind of sent there to wish they had sent. Shack, somebody with information. Well, that's what I mean. It was more the person who gave him the information, like the lack of information. Yeah.

But like, so this woman is just hearing, hey, is your daughter home? No, she's at her friend's house for the night. Okay, well, we went there and she's not there. And you're like, he didn't even say anything to her about Brandi being in the river. Well, and you're like, okay, why are you looking for her? Like, why do you mean she's not there? What are you talking about? But he was like, it's just really important that you,

he's like, are you sure she's not, she didn't come home. And she's like, well, I guess she could have, like while we're sleeping, it's like, let me check. And so he was like, I really need you to go check and see if she's home. Oh my God. And she's like, okay, so she's confused. And now she's panicked.

So she goes and she's hoping beyond hope that she's gonna find Liz in her bed. And no, she didn't find her. So she goes back to the porch. And at that point, her husband Jeff, Liz's dad, was down there too, talking to the police officer. And when she said no, Liz isn't in her room. They both looked very concerned.

And this is when the first small amount of really awful truth came to light. Oh no. Officer Gentry explained that Liz's best friend, Brandy Hicks, had been walking down the road and had flagged down an officer off duty hours earlier and she had been taken to Union Hospital. That's the information they got. Was that they found out? Our Andy, hours ago, walking down the road

in the middle of the night and had she had flagged down someone and was brought to the hospital. This is like the beginning of an absolutely horrific movie. That's, it's like you're trying to pee. As a parent, I can't even fathom this. Like put these poor people. Like Becky and Jeff were probably like, what the fuck is going on?

What do you mean? So officer Gentry unfortunately didn't have a lot of information, but Brandy had told them when she was picked up that she had actually been in the Tuscaro was, I believe that's how you say it, River. She was soaking wet, she was freezing. Oh my God.

And she was hurt, but she was alive. Liz, however, was not with her. And all Brandy could tell the police was that she was missing and she didn't know where she was. Okay. Oh my god, I just want to go Spain this summer. I don't know if I told you that last time, but I'm just really trying to get to Spain this summer, maybe Barcelona. If you have an upcoming summer trip abroad, my go-to travel hack is Babel. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or embarking on your

first adventure, communication is absolutely key to fully experiencing a new culture. That's where Babel comes in. Babel is the language learning app that sold more than 10 million subscriptions. Thanks to Babel's addictively fun and easy bite-sized language lessons, there's still time to learn a new language before you reach your destination. I have been learning Spanish because I tried in high school but it didn't really work out for me, and now with Babel, I'm getting pretty freaking good, y'all. With Babel, you only need 10 minutes to complete a lesson, so you can start having real-life conversations and as little as three weeks. Babel's expertly crafted lessons are built around real life. You learn how to have a practical

conversation about travel, relationships, businesses, and more. With Babble, you can choose from 14 different languages. Plus, Babble's speech recognition technology helps you improve your pronunciation and your accent, which is like key when you're going to be speaking a new language. You want to sound cool and fluent. There are so many ways to learn with Babel. In addition to lessons, you can access podcast games, videos, stories, even live classes. Those have to be my favorite. Plus, it comes with a 20-day money-back guarantee. Start your new language learning journey two-day with Babel. Right now, get up to 55% off your subscription when you go to Babel.com slash morbid.

That's Babel.com slash morbid for up to 55% off of your subscription. Babble, language for life. When it comes to saving money as a small business owner, every little bit helps. And ship station gives you access to discounts of up to 84% off of US, PS, and UPS rates. And you can manage every order from one simple to use dashboard.

When you lower your shipping costs and make returns easy, your customers stay happy while you save money. And then you're both happy. And that's awesome. It is a super duper easy to set up a trial for shipstation. You just plug in your information. And I feel like now is the time to use it because the economy is wilding right now. You need to save money. Shipstation shipping rates literally save you so much money when you're going without using shipstation. You're paying an arm, a leg, sometimes a toe, like it's ridiculous the prices.

Shipstation has saved me so much money. I am living the dream. Shipstation hooks you up with industry leading discounts so you'll never have to worry about overpaying for shipping. Get up to 84% off USPS and UPS rates. And if that's not enough, use my promo code to try shipstation free for two months. We're less about the bottom line when you save money with shipstation. Go to shipstation.com and use code morbid today and sign up for your free 60 day trial.

That shipstation.com code morbid. So, that's all the risers we're able to get in that moment. Oh my god. And officer Gentry, you know, said thank you for your help, gave them his card, said I'm going to be in touch with you. You call us if she shows up. They're just stunned. Of course. And really like nauseous and

confused, about sustained and panicking. Yeah. And Becky and Jeff just like, we're like, okay. And just like watch him leave. And now we just sit here and try to figure out what any of that meant and what is about to happen

for the rest of the day. And I guess Becky later said she was like in retrospect, I was like, why didn't I press him for more information? But like, why would you, I don't know how I would read. Like that's a weird situation. I feel for them a lot. Like that is your style. You do with that.

You're a 17 year old. You know, like I don't, that's a very stunning thing. And she said, the last thing in my mind was that Liz would have acted out in some way that would have caused trouble. Right. Because like when the police come, you think something is wrong that way. Liz, Riser and her entire family were very devoutly religious. Okay.

So, she was basically the last person that becky or anyone else was going to picture getting into trouble with the police or doing something that would have caused an issue. And of course hearing all this after being shot at a bed at 4 a.m. by a police officer at your door, again, so jarring and confusing mixed with the idea that you're like, she couldn't have done anything, like she's a good kid, I don't know what this is. I really don't blame her for not having questions ready.

No. But this was actually the first time that Becky had allowed her daughter to stay overnight at a friend's house on a school night. Oh my God. And it's like, I think Brandy lived with roommates. So like this was kind of a big thing that she was allowing her to do this. And she knew Liz was a really smart, a really good girl, but she was like something,

like she said, her mother's intuition told her, like, okay, this isn't like something bad happened here. Like something really bad. And like she said immediately, she was like something really bad happened here. But she said at first, she was hoping that, and she was like, of course, I'm hoping she got into trouble. Like she did something bad. Like I was hoping that was the feeling and that

like we could deal with that as a family. I was hoping that something had happened to her. I was honestly hoping that she had done something. But I guess they said they got together, they immediately prayed together. That was how they were able to cope with this. And she said she was fighting off all those feelings that maybe something really, really bad had happened. She said, by, she was like, you know what? I'm just going to rehearse the lecture that I'm going to give her as soon as she gets home. Like, I'm going to picture exactly what I'm going to say to her about whatever she is done wrong. She probably needed to do that to put her mind somewhere else and 100% to

like self-preserve and be like she's still here. Because you're just sitting there and she's in trouble. You know what? I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind. Yeah. When she walks in this door like because she's going to that's the I don't blame her at all like that is and it breaks my heart. But that's the only way that she could cope with this, because she had nothing to go on. I can't fathom it. And you can't let your mind go there before. No, of course not. A four sure 100 percent of your mind can be there. So you're just saying she's going to walk in this door, and she's going to be grounded, because she got into trouble. I know it. Yep. But she was just assuming and hoping this.

And I don't blame her at all. But then hours were going by and she wasn't hearing anything and she's not getting any more answers and Liz is not walking in that door and Becky was starting to worry. Okay. I don't think she got into trouble. I think trouble found her.

Mm-hmm. So officer Gentry, like we said, may have seemed like a little cagey with that, but that's only because he honestly didn't have the details of what was happening. I ran 1.30 a.m. that night, so a couple of hours earlier. That was when an auxiliary police officer was on his way home. He was off duty, and he spotted someone walking down the side of the road. And of course, that's already at least cause for further inspection, because this is at 130 in the morning.

What do you mean? And yeah, and he said that this person looked a little unsteady on their feet. So this officer was like, I think this is like a drunk person trying to walk home. Yeah. And they're going to get hurt, maybe, or worse. So he got a little closer and was just trying to inspect to. Yeah. And they're gonna get hurt. Maybe or worse. Oh. So he got a little closer and was just trying to inspect to see if he could like help or anything. And then he realized this is not a drunk man or like an adult. This is a teenage girl. Oh shit. Oh it's Brandy. And

he said as he passed by her, she started frantically waving him down, like looked and she looked like she was injured, upset. Terrapade. And so he pulls off on the side of the road and he, and so she comes closer to the car and she was again, unsteady on her feet. She soaking wet from head to toe. No shoes are socks on and she was bawling her eyes out, crying hysterically. And the officer was like, what the hell is going on?

And he was like, she's obviously been in water. And he was able to get that out of her that I've been in the river, and that she was hurt, but he said she was far more concerned about her friend. And she was saying, like, I don't know where she is, we have to find her, like, something bad happened to her. And according to the officer, she wasn't making a ton of sense,

and he couldn't understand a lot of it. She was like, really upset hysterical as we'll find out very traumatized and was dealing with the aftermath of a fucking terrible thing. Oh, no. So regardless of what was going on, he just knew she needed a lot of help.

So he was like, you can come in my car. I'm going to drive you to the police department. She later said that this police officer was like her hero because she was like, he listened to me, he comforted me. When he brought me to the police station, remember, he's an auxiliary police officer and he's off duty right now. Yeah. Brought it to the police station and she said he stayed with her. Like would not leave her. Didn't just drop her off and say like, okay, I'm off shift. See you later. He sat there with her, like would not leave her side.

Yeah, one of the good ones. So on the drive, he tried to find out more of what was happening, like tried to calm her down a little bit. But all she could say was that her name was Brandy Hicks and her friend Liz Riser was missing. But he didn't need the whole story to know that something violent had clearly happened to her because one of her eyes was completely bloodshot. Oh my God. There was a big wound near her mouth like she had been struck in the face really hard.

Oh God. And she had deep red marks around her throat as though she had been strangled by something, like a ligature. Oh. Now, when they arrived at the station, the dispatcher said they had actually just received a call about a girl wandering along the side of the road

near the Tuscaro-Was River, and a punch at cars had actually been sent out to look for her. So they were glad that he had picked her up, because calls were starting to flood in people and see her. Now, Brandi was taken into Captain Robert Everett's office and she was given blankets. They tried to warm her up, like make her comfortable. Because again, she's like soaking wet in May.

In Ohio. In the middle of the night. So it took some time for her to calm down and be able to even begin to tell this story, but she was able to explain that someone had taken her to the railroad trussle over the Tascarowoss River and had attempted to rape her, then he had tried to strangle her with a shoelace.

She had lost consciousness a couple of times. The man thought he had killed her because he then pushed her body over the railroad trestle, but her foot got caught on the railroad tracks and she dangled upside down from the bridge for a few seconds before he kicked her off where she fell 30 feet into the water below. Oh my God.

She explained that she had fallen down near a log jam in the water, like a big like area with a bunch of lake debris. Yeah. And so she had clung to the logs and pretended to be dead, like tried not to breathe, didn't move, and was hoping that her attacker would just leave. Yeah. But he stood above her on the bridge for a ton, she was like a long time smoked some cigarettes, walked, kicked stones into the water at her, and just like casually at the water, and then

finally walked off. And she waited even longer before she was able to get herself out of the water and up to the road, and that's where she had flagged down the police officer. And she must have been terrified wondering like, has he been watching me this entire time from like further away at this point? Like, is he around and just waiting? Is he gonna pick me up? Right.

Immediately everyone was like, what the fuck? Are you kidding me? And they were like, who is this man? Like, what happened? How did we get here? Right, like did she know him? Like, what are you talking about? And so Brandy's calming down more. She's starting to explain more of the story to Captain Everett. And she said,

she and her best friend Liz had made plans for a sleep over that night at her house. So around 9.30 pm, they went to a Hollywood video. Oh my god. I worked at a Hollywood video. Love Hollywood video. So it was a Hollywood video at the New Town mall in New Philadelphia. And they were going to rent some movies. They had a whole night plan. Yeah. It's on the good chill, like regular. Yeah. So go over with your friend.

Like having a blast. So they're walking back to the car and they said this man in his mid to late 20s came up to them and said, I'm so sorry. I'm trying to get a ride home to the south side of town. And he said, if gas is an issue because they were like uh at first like and like honestly if he approached me like you once um his name is uh Matthew Vaca Vaca and uh if you approach me I would also have been um very hesitant to allow that man near me but he they were so they were like oh and trying to think of like a polite way to say no.

Thank you. Which by the way, that is very like admirable, that they felt like they had to be polite. You do not need to be polite. Don't worry about it. Yeah. But he was like, if gas is an issue, I can give you 20 bucks for gas if you'll just drive me there. And he was like, really ask acting desperate.

And he even mentioned that he wanted to get home to his wife and kiss his kids good night. Oh. He did have a wife and kids. Are you serious? By the way. So the girls talked it over and they ended up agreeing because they were like, this is the right thing to do. Like, we're supposed to help people.

Like, that's what we've been taught our whole life. Remember Liz is very religious. She comes from a religious family. Yeah, she was taught you help your fellow man Ray, of course, and so they got into the car and they said share will drive you home and Brandy was driving Liz was in the passenger seat and this man who said his name was Mark went into the backseat Now they had only been driving for a few minutes, and suddenly Mark was like, hey, can you stop by this nearby bridge? And he said he had stashed something in a plastic bag there,

and he wanted to pick it up. And he was like, it was just really heavy, and I was hoping I could just pick it up on my way home. So she's like, brandy's like, this is a little weird, but she's like, okay, whatever. So she stops and she's like, okay, go get your bag. And it turned out he was like, it's a six pack of beer. I just didn't want to carry it with me.

So once he was back in the car, he was like, hey, we're only like a mile away from my house. So they were like, great. So they drive me. Yeah, like cool. So they drive about a mile and Brandy's like, how much further? And he's like, oh, only like a mile or so. And she's like, we just drove a mile. And he's like, oh, yeah, it's close.

So, but now he's made them stop for this weird bag, mystery bag, which at the time they didn't know his beer. Okay. And then he's all of a sudden giving these weird directions and saying it's a mile more and a mile more and a mile more. So finally, after a while, after like a bladging him through all of this, she brandy stopped the car and was like, I'm so sorry, we have to get home. I'm going to drop you off here. I hope you're close to your house, but like you need to walk

the rest of the way. Yeah. Which like good for her. You keep saying it's a mile, so it shouldn't be too far. Exactly. Now this is when he pulled out a gun and he said you're gonna keep driving. So I want to know what his original plan was here and no one will ever know because as we'll find out, he doesn't give a reason for this. Like I don't know what his plan was here. Like did he think they would just continue driving forever? Do you think he was trying to get them somewhere more remote? That's the thing, you would think that, but they were like just driving in random directions. They didn't even see like, they were going,

no, it was just like driving in normal places. That's weird. Like was he always planning to pull out a gun at some point at this point? At another point? Yeah. Like it's a strange and reckless series of events that he takes. Now,

this is when the man named, quote, unquote, Mark took over navigation and directed Brandy now to a remote location. He made the Brandy drive to a field off of Harman Hill Road in Auburn Township. Later Brandy told Captain Everett that she thought the man was definitely familiar with the area. He was not somebody who was just blowing through because she said when they reached where the field was, he said, slow down. There's bumps in this road. So she was like, you've been here before. So like, you know your way around here. And they finally go, they get to this opening of this field, which is terrifying. And he said that there was clearly like beer cans around trash around like it was very

clearly like a party spot. And that this man knew where this was. Like he had obviously been here. And so he tells Brandy stop the car and then he demands that she and Liz remove their shoelaces. Then he uses the shoelaces to bind Brandi's hands to the steering wheel and uses the other shoelaces to tie Liz's hands behind her back. Oh, no.

So Brandi is now stuck bound to the steering wheel and Mark takes Liz with him down the path towards the field. Brandi said she just had to watch helplessly and like cry as like she watched him disappear with her bound with her hands behind her back. And Brandy didn't know it at the time what was going to happen but she later found out the details and she had to face them like as we're going to see head on. Because what happened was once they had reached a little clearing in the field, Mark, which is Matthew, but they knew him as Mark at this point, forced Liz to kneel on the ground, which he did. He smoked a cigarette

and said he later said he just considered what to do. Okay. And he thought, you know what, maybe I should let her go and tell her to just like start walking back to New Philadelphia, but he was like, it was too late. Like she had already seen me. No, it's never too late. Nope. So instead, after contemplating this for a couple of minutes,

he pulled out a curved linoleum cutting knife from his pocket and slashed Liz's throat three times. What the fuck? The injuries were 10 inches long and inches long and two and a half inches deep. Oh my God. He severed her trachea. I was going to say that takes incredible pressure and strength. He wasn't done.

After cutting her throat, he stabbed Liz in the neck, the back, and then stabbed her five times in the head. What? And then just walked away from her. And he had never done anything like this before. Not that we know of what. So he goes back to the car after doing this. Okay. And Brandy said he just saw him return without Liz. And the first thing she did was say, where's Liz? And he wouldn't answer. So he grabs me, untie's Brandy, and leads her to the place where he just killed Liz.

No. Literally brought her to force her to look at what he had just done to her best friend. And he said, I killed your friend. Oh my God. Like just, and she said he just with no emotion, like literally no nothing to his voice, I killed your friend. Oh my God. Now, fortunately, she can't already tell. Yeah. Also, like Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, it was so dark that Brandy said she couldn't see. Thank God. Exactly. Like she couldn't see the tremendous amount is what it was described

as blood that had soaked everything around Liz and her. But she could definitely tell she could see her. She could see that something had happened. She wasn't moving. And she was on the ground. So after forcing her to look at the brutalized body of her best fucking friend, Mark then directs Brandy back to the car where he forced her to get in the passenger seat. He drove. He demanded that she remove her socks and shoes now. He then placed the socks over his own hands before touching anything in the car because he didn't want his fingerprints on the steering wheel. And I'm like, you were in the back seat. Yeah. Like you've already been in this car. Like what? Your handprints are here, sir.

Yep, but then he leaves, he pulls the car away, leaving Liz's body there alone. He then drove them to a parking lot next to the East Ohio gas company. He parked the car and he forced Brandy to walk with him along the railroad tracks towards Dover. She must have been just been absolutely terrified. I, my brain can't even understand what she must have been thinking.

And like such a minimal detail, but she's walking barefoot now along these tracks. Oh yeah, because this is terrifying. And also, like you said, as they're walking the tracks, Brandy told him like my feet hurt. That's hurts my feet. So at one point, he removed his shoes and gave them to her. And so she's like, okay, it always weirds me out when they do weird. When they do something kind. Comfort things. Not like kind. But like, for things. But then moments later, he was like, give me those back. And she was like, okay. And then he gave her his socks and was like,

where are these? No, thank you. I feel, no, thank you. I feel like, no, thank you. Then he also demanded that she carry the plastic bag that they had stopped for with the six pack in it. So she had to carry his six pack of beer in a plastic bag wearing his socks, walking down a railroad track. The most bizarre situation, truly, nightmarish. And through the whole thing, she said he kept his baseball cap really low like trying to obscure his face But he already seen it exactly and he talked very normally to her like casual even like got to know her

Yeah, I was asking her if she was going to college the fuck and she was like and she had said like no, I don't think I'm going to college I think I'm gonna go to work like she had he had and He was like he was like annoyed and like put off by that. Like had this weird conversation with her. It's so weird. And he, it's like, he had just brutally murdered her best friend. Yeah. And then showed her, her best friend's brutalized about. And he said, I killed her. And now he's sitting here having like a weird, like, hey, are you going to college?

Conversation with her? It's like, what the fuck is wrong with you? So after walking for a little while, they reach this abandoned train car. It's gonna get really rough here. It just like to let you know there is a trigger warning for sexual assault and rape. Okay.

He instructed Brandy to get inside and then he made her give over her three rings that she was wearing. Okay. So she did and then he made her strip out of all of her clothing and then he began sexually assaulting her. He was unsuccessful on his end trying to rape her. So he demanded that she perform oral sex on him. However, he was also unable to do that. So he told Brandy to put her clothes back on and continue walking down the railroad track. So that just happened to her in a band and train car.

And then she just saw her best friend's dead body. And now he's like walk like Unfathomable this one Unfathomable, I wouldn't even be able to stand up. True link Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham the host of of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U.S. 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. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers, and often for committing only minor offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged, it made national headlines. The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children and force a heated debate about punishment 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 Candice DeLong and on my podcast, Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon Music. I share a quick 10-minute rundown every week day on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news.

I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent, and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, breaking down Lori Valow, a.k.a. Mommy Doom stays motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder? I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine.

Hey, Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast, Killer Psychie Daily, in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today! So after this whole thing happens, they reach the railroad trussle over the Tascariloss River. And the man then instructs Brandi, Mark, as we know him, instructs Brandi to get on her knees and face out towards the water. So on the edge of the trussle. So she does this because she doesn't know what else to do at this point. And Mark pulls Brandi, pulled Brandi's shoelace from his pocket, put it around her neck and started choking her.

And he did it until she's on her knees on the trestle and she lost consciousness briefly. So he hadn't taken into account how hard it was to manually strangle a person to death. So she wakes up from unconsciousness. He's still trying to choke her. Then he gets frustrated and tries three different times to snap her neck. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. This woman, what she has been through in this short period of time, he tried to snap her neck three times.

Strangled her doing consciousness and then tried to snap her neck three separate times. He's holding her head trying to snap her neck. Oh my God. And she's just sitting there helplessly as he does this. And hoping that the next time in the next time in the next time in the next time is in it. Oh my God. So again, he isn't able to successfully do that.

So he begins strangling her again with the shoelace. She lost consciousness again. Brandy. To be clear, he raped her in a train car and then made her kneel over a railroad trussle where he tried to strangle her so brutally she lost consciousness twice. And he also tried three separate times to snap her fucking neck.

And this is all after killing her best friend. He killed her best friend and showing her the body. And this is because they were kind enough to give this fucking swamp creature a ride. Right. Well, in the weirdest, I mean, not the weirdest, but one of the weird things here too is he's got a gun and a knife. And he's not, now he just isn't using that. Well, what we find out later was that he so brutally stabbed Liz, that he snapped the blade of the knife off. Oh my God. And what about the gun? The gun, that's the thing that

I'm not, I've heard two different stories about this, so I don't know which one it is, if he just said he had a gun, or if he showed them a gun. And perhaps maybe it wasn't loaded or something. Perhaps not, that's the thing. So not positive, because I've seen it both ways, but either way, he did have a knife on him, he did use that knife, and he broke it. That's how brutal it was. Wow. Now, after the second time of strangling her into unconsciousness with her own shoelace, she came to, but she came to, without him realizing it. And just in time to see him hovering over her to determine if she was alive or not. So she was quick enough after all she's fucking been through to play dead to realize this.

And smartly she held her breath to appear as though she wasn't breathing. Like thought to do that. And meanwhile all her body at that point wants to do, I'm sure it's take a fucking breath. Exactly. She managed to continue holding her breath even as he was slapping her on the back to try to force air out of her lungs. Oh my God. Like, it was literally trying to force her to breathe and she was holding her breath. Wow. So because of her quick thinking, he was like, oh, she's dead. So Mark picked Brandy up and threw her from the train trussel. This is when her foot got caught

in the tracks and she hung by her foot over the water, they freed her believable. They freed her believable. It truly is. And she fell 30 feet below to the water. And she's like, you shouldn't even die that way. Just like exactly. So she's floating in the water.

And like we said before, she played dead trying to keep this repulsive fuck from realizing that she's alive. And from her position in the water, she said she could see him through the slats of the trestle. And he was just walking back and forth smoking. She was talking to himself, kicking rocks at her into the river after like a long time, like a, almost an hour. He was there. Mark finally started to walk away. To play dead for an hour. So Brandi waited a few more minutes because she was so worried he was going to come back. And then

she made her way to the river bank. And she tried, she said several times to pull herself out of the water and couldn't do it at first. Like she had nothing. She must have been so weak at that point. Eventually, she was able to flop herself onto land and get to the road. And that's when she passed down the auxiliary police officer who drove her to the police station. Yeah. What's wild is some of the officers on duty doubted her story.

Falk them. One officer told the ambulance driver when he showed up. I think she might be making this whole story up. She says she doesn't know this guy, but I think she does. She must. Have you never heard of a random crime occurring? Like what the fuck makes that up? And like, that's when she tied a ligature around her own throat.

Like, that's, I'm like, what are you talking about? And she punched herself in the face and broke skin. Like, go fuck yourself. Well, luckily Captain Everett, who she was talking to very much believed what she had to say. Imagine if he didn't and she just found her all of that.

For nothing. Wow. Shame on that officer. And Captain Everett was like, I really didn't want to believe her. Like I didn't want to believe that any of that had happened, but I did. And he said he had actually known the riser family

for years. And so he said Liz had been friends with his daughter. Oh God. And so Brandi had told him that she thought Liz was dead, but she couldn't be sure. And so he was like, we gotta go out there and see. And he was like, I really didn't want to do this, but like, obviously we have to. But he was like, I was hoping she was mistaken. So the area that Brandi described like where Liz was, it was kind of vague because trauma.

And it's also, I mean, it's a field pitch black, trauma, stress, terror. Yeah. So local police actually got the help of the Ohio State Police to search for Liz. Once they were all together, Captain Everett explained to all of them all the search and rescue officers and everyone that was there, that everything that Brandi had told them and they used a big map and then they just broke it off until several little bits for everyone to look at. And it was just after 4 a.m. when Ohio State Sergeant Ryan, Sergeant Ryan and Trooper Richmond

actually made their way down Harmon Hill Road. So this was just after 4am. 4am is when one officer had gone. Officer Gentry had gone to the riser's home to look for Liz. Right. About four miles away from where they started the search, the officers came upon a dirt service road. And they said it looked like it had been driven down recently.

And they said it kind of resembled what Brandi had described. So armed with only flashlights, they went down the tracks a little way. And they immediately started noticing that there was a lot of potholes and divots in the road. This was part of Brandi's story that he had said that. So the troopers were like, oh, they didn't see anything at first.

So they were like, okay, let's just leave this. Maybe this isn't it. But then as they were shining the flashlight around, they caught something quickly in the beam. And they said at first, they thought it was just a pile of something. But when they got closer, they realized that it was a young teenage girl's body. It was clear to both of them very quickly that she was dead, but they did check her for vital signs, obviously.

But what they said, her eyes were fixed and dilated, her mouth was open. It was clear she was gone. They saw several very severe cuts to her neck immediately. And officers also noted several deep scratches on her back, one long cut down her spine. What? And they photographed the scene and they called for additional officers and ambulance who arrived a short time later And she was taken to the coroner's office

Meanwhile Becky and Jeff Reiser were getting more and more anxious at home. They're getting more and more restless So they left their home around 6 a.m Because it's been two hours. Yeah, and they went to the hospital hoping that maybe they would find Liz in the hospital Or at the very least find Brandy to try to get what happened here Apparently nurses were like a little ill prepared for their arrival because they just kind of showed up So they just led them into the waiting room where Brandy's family members were waiting Oh God and no one said anything for a while I guess in there But then they said Jeff Ryzer just blurred it out. I know Liz is dead.

And then he said, God told me she was, I believe this is a war. It's a war against our beliefs and what we stand for. And everyone in the room just didn't know what to do. But they said he was just going, it's a war. It's a war. I think he was just completely out of touch at that point because he was just like, this is his child.

And for him, and I very much think that like parents have an intuition when it comes to their children. And you know that he just knew, like he knew something bad had happened. And that was where he was thinking of it. Now they also, they were probably taking some context clues here. Everyone's very somber, quiet. There's a heavy police presence. No information is being shared. I mean, like intuition was definitely a thing here. Unfortunately, he was going to find out that he was very correct only a few minutes later because the detective from the Dover police station confirmed

that they had found a body matching list description and then they told them what clothing she was wearing and it matched the clothing that she was wearing that I absolutely terrible. Becky Reiser, her mother, gave the detective a recent picture of Liz and he confirmed yes this looks a lot like the girl that we found. Oh no. The The risers apparently took the time to answer some questions that they had, and then they returned home, because it was all confirmed. Yeah. And they had to break the news to their other children that their sister was dead. Oh, my God, it had been brutally murdered.

Yeah. Now, despite what had seemed at the time and what still seems when you look at it as a very chaotic, very impulsive, grand, by very disorganized killer, there really wasn't any evidence left. So it's like that it was disorganized in a way, but it was also organized. And so there was very little evidence to work with here. Brandy tried really hard to give a good description of the killer, but the trauma and his attempts

to obscure his face with his cap. She had a description, but it was kind of vague. It just did her best. Yeah, and she's saying, Mark, that wasn't even his name. What about the car? That the car was their car. But like any help, like did they didn't find anything in there? I think they didn't find anything.

But to Scarawoss County Sheriff Harold McKimmy told reporters, we think it's somebody from this area. This guy knew where he was going when he went to Auburn Township. So immediately they were like, we know it's a local. But while police were searching the hayfield where Liz's body was found, a technician from the Stark County Coroner's office began the autopsy on Liz Riser. The cause of death was a 10-inch, quote, incised wound of the posterior left neck that extends from the left lower neck to the right posterior neck, causing almost complete transaction

of the trachea and right sternomastoid muscle. That is a very intense cut, like nearly decapitation, right? So that's like, and the corner also recorded an 8-inch incised wound midline on the upper back and abrasions in the shape of an X at the base of the neck and upper back measuring seven inches by four and three quarters inches. What was that? Yeah. He was very brutal. Because that wasn't it. They also recorded a partial transaction of the right thyroid. In your neck, five stab wounds to the top of the scalp

and several scrapes and cuts. Oh my God. He stabbed her in the top of the head. Yes. What the fuck is this guy doing? And the technician found no evidence of defensive wounds because remember he stabbed her. And he had slaughtered wrist first.

Yeah. I mean, her neck first. Now the news went out to New Philadelphia and dover that morning and it was sheer panic. Everyone was like, what the fuck is going on here? Who is this? And she's a teenager.

Yeah. So her peers were informed at high school. Oh, God. And grief counseling was offered immediately. Well, that's right. Yes. It was the first time she had gone to sleep over on a school night.

Oh my God. One counselor of grief counselor at the school said some of the students are okay, but others have had a tougher time of it. Our whole community has been rocked. There's a lot of fear. The biggest thing we're trying to do is reassure them. They want to feel safe again. Yeah. Because they don't know what the fuck happened here. And was she taken out of her room? What the hell happened? Right. So one student told reporters for the Akron Beacon Journal, people keep saying everything happens for a reason.

I don't think anyone can give me a reason why a church going loving, a church going loving girl needed to be cut to pieces. No. I don't think anybody, I hope, give any reason for anybody to be cut to pieces, church going or not. I hope nobody can. But yeah, like she seemed like a very sweet, kind, smart, charismatic, good, just decent human.

Like you know what I mean? Like all around just like one of the good ones, you know? I don't know, life ahead of her. And she was so sweet looking. Like when you look at her, you're just like, she was like, I want to know Liz. You know, like Liz seemed like such a sweetheart. No, she was like, I want to know Liz. You know, Liz seemed like such a sweet art. No, she looks like somebody that would come in

sit with you if you were sitting a little bit on it. She does, she just seems like that person that would give you that hug that you need when you're upset. Yeah. Like even if you don't like hugs, Liz would give you that hug. She's like, no, but I got you. Yeah.

Oh, no, she's so sweet looking. Fortunately, the unknown wouldn't linger for very long. People wouldn't have to ask questions for very long because very soon after all of this, a call came into the Dover Police Department, and it was from a woman named Sheila Davis. And she said she needed to report a murder. Mm-hmm. According to Sheila Davis, she had received a call from her son's brother-in-law, Jeff Mollonix.

This guy, Jeff Mollonix, her son's brother-in-law, had told her that her son, 27-year-old Matthew Vaca, had been involved in a terrible crime, and Mollonix thought they needed to speak to police. So Sheila Davis is Matthew Vaca's mother. Thank you. But the person who had told her this was her son-in-law. Okay. Okay. Essentially. So basically he told his brother-in-law. Yeah. Exactly. So police immediately got in touch with Jeff Mollonix, who had a story to tell. According to Mollonix, he said he had been at

home asleep in the early morning hours of May 24th. And he said he shared that house with his sister and her husband, Matthew Vaca. They also had three children, him and his wife. So he really did have children? He really did have children. Three of them. Three children. What? And he said, yeah, this was in the early morning hours, remember, and he was awoken by Vaca, who said, get dressed, you're going with me.

And he said, he said it was weird, but he said also, like, we would go out driving, aimlessly a lot and like, smoke pot together, listen to music, like, he was a weird guy. So like, we just, and everyone's a while, we would just like wake up and he'd wake me up in the middle of the night, we'd drive. Okay.

To each their own. I love going for drives, we would just like wake up and he'd wake me up in the middle of the night, we'd drive. Okay. I'm to each their own. I love going for drives, but if anybody woke me up, I'd be pissed. I would not be going for drive. But after they'd been driving for a little while around, Jeff was like, where are we going, Matthew?

Like, what do we do? Like, what's the plan here? What's the plan we're doing? And he said nothing. And he was like, and it was very silent, and it was weird. We weren't talking. And he goes in and out of nowhere, he just says, I killed a girl.

What the fuck? And Jeff was like, fuck you. No, you didn't. He was like, I didn't believe him. Don't say that to me. But then he said, okay, let me bring you to the fields. No, thank you. No, he brought him to the fields.

No, no, no, no, no, no. And showed him Liz's body. Holy shit. Yep. He just wakes this guy, this guy has nothing to do with it. And he just wakes him up in the middle of the night. Oh my God. And then it gets even worse

because he says he actually needed his help. No. And he said that he in order, he said he had to find the blade of the linoleum knife that had snapped off during the attack. No, yep. Now it was really dark and Vaca wasn't able to find the blade even with Jeff's help. So they both drove to a truck stop that was open all night and they were going to buy flashlights. What? Which I'm like Jeff, what the fuck are you doing? Yeah.

What? Which I'm like, Jeff, what the fuck are you doing? Yeah. When they went inside though, Matthew was like, oh shit, his wife's aunt was working at the truck stop. Okay. And he was like, she's gonna fuck the fuck are you doing here? Well, she's gonna see the,

his clothes were covered in blood. Oh, of course, yep. So they left the truck stop and instead went to a 24 hour wall mart and Vaca removed his jeans that were covered in Liz's blood and more a pair of shorts into Walmart where he purchased the flashlight. He also purchased a ceramic coffee mug and a lighter shaped like a gun. And he did this because those two have a little weight to them and as we'll see, he was going to use them for something.

Now they went with their flashlights and they found the knife blade back at Liz's body and Vaca put it into the Walmart bag and they put his bloody jeans in there as well, the coffee mug and the lighter which was very heavy and they threw the entire bag into the river that they bought those things so it would sink. Then they just went home. Shaking by a weight. Yeah, you would think Now, based on what Jeff Mullinix had just told them, that entire story, it was pretty clear that the man that Brandi knew as Mark was actually Matthew Vaca.

Also like, hey Jeff, there's this number. It's called 9-1-1. The authorities are there. You can reach them. But the fuck are you doing calling his mom? Exactly. Call the fucking police. You pussy. I'm saying.

Now, just before 5am on May 25th, the call, and so this all happened within the day of it happening. It was very quick. Right. And this was on May 25th. The sheriff's office issued a warrant for Vaca's arrest and a bunch of plain clothed and uniform sheriff's deputies tracked Vaca to a nearby lake park.

And they arrested him without incident as soon as he came out of the park to the parking lot. No incident arrested. This motherfucker is just at a park the day after he murders two girls or things. He's murdered two girls. Because remember, he thinks he's murdered both of them. Now, when the news came out about what had actually happened,

the residents of Dover were like, what the fuck? And they were like, this has to be an outsider. He's got to be some hitchhiker that just came through this town. And like, you know, he must have moved on after this. Like, that's wild. But no, when they heard it was Matthew Vaca, everybody in the community was like, oh fuck, we know who that is.

He was a husband, again, a father of three. He'd grown up in the area. He knew a lot of the people in the area. Also at the time of the murder, he was actually known by the Dover police. Not just for being like a good citizen. He had convictions for drunk driving and driving on a suspended license in 95 and 96.

In November 96, he actually pleaded guilty to 15 counts of felony forgery. Damn. And for that, he ended up serving a one-year sentence at the Stark Regional Community Corrections Center. And after that, he went on probation. And he was on probation since 1998 at this point. And he was still.

And he was still on probation when he did this. Good, so he'll get a violation. Yes. Now luckily, his arrest on May 25th, like you said, was a pretty obvious violation of probation, so they had due cause to detain him. Well, they investigated further.

Fantastic. Now, the news of the arrest made Vaca's neighbors lose their minds because they want to move out of my house. Most of them, a lot of them knew Liz Ryzer, too. Like, this was a, was stunned by this. He said there was never any noise or fighting. No problems with the little kids. His wife was real pretty.

I don't know why he would have done anything like that to those girls, but you never know what people are up to. Like, why did we have to throw in that his wife was pretty? He was a pretty wife. I think it was just like, he has a pretty wife. He's got three great kids. Like, what's he doing? I'm in frame to say, like, there's never a problem with the kids.

Like, I don't hear people yelling. That's crazy. It's not an outwardly abusive situation. Yeah. Like you would think they'd be like, oh, like that's a pretty fucked up house, you know, like no. Well, and especially with all the drunk driving charges and all that kind of stuff too, yeah.

And for him to say like, but you never know what people are up to, I'm like true words, never fucking spoken. That's why I mind my fucking business. Cause you don't fucking know. You don't know people mind my business until I have a reason not to. Yeah, exactly.

Now, while Lee Vaca himself also seemed shocked by his own actions, he never resisted. He quickly confessed to the entire thing. What? And Detective Walt Wilson told reporters, he said he didn't know the young women and they didn't know him. The original motive he said was robbery and it just went bad from there.

But no, that's not true at all. Yeah. He actually later said, and they'd bring this up later, he fluctuates between, he has no idea why he did it. And then at one point, he said he just wanted to know what it would feel like to kill another human being. I think it's that. Yeah.

I think he's fucked in the head. Yeah. That's the problem. And in his statement to police, Vaca said he planned to rob them, but he didn't know what led him to kill Liz Ryzer in that hayfield. He was like, I don't know why I did that. I just wanted to rob them. That's even more maddening. It is.

Oh, it's so maddening. And no, you didn't just want to to rob them. You made them drive for miles and miles and miles. Exactly. And then you could have just robbed them and left the car. And you came with a knife, you came with a gun. That's the thing. New to have them take their shoe laces off.

Like this was at least thought about before. Exactly. You were aggressive right from the jump. And he said he had planned to let her go when they got in the field, which is what, you know, he claimed forever. But for some reason that he couldn't pinpoint, he said he just decided to kill her. Like he contemplated it for a minute and then he decided he was going to kill her. Okay. Detective Orvis Campbell told reporters, he said he doesn't know why.

He just decided to do it and cut her throat. I don't. He told us he was planning on letting her go. I don't believe that. I don't either. On June 5th, Matthew, Matthew Vaca appeared before a judge in the Common Police Court, and the judge said a June 30th hearing date to revoke his probation officially. Although Vaca had not yet been formally charged with any crimes, during the preliminary hearing that happened, assistant to Scarawoss County prosecutor Scott Maston announced that they had every intention of seeking the death penalty in this case. In the meantime, Vaca was going to remain in the to Scarawoss County jail and he was not going to have any opportunity for bail. He was stuck

there until he had trial. Now, Vaca appeared before Grand jury on June 13th and that's when he was officially charged. And he was charged with one count of aggravated murder, one count of attempted aggravated murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of rape, three counts of tampering with evidence, and one count of abuse of a corpse. Knowing the prosecutor's office actually wanted the death penalty, he instead decided to agree to a plea to what would essentially be a life sentence. He wasn't going to be

eligible for parole until 2096. He would be 123 years old. So loves it. Sheila Davis, Valka's mother said, this has been his decision from the start. He said he didn't want to victimize Brandi a second time or the riser family. And this is the only way he will have any possibility of seeing his children in the future. One so sweet of him to not want to re-victimize the woman. He was sure he had fucking murdered after he raped her twice. So sweet of him to not want to victimize her again. Fuck you. Two, this is the only way he's gonna see his kids.

You think anyone gives a shit? I'm sorry, but if I was his wife, I'd be like, we're not ever seeing dad again. Like, are you kidding me? No. No. This is the only way he's gonna see his kids. I don't give a shit. You know who doesn't get to see their kids again?

Fucking Liz's parents. Exactly. You know who has to deal with trauma for the rest of their lives? Even as a mother now, Brandi Hicks. Yup. Fuck off. I don't give a shit about you.

No. Or you're saying, yeah, you're a real great dad. No. You left the fucking house in the middle of the night to brutally rape and murder fucking teenage girls, you piece of shit. Seriously, what the fuck? Like that pissed me off so much.

That makes me so mad. And to make it seem this was his plan all along. And it wasn't a Revec to me later on. Like, it's not that he doesn't want to revict him. He wants, you just told me, you want to see his kids. And it's nothing to do with Brandy. And he doesn't want to get gas to death. He doesn't want to die.

Exactly. Let's call it what it is. He's my friend. Okay, like, come on. Oh, this case makes me so angry. And that's the thing, like, don't put that in there about seeing your kids. Yeah, cause you just, I just,

now I know exactly why you did it. Like, and I don't give a shit. I don't want you to see your kids. So the kid shouldn't. And just like you just said, like Liz's parents, will never see your dad. Yeah, Liz's parents would love to see their child alive again. Like, fuck you. How dare you be so careless. Yeah. Brandy's parents, brandy's daddy. Yeah, Liz's parents would love to see their child alive again. Like fuck you.

How dare you be so careless. Brandy's parents, brandy's family, Brandy's loved ones would probably love to see her not have to deal with this for the rest of her life. Yeah. Fuck you. How kind of him, so nice to me. Thank you for not revictimizing.

I'm douchebag. So the prosecutor, like I said, had planned to pursue the death penalty, but it was ultimately the victims in the case who talked them out of it. Even though like the plea was like went through anyways, they wouldn't have like sought it because the victim said no. County prosecutor Amanda Spies-Bornhost, Horace, I think it is, said Brandi Hicks indicated

that she is satisfied that Vaca will spend the rest of his days in jail. She's tired of talking about it and doesn't really want to go through a trial. And the riser said they would just leave it up to me. Right. So they were all just like whatever. I don't want to be. Please don't put us through this. Also, a plea deal would mean that Vaca would simply go through the sentencing process and then begin serving his time kind of like out of the public eye, it would just go through. Right.

But a death penalty case would drag on for years and years. And the media would get through all these. Automatically, yeah, and they would automatically get a ton of appeals before the execution happened. So as far as everyone in the prosecutor's office was concerned, Liz Reiser was not going to be brought back by him being killed. No.

But they could, they could do something, meaning they could spare Brandy being retraumatized every time she has to sit and testify and she has to read and she has to see reports and she has to look at his face. Yeah. No, she doesn't. So they were like, you know what? We can do that and at least help one of these women. So we're going to do that.

Exactly. So Matthew Vaca appeared before Judge on June 22nd. And he pleaded guilty to all 11 accounts against him. The courtroom was packed with friends and family of the victims. They came to support Brandy and the risers in a statement to the press. Brandy actually said, I knew it was bad news as soon as I told him to get out of the car and he said, well, I've got a gun. I didn't think he was going to actually kill us.

Which how would I would you? And she told reporters that she was working on forgiving Vaca, but she said she was struggling with it. And you know what? Would you have every right to? She doesn't ever have to forgive him. And that doesn't make her any less ever good person. No, not at all.

You don't have to forgive somebody. No, you do not. You do not. And I know that all of these people were like church goers. They were religious. That is part of the forgiveness. They're religions.

So I understand that that was something that was very important to them, but you by no means have to. I just feel like I hope everybody knows that you don't need to forgive people. You don't. You really don't. But I just feel like I hope everybody knows that you don't need to forgive people. You don't. You really don't. And if you can like past it,

if you feel like that's something you absolutely need, then like more power to you, but like I just don't, I feel bad when people put pressure on their own, on their own, to forgive someone when they don't have to. You don't have to. I promise you you don't have to.

That's not an action that you asked for. No, you did not ask to be fun. No, to figure out how to forgive somebody for doing something to you don't have to. That's not an action that you asked for. No, you did not ask to be fun. No, you did not ask to be fun. No, you did not ask to be fun. To figure out how to forgive somebody for doing something to you that you never wanted down. You don't hate exactly. Exactly.

Stop, that's not a problem. And what she said was, I know I should forgive him. I'm trying really hard, but right at this moment, I can't. I hope she knows now that she doesn't have to. Well, and Brandy's mother, Kimberly Klein, said, none of this makes anything better. We're thankful Brandy lived, but we miss Liz and always will.

Absolutely. So a week later on June 30th, Vaca went back to court for sentencing. And this time, he had to face the tsunami of testimony and victim impact statements from all the people whose lives he had blown apart. Here for it. So, to be honest, for most, it was the lack of motive that was the incredibly frustrating

aspect of here. It is. So, of course, there was a lot of people outside of like, you know, especially outside of like the family and friends here, just like people seeing this whole thing that were assuming it was his interest in heavy metal music and you know horror movies or violent movies. We've been down that road. But addressing and like you know, they went like the porn route and all that which I don't know a lot about like what he was doing in that situation but porn doesn't make you kill people. He's just a bad person. Movies don't make

you kill people. No, exactly. Songs don't make you kill people. No, you people kill people. You do that. Yeah. Now, addressing Vaca, the judge, Edward O'Farell, asked him, you know what, can you give us a motive, give this family? He's the reason why you did that. And he said, Matt, you understand what you are about to face. You already acknowledged it.

You know there is not going to be a surprise here. But you know, facing what you're going to face Can't you in this final act before you're banished from this county from the lives of these people physically? Can't you tell them why you did this to their children? And so Vaca just stared down at the floor and Muttored I don't know. I don't know myself why Yes, you do so judo fll was fucking thoroughly irritated by that. And he said, what were you thinking, Matt?

You told people you wanted to experience killing a human being. That is what they told us. Why did you say that to them? Why did you want to experience killing a human being? Was it drugs? Was it music? Was it the pornography? Is that what you can tell the young people in this community?

Like he's like, give or reason. Give us anything. I don't know. Like, so Matt finally interrupted the judge and said, I am responsible. You gotta know that. I'm willing and then he stopped for a second and said, I'm willing to give my life. Oh, thanks. You worked though. You took a plead deal. Yeah. So, Judge O'Farell was pissed, but nothing comes close to the statement that the prosecutor, Amanda Spies-Bornhorst had prepared for him.

He said the death penalty does not provide the swift justice it was intended to. Do I think you deserve to die for the crimes you committed? Absolutely. And then she said, I want you to understand what you have to look forward to and forward to in prison. You will be beaten repeatedly and you will be brutally raped and you will lose every ounce of dignity that you have left in your body and you will live in terror. Not for the hour or so that Liz Riser did or the hour that Brandy Hicks did, but for every

minute for the rest of your life. Soical! And I said, whoa. That was heavy. That was heavy shit. She was going to die. She was going to die. Like, okay, man.

So finally Brandi Hicks took the stand and read her victim impact statement. Oh, yeah. How fucking brave of her. And she's a teenager. To face the man that raped her twice and thought he had killed her. she's a teenager. To face the man that raped her twice and thought he had killed her. She's a teenager.

She had gone through unthinkable, unspeakable trauma. And she stood there looking at the man who did this and said, I guess I have to forgive you. I don't really want to, but it's like my mom said, if I don't forgive you, God won't forgive us. I do forgive you. I just want you to know that. Wow.

Like that's, woo. That hurt my heart. That hurts my heart, but she's a tough, tough girl. It hurts my heart that it sounds like she didn't necessarily feel that to forgive. Yeah, because you're just like, I just want you, I just want Brandy, however that comes, to feel what she needs to feel about it. Like I know what God wants for the healer, anybody else. And again, not dogging it because like, if that's what you believe

in and the forgiveness thing is important to you to move past these kind of things or move forward through these kind of things, then that if that is important to you, then that should be what you work towards, because that is important to you. But if he does not important to you specifically and is only important to someone else, you don't have to do it. That's okay. That's not important. Either way, if Brandy did end up feeling like she could forgive him, I hope that's what

happened and I hope she feels great about it. Absolutely. But if not, if she didn't feel like she really forgave him, that's okay too. Yeah. Like, I hope she's just whatever she is feeling, I hope she's happy. Me too. That's all I want for Brandy. I just wish her happiness and peace.

Yeah. And I know that she like, I think she's married, I think she's mother now, so like, I hope she is just happy. Good for her. And that's all I want for Brandy. But once everyone had made their statements, Judge O'Farell asked Vaca whether he had a final statement to say before the sentencing was going to be passed down. And the public defender, that was defending him, actually read his

personal statement and said, I know I destroyed three families in one night. I know the Lord is with us watching over us. I'm ready and willing to face the consequences of my actions. Okay, I'm sure Jim. So when all was said and done, the judge put down the maximum sentence on him of 96 and a half years for all 11 counts against him. And later the same day, he had to go before another judge for the probation violation where he would receive another 22 and a half years on top of that. I, cool, Nick. Good bye. I'll let the door hitch on the way out, asshole.

So because he pled guilty to the charges, he was ineligible to appeal any of his sentencing because he pled guilty, he said. Good. He remains incarcerated at Mansfield correctional facility and Mansfield, Ohio. He is still to this day never given an actual coherent explanation for why the fuck he killed Liz Riser and why he tried to kill Brandy Hicks. That is, that's still has not done it. That's the most maddening part about this whole thing is like, sure, you just, you like you said, I just wanted to know

what it was like. But but there's more to that. Yeah. It's not just one day you said, oh, my G, I wonder what it would be like to murder someone. Exactly. That doesn't make any sense. But the fact that he won't give an actual, any kind of explanation is so infuriating. But since the years that this has happened, this was in 2000, so 23 years ago, Brandy has tried

to move forward with her life. Like I said, she's married. She has three children now. One of them, she has honored part of their name with Liz's name for her best friend. Oh, that's beautiful. And the risers have also tried to move forward through unspeakable tragedy and pain. It can't imagine. But they've used it to kind of inspire their ministry that they do like their, yeah,

they've tried to kind of inspire other people. Good for them. Becky Reiser started a blog in 2007 and she shares her Liz's memory in that blog. In 2014, she published a book, through my tears, A Washing Forgiveness, which is a self-published memoir that was co-written with Michael Camilla.

It basically talks about the family's experience of losing Liz and their experience with the justice system after that. Okay. Now they, excuse me, Becky and Jeff actually speak publicly still about the experience whenever they can. And they still say they have completely forgiven Matthew Jeff actually speak publicly still about the experience whenever they can. And they still say they have completely forgiven Matthew Vaca for the murder of Liz Riser.

And again, if that is what is important to them, then good for them. Like there I am. Better people than I am. Truly, truly. Like I feel that way too. And honestly, like the fact that they have turned it around to be a thing where they are just sharing her memory, trying to inspire people like family. Good for them and good for Brandi.

Yeah. And I hope everyone's fucking thriving. I really do. And this just really broke my heart. I feel so fucking bad for the risers. I feel so fucking bad for Brandi and her family, but it looks like they were able to at least, like, keep Liz's memory alive in like a positive way, and that's really, and Brandy seems to be like thriving. So what a tragic, tragic, senseless case. Matthew Vaca is a fucking animal. Swamp creature. Like, he's the shit slime

on the bottom of the swamp. Like, let us. Truly, it's, he's fucking horrific. The shit he did is unspeakable, and he should never see the light of day again. That man is a fucking dangerous creature. Seriously. Oh, wow.

Yeah, I hope he's fucking miserable. But that is the story of the brutal murder of Liz Reiser and the attempted murder of Brandi Hicks. Damn. Well, yeah, thank you for that. You're welcome. That's so, so sad. And I feel so horrible for both of those families,

but again, so happy that Brandi is thriving and that Liz is, the Reiser is a really who should get through this And can speak about this and she was this memory of life. Wow. Yeah. Well, guys, that was bonkers. I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your day

and make somebody's day better and do a positive act. Exactly. And we hope that you keep listening. And we hope you keep. Oh, whoa, I just want to say it on it weird Weird I'm sorry. I don't have coffee in me right now. You there's a company in front of you. I know

I know she hasn't had All right, love you guys ballie 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 podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. Tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.