Rotten Mango - #118: 5 Teens Went Into The Woods - Only 1 Walked Out (Case of “Gitchie Girl”)

Episode Date: November 28, 2021

In the halls of their high school - nobody dared to walk near her. Most of the students pretended they didn’t see her, hear her, or know her. If you were new there you might ask - “What did she do?” “Oh, you don’t know? That’s Gitchie Girl. She went into the woods with 4 of her friends and she’s the only one that came out alive. And we all know that Gitchie Girl is hiding something.” Book Rec: “Gitchie Girl” - by Phil Hamman & Sandy Hamman (There are 2 books written by the authors and both are incredible, heartbreaking reads) Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Peloton app available through free tier or paid to description starting at 12.99 per month. Better being better, boo. Welcome to this week's mini-sode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue, and we're just gonna jump right in. Is this seat empty? She asked.

The group of high school kids, they're just kinda stared at her. I mean, you know how high schoolers are. Some of them pretended they couldn't even hear her. That she didn't exist. That nobody had even just asked them about the empty seat. Half of them started gathering up their stuff, calmly leaving the table. The others, that remained at the table. They grabbed their plate of food and just scooted all the way down to the edge. so that when she sits down she was alone and it was clear that nobody wanted to be her friend. So if you're new to this school and you see this you might ask, well why? What did she do?

Why are you guys bullying her? The kids would tell you, oh that's the Gitchie girl. The what? Or you don't know? She went into the woods with four of her friends and she's the only one that came out alive. Well, what happened? It's a long story, but let's just say she knew the killers. She was dating them.

Them? Maybe even sleeping with all of them. Well, how do you know that? Because I do. Besides, she's a bit of a, you know, and your parents would never want you to hang out with someone like her. That's why we avoid her. And for years, that's how Gitchie Girl lived, till she was able to share her side of the story. What happened in the woods that night, where she went in with four of her best friends

and came out by herself. As always, full source notes are available at rottonmingopodcast.com, but there's two really good books on this case. And even though they're kind of written to be standalone books, I highly recommend reading both of them because it's gripping. I mean, every page of both of these books

had me just so distraught, so emotional, so captivated, and it's called Gitchie Girl, the inside story of the mass murders that shocked the heartland and Gitchie Girl, the true story of a night of mass murder and the hunt for the deranged killers. They're both written by Phil Hamann and Sandy Hamann by the same author both books. Yes I feel like after reading this I couldn't even go to the bathroom alone. That's just how intense the story gets. That's how good they are at getting the story across.

There are so many times in this book I bald my eyes out so you've been warned this case is gonna to get super emotional. So let's just jump right in. Let's talk about Sandra's childhood. Is she the Gitchie girl? Yes. Sandra will become Gitchie girl. What is Gitchie girl?

Gitchie is like a place. So for, I guess it would be like Lake Tahoe girl, but that isn't sound as, you know. So Gitchie Manitou is a place. Yeah, and I want. So she's called Gitchie girl. It's like where the woods were. And her mom Dolores Chesky, she goes by Lolo, was a beautiful woman. I mean, she had a French and indigenous origins. She truly was the type of person that would take your breath away. Like you just look at her and you're like, Oh my gosh, this woman is beautiful. I don't even know what to say to her. She's making me nervous.

She was married to a guy by the name of Cameron, who was equally attractive, and they had five beautiful children together. But one of them was born a stillborn. So they had three sons and their youngest was Sandra. Their only daughter, aka, get you girl. Even when Sandra was born, there was a story behind it. Okay, so get this. Lolo's working a long shift for the day. And afterwards, Shadow of Erin's to run. She's got three kids.

Life is not being easy on her just because she's heavily pregnant with Sandra. She had to pick up her three sons from the babysitter first. Her and her husband were not doing well. So Lolo and her husband, I mean, I believe he was away in the army at the time, but he wasn't sending her any money. She could barely afford to put food on the table. Money was tight. So these are all the things that are probably running through her mind when she goes.

She drives to the babysitter's house to pick up her sons. She's walking to that front door and right before she knocks on it, she starts feeling this intense stabbing pain in her stomach. This would be her fifth time giving birth. So she knows. She knew the feeling. I'm going into labor. So she's knocking, help me, help me!

The baby sitter opens the door. She lolos like sitting on the entryway and the baby sitter. I don't know. She's a teenager just trying to make some summer allowance. I don't know. But she's freaking out. So she runs to the phone and calls a neighbor by the name of Barbara, who lives nearby and she's like, Barbara, Barbara,

you gotta get over here right now. Lolo's going into labor. I know that you've never met Lolo, but please, can you take her to the hospital because I can't drive and I need to watch her kids. I can't take these three sons to the hospital for her. So Barbara's like, yes, of course, I'll be right there. And thankfully, Barbara's daughter was at home who's working as a nurse. So it's kind of perfect, okay? So Barbara's like, yes, of course, I'll be right there. And thankfully, Barbara's daughter was at home,

who's working as a nurse. This is kind of perfect, okay? So Barbara's like, Joyce, get your jacket, you're coming with me. They rush low, low into the car, and they rush her to the closest hospital. Now, I mean, the Lou is in pain the whole time, probably not paying any attention to the directions

when they park, and they tell her, come on, we gotta get out of here, we gotta go into the emergency room, you're about to pop out a baby, and she's like, where are we? Barbara's like, well, we're at the memorial hospital. Oh No, yeah, no, that's not gonna work. You have to take me to Eagle but Indian hospital. What? That's there's like 75 miles away. We're already here at memorial hospital. We I can literally take you into the hospital in like five easy steps Let's go. No, listen to me Barbara. I just met you but I have very, very long labors. I know myself.

I need to go to Eagle Butte because I don't have to pay for delivery there. So Lolo was indigenous and she was allowed free medical care treatments only at certain hospitals. So this is one of those hospitals. And so Barbara's like, I don't know, I don't know if you're gonna make it. I've done this before, my labors are always the same. They're along. My contractions just started. We have enough time. I don't have the money.

Let's go. So Barbara doesn't even know her. How is she gonna talk her out of it? She can't. So she starts driving to Eagle Butte and she's never been there before. It's getting dark out. She's trying to drive as fast as possible,

as safely as possible. She's got a pregnant lady in the back. There were deer everywhere, just jumping in front of the car, inches away from the headlights. Meanwhile, Lolo is in the back. She's not making a single sound. She's in pain.

And she's not making a single sound. This is how crazy Lolo is in a good way. She's like a strong woman. About 20 miles from the hospital, Lolo is in a good way. She's like a strong woman. About 20 miles from the hospital Lolo starts breathing rapidly and Everyone in the car knew Barbara knew Joyce Barbara's daughter the nurse knew even Lolo knew Yeah, we're not gonna make it to the hospital So Barbara pulls over to the side of the road throws her daughter at talent says come on that baby's coming out now. Let's go

And she was right because when they checked Lolo, they could see the top of the baby's head coming out. That is wild. I know. My sister's giving birth again in a couple months, and I was like, should I go to the hospital with her? Should I be there? So Joyce helps Lolo give birth. And when the baby is delivered, everyone is quiet because the baby is too quiet. So apparently there's that moment where you hold your breath because you're just waiting for your baby to start crying. I thought you smacked them. No, no. Joy starts rubbing the baby's back very gently and finally the baby starts bawling and everyone is just like, oh thank god. So with the baby out, they drive

the rest of the way to the hospital, they drop off Lolo and baby Sandra and Barbara and Joyce, I mean, they're exhausted. That was one of the most stressful car rides ever. They got to drive all the way back home, avoiding the deer again. And when they get home, they park their car in the driveway and they just go upstairs and crash. They didn't even think twice about the blood all over the back of their car seats until they heard banging on the door. Police opened up a neighborhood scene and believed a homicide had taken place in the car. And had called the cops.

So they had to explain, listen, you're never going to believe it, police officer. I know you can check me, you can search where at's our house, but you're never gonna believe this story. By the time that baby Sandra is one and a half years old, she's a very healthy child, she's a happy child, but her parents decide to get divorced. So all the kids go with Lolo. She's super stressed. I mean, how is she gonna financially care for them? She decides that she needs to work full-time to put food on the table, but this is not sustainable on term. She's not making enough money, so she has to start going to nursing school to have a better future so she can make more money, right?

I mean, this imagine this insane schedule. I can't even wrap my head around it, taking care of the kids, going to school, working full-time. So a lot of of the times Lolo had her parents watch the kids and the kids had so much fun with their grandparents like they lived on a the cute farm not a Robert-picked-in farm but imagine a picture-resque quintessential like kids are gonna love it type of farm. I'm talking with the full-on little white house you know in the middle of the farm like a little cute white house, like a barn, like a barn house. There's animals all over the place. They're free, they're happy, they're excited.

Grandma loved making cinnamon rolls on the weekends. The kids, specifically Sandra, would help her grandparents with chores around the house. She would even hop on top of a tractor with grandpa to spend time with him. They would fix fences together and he would tell her, there's not going to be a single cow escaping this once we fix the fence. And Sandra was so happy because she's like good, if they escape and get hurt, I would be so sad. Grandpa, when I'm big one day, I'm going to bring all the hurt animals here and I'm going to put them in the barn and make them feel better. I mean, it's so cute, no? Even before they ate, Sandra always had a little prayer for the barn animals. I think a it's so cute, no. Even before they ate, Sandra always said a little prayer

for the barn animals. I think a lot of this had to do with her indigenous upbringing, so she was taught from the get-go, you have to respect the circle of life. Believe in good things and you were called to do good. That's what she was just raised with, these phrases, these life lessons. She would even go around saving worms and grasshoppers

worms Like they'd be lost in the grass. She'd be like oh no no no They're gonna get stomped on by a cow so she would move them delicately into the garden near the flowers So when Sandra turns four Lola wants the kids to move with her to a town nearby She's like I need better opportunities Grandma called and let them know that, like very soon after they had moved out, that grandpa had died in his sleep. Oh my gosh. In his favorite chair. And this devastated Sandra. And things just, they weren't going great at home. Lolo was struggling even more now because she has to pay off all this

student debt. They would pick up boxes of food from food banks. And she would, so Lolo could actually go pick up the food right after work. It was easier that way but she waited to get home, pick up all the kids and would drive to get the food so she could teach them. We have to be grateful for everything in life including food. This is where we get our food. We don't go to the grocery store like other families. This is where we get our food so we have to be grateful. I know I'm gonna cry. She would always tell the kids like, so we have to be grateful. I know, I'm gonna cry. She would always tell the kids, like, you know,

you have to be happy for everything. I mean, the kids were raised really well. They were such polite, well mannered children. They would go to the fire station for Christmas because there was a toy drive. You know, the kids couldn't afford presents. So they were all given a present. They said, thank you before their mom even said,

come on kids, they thank you. Like, they were those kids. When they get home, they said thank you before their mom even said come on kids they thank you. Like they were those kids. When they get home they realized the firefighters forgot to give Lolo a present. So they huddled together in a circle and just made her this beautiful thought out card for Christmas. I mean I'm gonna cry. Even the kids themselves, they were super close to each other. Sandra was close with her brothers,

but everything kind of briefly went downhill, when Lolo fell in love with a guy that she brought home. He tried to assume the father figure role. And now- Oh, wait, oh, okay, okay. Yeah, so they're dating, and the kids are like in their teenagers, well, the boys are. And you know, when boys are teenagers,

they're pretty rebellious. That doesn't excuse anything, okay, I hate that saying, boys will be boys, but you get it. They just don't like it. They're like, this is my mom. I feel protective of my mom. Who are you, dude? You haven't been around ever.

So why are you trying to be our dad all of a sudden? So they would scream at him, you're not our dad. You're a son of a bitch. I know. I love that I just went on to speak about how well-mannered they are, but listen, I think this guy deserved it. Okay, I'm just gonna put that out there. Sandra was so distraught,

because Sandra seems like the type of person that needs harmony in the house. She's always experienced that, but now there's so much tension, it's never been like this. She doesn't really know how to react, and it all boiled over one day, when she comes home and low-low and her new boyfriend sit her down and say,

hey, you and your brothers are gonna live somewhere else now What where? At a foster family's house We what why so Sandra and Bill were sent off to a foster family But Sandra would call Lolo every single night Sobing the foster family that she was placed at which by the way is not the same one as her brother They replaced at different facilities or different houses the Foster family would beat their own children with wire hangars. So she's like, I can't do this, please. Lolo agrees, and instead of bringing her home,

she had her assigned to a different foster family. So she moves to a different family, and the new family was, okay, you know, they weren't violent, but they pretended that she didn't exist. They made her do chores before they even woke up. They wanted to get a foster child just so they could have a free labor around the house essentially. She would call Lolo and say, I miss you mom, I miss my friends, like please, they make me do all their chores. I promise when I get home, I'll do the laundry, I'll do everything like, I'm sorry sorry, please like can I just come home? The load always tell her I'm sorry Sandra, but things will be better for you there in the end I mean how does that make any sense right but Sandra can't argue so she would hang up and she would cuddle a pillow

And she would just fall asleep to her own sobs Finally after enough begging Sandra and Bill were ordered to go back home with Lolo and the kids were so excited. So when the kids get home, I mean it's clear that the guy was the one in charge. This new boyfriend of Lolo is the one, you know, he's putting his fist on the table. This is what we're doing. This is what you guys are gonna be doing and you can't say anything about it. I mean even they understood that it wasn't Lolo who wanted them gone. It seemed like it was this guy, he's calling the shots. So he sends all of the kids to a local Native American boarding school.

And it's an indigenous school that was not well maintained. Like it's clear that there are not enough resources that the government is not putting enough resources in this school. It's like a tiny, worn down building in South Dakota in the middle of nowhere really, and most of the teachers were indigenous who grew up in a very, very, very poor environment in poor households that did not have access to a lot of the basic necessities,

which is heartbreaking when you really think about how this country was built. So, I mean, just keep that in mind, coming out of Thanksgiving, like the history of this country is really not peaches and roses, it's devastating. And it's just, these are the lasting effects. So they get sent to this indigenous school, and Sandra is essentially sleeping in this giant room with a ton of other girls.

They shared the same toilet. There's barely any privacy, which is like, I'm like a strong advocate for teenagers in privacy, because I feel like a strong advocate for teenagers in privacy because I feel like some weird stuff happens when you don't give them their own little space to be themselves. There was not enough hot water to take nice showers or hot showers. It's just all ice cold. The inside of the building was colder than the outside during winter, which South Dakota

is cold. But because Sandra wasn't fully of indigenous blood, she was considered too white. So she couldn't fit in in this school. A lot of people didn't like her because she was white passing, she was also too bubbly, she had a little bit of cultural differences from them, they called her white girl. They bullied her whenever she walked by, and Sandra would come up with this coping mechanism where she would pretend that she was Miss America. And every time she walked down the hallway,

all of the bullies would watch her and disbelief. They would stare at her, but she would imagine that they're staring at her because she was just crowned Miss America, which I'm gonna cry again. So I mean, it's very cute. There was this one girl who specifically hated Sandra for some reason. Every time in the morning, you gotta get up, you gotta make your bed. I mean, the boarding school has strict rules, and if you break these rules, you get into a lot of trouble. So Sandra, of course, she wakes up, she makes her bed. But this girl would come over and just mess it up.

Just immediately pull off the covers, mess up the duvet, throw the pillow on the ground. And Sandra, she's not confrontational, she's not trying to start a fight, so she'd go and make the bed again, and the girl would come over and ruin it, they would keep doing this until the teachers walked into the dorm room to check the beds. On one occasion Sandra didn't feel like putting up with this, so she screamed, the girl screams back, and eventually a physical fight breaks out. And they go crashing into each other. An entire stack of bunk beds, I don't know why I'm picturing Squid Game, just comes crumbling down. And both girls were sent to a circle of discipline. Yeah, like what's the circle of discipline? Let me tell you. You stand in the middle

of a circle surrounded by people from your class and you confess your sins You're wrong doings and then a none would appear. I know it sounds like a horror movie But no really a none would appear and she would whip you with a leather belt Thankfully since this was Sandra's first time they only made her confess to her wrong doings They did not whip her with a belt, but these types of situations. I mean Sandra just stopped being herself She was less and less bubbly, she kept thinking about her old life. Life on the farm with her grandpa, life with her friends before she was sent to foster care, she never had any money but she had fun, she had people that she got along with, she felt loved, her favorite game was jump rope, but now they can't even play that.

She can't even escape it, it's boarding school! She can't even go home after school! So she would count down until Christmas, because it was only a few days away, and her mom would pick her up and, you know, during this Christmas break she would convince her mom, Lolo, please, don't send me back! There's no reason for me to go back! I'll do anything you want here! But with one day left, Sandra goes to one of the nuns and says, can I get my suitcase? I need a pack! Oh, you don't need yours. You're not going home. What? So Sandra ignored her and she just packed her stuff in a little backpack and she's the next day comes. All the girls are packed. They're being picked up for Christmas, but Sandra and a few fellow students were never picked up.

And she would have to wait till summer. She said every day felt like forever, but finally it was time to go home. And when she got there, Lolo was there at the front door and she held her so tight, stroking her hair saying, my baby girl, my baby girl. So it seemed like Lolo really missed her kids just as much and she didn't want to send them back

because the minute that Sandra was like, I don't want to go back there, she said, yeah, you don't have to, please don't go back. Like, she felt bad for her kids. Now, Sandra's not going back to boarding school. That's good news, right? But the bad news is, they were going to move to T South Dakota, which is a tiny, tiny town. They would live in a farmhouse. It wasn't going to be a great place, but better than boarding school, Sandra's 13, so she's upset. She's like, my friends are here,

what are you talking about, right? But once she gets settled into this little town, she finds a girl by the name of Debbie, and they start hitting it off. Debbie 16, Sandra's 13, but they get along well. They both have similar interests, and eventually Debbie's sister even starts hanging out with them. Sandra's brothers even start hanging out with their friend group,

and they would all just drink cool late and have a blast. It was a super cute friend group and one day Sandra's waiting by the phone and it rings because when you're a teenage girl, you're just waiting by the phone Okay, that was my full-time job in a ring. She picks it up Debbie. What's up? What's going on? Sandra, please come with me to Starlight tomorrow. It's gonna be still boring without you. So Starlight is a drive-in movie theater and a lot of kids would go there to hang out. No, Sandra's like, I would if I could, but I just, I don't have the cash. Please! Sandra, I never get to meet boys unless you're there with me. So Sandra was three years younger, but she looked a lot older, and she was dropped out gorgeous. She is um, she had that like I guess like mysterious look

There's another word for it that I'm not gonna use okay Exotic that's the word I we're not zoo animals. She just looked a little bit older. She had very very beautiful hair Like she just looked you know, she looks beautiful. Can I say that? Yeah, it's a Sandra's like okay fine. I'll go it doesn't take her a lot of convincing. She's like, okay, okay Fine, I'll go. So the next day they spend all day getting ready and they hit up starlight drive and theater together Now here's the thing kids would park the car to watch the movie But you think that they're sitting in the car watching the movie. No, it's like essentially a parking lot Like they park their car to go hang out outside the car. And there's just a projector playing a movie.

So they go into the concession stand buying popcorn, just socializing. And while they're in line to get some popcorn, Debbie had just kind of vanished. She went off with her friends to talk about something. And Sandra's just so focused on getting her food, which I relate. She's like, I need this popcorn.

And she turned around with a bag of popcorn, and she's like, where's Debbie? What the heck? Debbie, where'd she go? And she's looking around and all she sees, everything just fades and blurs and she sees just the hottest guy ever in the history of the world, walking straight towards her and she's like, oh my god, did she smell like me? Is he smelling of me? Is he walking towards me? And walks up and he says, hi, I'm Roger Esem. What's your name? I'm Sandra. And they start hitting it off.

He's a high schooler at Washington High. And it seemed like Sandra tried to avoid the topic of school because she did not want him to know that she was only 13. He thinks she's a high schooler. So she's saying I'm a middle schooler. Don't tell anyone. Roger assumed that she was probably like 16, right? Never asked. They exchanged numbers and he tells her, I'm gonna call you. Maybe we can meet up one day. And she's so happy. I mean Debbie comes back and she's

like, oh my god Debbie, he is so hot. He's tall, confident. He's like not like the other guys. I didn't even know what to say. He's gorgeous like you just have to meet him one day And the next day all she could think about was Roger and she was so anxious What if he doesn't call? Do I have to call but that's a loser move if I call and as she's thinking these things He calls and they talk for over an hour. Do you want to go to the movie with me next weekend? I can pick you up at five Sandra's like yes, I want to go to the movie with you next weekend. She spends the entire day getting ready. She shampooed her hair twice. She shaved every square inch of her like she did her

makeup. She did her hair. And Roger comes to pick her up with his best friend, Stu. So Stu is the one that has the cart. He's the one with the driver's license and he's got this like truck So Roger opens the door for her. I mean this is gonna be great. This guy's got manners During the movie Roger even held her hand and Sandra would pretend to be extra scared because they were watching a horror movie So she could kind of jump closer to be with Roger then at the end of the date He dropped her off at her front door gave her her a hug, didn't try to kiss her, and just left. She's like, this is love. This is romance. So they start dating.

They would go on more of these dates. Stu would always be the third wheel since he was the one with the car. He was always there. He was even around when they had their first kiss at a beautiful river nearby. I mean, it was a quick peck, but Stu was there, and Sandra was in love, so she didn't care. It was almost like a movie. It's too good to be true, right? Now Roger had another friend in high school by the name of Mike Hadrith, and he lived really close to Roger. He was 15. He was a super athletic guy. I mean, this guy is lean muscular. He did

every sport that the school had to offer. At 12 years old, he was doing like 50 pull ups. My toxic trait is thinking I could do more. I don't think I've ever done one, yeah. Oh, I think I was give you like max two and a half. You did? So high school, you was like, I already know what this guy is like.

Mike is gonna be like one of those jocks, but you're wrong. I mean, he was very nerdy looking dude. He kind of looked like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory is what a lot of people said, but with glasses, more hair, he was super humble, he never took himself seriously, he was very modest, he was a very friendly, approachable guy. Like, he could be a star athlete, but he treats everybody with respect like a nice person. So on a Friday afternoon in the hallways of school, Roger and Mike, they run into each other. Hey Mike, what are you doing this weekend? Oh, I probably not saying what about you? Well, I'm thinking I might invite some friends over to Gitchie State Preserve. We're gonna bonfire, play music, stew says he's down to drive a salt you want to go.

So Roger loved Gitchie Preserve. We're gonna bonfire, play music, Stu says he's down to drive a salt, you wanna go? So Roger loved Gitchie Preserve. I mean, Gitchie Manitou is what it's called. He would hike to the river, bring his sketch pad and pen, he would draw, Stu would bring his guitar, and he would start singing next to him. Yeah, I mean, very cute, right? He's like filming a TikTok TV show. Yes, it's like me and her dais. So Roger's like, do you want to go, Mike?

I mean, I'm gonna ask, you know, a girl that I'm seeing her name Sandra and I was probably gonna go with Stu because he's the one driving. I can ask Stu to pick you up. So they exchange contact information and they go home. So they're not best friends? Not best friends. Just regular friends.

They kind of know each other. So Rodger goes home, call Sandra. Hey, do you want to go? I know's like last minute, but I can pick you up right now. Stu says he's fine Yes, it's like a 12 mile drive out of the way to pick you up, but Stu's down. I mean Stu's super nice He's like the type of dude that will never say no when you ask for a ride because he's the one with the car Sandra's like well who's going? So we've got Stu He's gonna be driving and then his little brother Dana, whose 14 is going, and then Mike is going, you've never met him,

he's from school, and then I'll be going, so it's just us five. So you wanna come? Now Sandra was a little hesitant. You know, three guys, four guys, and her, in the woods, I mean, she likes Stu, he's nice, and his brother, she met him before Dana. He's sweet too. Um, sure. Okay, yeah. If someone can pick me up, that's great. So, when are you going to be here? We're leaving right now. We're going to be there soon.

Okay. Sounds good. See you soon. So right now, with 2 p.m. It's bright outside, right? And 12 miles. I mean, you know, maybe at most, with traffic, let's say there's an accident, like, 30 minutes, 40 minutes. And hour, let's just give it an hour. I highly doubt it. But at 8 p.m., Sandra's still waiting. What? No, side of anyone. So she's like, ah, maybe he doesn't like me anymore. Maybe he found a new girl to take. Maybe he hates me. Maybe he's student, wanna drive all the way here?

And then the phone rings. Hello? Hey, it's Stu, we're coming soon. We had to make a few stops. Oh, okay, uh, hey, actually my brother Bill just got home, do you mind if he comes with us? Yeah, sure, sounds good, we don't care. 30 minutes later, Stu pulls up and Roger opens the car door

for her and Bill. So she's bringing her brother. She's like, I don't know, I feel a little weird about this. Like, why are they so late? Let's just bring my brother. And as Bill is about to put one foot into stew's car, another car pulls up. Hong Kong. Bill, you got to come to this party. There's a hot chick that's going to be there and she's waiting on you. Oh, yeah, we told her about you. You got to come. Sweet looks at Sandra and Sandra being the good sister says, yeah, okay, Bill, go get the girl, go see the girl, I'll talk to you tomorrow.

So Bill rushes into his friend's car and now it's just Sandra. So Sandra trusted Roger, felt safe with him, but something felt different when she got into this fan. Maybe it's because she had never been out this late before with Roger, but she just didn't know. Something was off. So they hold hands in the car and she noticed another person. Stu, Dana, Roger, wait who's that? It wasn't Stu's little brother.

Oh, that's Mike, you met him before, remember? Mike, this is Sandra, Sandra, this is Mike. Oh hey, you were the one that was there when Stu gave me the ride home that night, right? Yeah, that's me. Oh, okay, cool, cool, cool. So it seems like they kind of knew each other. But not really. So how many people's in the car right now?

So we got five people. Stu, his little brother, and Roger, Mike, and Sandra. Okay, that the original. Yeah, the original five. So Sandra started to feel a little bit more comfortable now. She's holding Rodgers hands and when the car comes to a stop, instead of being at the park, they were in town. Wait, where are we guys?

Oh, Stu's just going to go get his guitar. So Stu gets out the car and comes back in with a guitar case. Okay, well where did you, where did they stop by? Steves house instead of going to Gitchie Park. So now they're heading to Gitchie, Manitou and it's practically dark outside. It's November, the sun sets early. It's chilly.

Sandra kept grabbing Roger's hands because she was nervous. This is also not one of those parks where there's just heavy street lights. Yes, there's campsites, but I mean, it's a campground, right? It's not normal to have to forest in the middle of the night. Be bright, yeah. So it's a little scary. She's thinking, is anyone else going to be out there?

And Stu says, well, I don't see any cars so far, so I don't think so. It's probably a slow day. Oh, OK. So they settle down at the first campsite and Stu gets to work building on a fire. Meanwhile, you could hear the river, you could hear the rustling of the leaves. I mean, it's a very spooky vibe.

So Stu is just staring at this, like, bonfire essentially, where he's supposed to set this fire up, and he's acting strangely. So Roger's like, what's wrong, Stu? Why are you staring at that? The coals, um, the coals are still red. So I think someone must have been here recently, Why are you staring at that? The coals, the coals are still red. Say, I think someone must have been here recently, which maybe it's someone's campsite. You think we're like taking someone's campsite?

I don't know. I mean, is it bad if we do? It's probably not good. Like not good manners. Maybe we should just move. Maybe this is already a taken spot. So we'll just move down the bank of the river and start a fire there. Why would you break into these apartments?

For money, for drugs, whatever was in there. Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No. Who's going to catch us? What a police. It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them. I would suit up in my uniform and we're going to want some drug dealers and I know how to do it really well. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat?

100% I save my soul just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set an Autosy Originals documentary podcast series available now in the Autosy app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your shows. I'm not a bad guy man but I love being that 30 mother f***er. you get your shows. So they all pack up their stuff again and they head down deeper into the woods near the bank of the river and Dana is about to throw more wood into the fire that they just made at their second location, and he stops. Did you guys hear something?

Roger turned around and he looked really alarmed. Still, don't play the guitar, and everybody just be quiet for a minute. Sandra said it sounded like a twig snapping nearby. She would later say it's amazing what the human ear is capable of because at night in the woods, all you hear are twig snapping, but you can hear the difference between animals and humans so distinctly when an animal snaps a twig which they don't really oftentimes it's very different. I guess it sounds like someone taking a step the pattern's like yeah like a crunch what is that do you think someone's out there? yeah I keep hearing leaves

crunching. Roger tried to lighten everybody up and said, it could be a bear. And they all kind of gave him a weak giggle because they knew that there's no bears in this area. I mean, they're familiar with this area. There's no bears here. So what's the first of all, what's the idea behind like doing this in a night? It wasn't the original plan, right? It wasn't the original plan, but I think maybe it's like they already did all this preparation. Yeah, like we might as well,

and I think that they wanted to smoke some weed, which is why they got us some campgrounds. Yeah, and then when you're in high school, I feel like nobody's really scared of these things. I see, I see. But now they're getting freaked out because the environment's so creepy. Yeah, which honestly I'm not blaming them

when I'm saying is you're not scared of these things because in a perfect world you shouldn't have to be. You should be able to be innocent and live like this joyous life when you're a kid. So they knew that there's no bears in the area and even Mike was getting ready to pounce. He had one foot in front of the other like he was ready to attack and they all just stood there not moving, not even daring to breathe too loud, silent. And in this tension, Stu decides to pick up his guitar and starts playing some songs. And I mean, it kind of worked because everyone seemed to relax. Maybe it's all in our heads.

I mean, it's creepy, right? The drive was creepy. It wasn't the original plan. We're just, we're freaking out. So Mike was looking out still for someone in the woods to jump out Roger was stiff and he wasn't in the moment But they were trying to become relaxed. I think guys what we need to do really is to smoke a joint Okay, so they start passing around weed one by one Sandra took a small puff and blew it back out immediately Because the last thing she wanted to do was get high, but she wanted to kind of fit in She didn't want them to feel like she's judging them. So, Stu and Dana realized that the wood, the fire is kind of slowing down. Well, we'll go get some wood and Sandra's mind starts

wandering. Oh my god, I gotta tell Debbie everything on Monday. She's gonna ask if I had pictures because she's not gonna believe me that this happened unless I have pictures of being out in the woods in the middle of the night. But I can't. I don't even have a camera. Maybe I should get a camera. Maybe I should borrow Debbie's camera next time. She's thinking about all these things. Stu and Dana are on their way out to get wood, and then another twig snap happens. And it's just the three of them.

Sandra, Roger, and Mike. The two brothers are gone. So they all slowly get up from their seats, and Mike. The two brothers are gone. So they all slowly get up from their seats and Mike was scared because he said it's like they want us to hear them or something. Snap, snap, snap. It sounds like someone's walking. Do you hear that like marching like on beat and the noises are getting closer and then voice. Hey guys! It's Stu and Dana. We couldn't find any wood! Listen, something's going on though. There's something out there for sure.

Let's look around. Does anyone have a flashlight? No, nobody brought a flashlight. And then Roger and Sandra saw it. Two guys running across the woods. Over there! Between the trees, did you see that? Did you guys see that? Nobody else saw it. We'll scare them off! Roger say something! Hey! No answer, but the cracking of the sound stopped. And Roger said, listen, I'm just gonna get some wood to get the fire going. Studio, do you want to come with me?

So now, Stu and Roger are walking away. So now it's Mike, Sandra, and Dana left at the fire, and as the two guys are slowly walking away, three guys slowly appear out of the woods. At first it was just shadowy figures, but eventually you could see all three of them and they were holding guns. And without a second of thought, boom. Dead silence, then another boom. Mike immediately grabbed Sandra, who was near him at the time, and dragged her to run with him, and they duck for safety behind a tree,

and he told her, stay still. But she's breathing faster and faster. She doesn't want to, she can't help it. She saw Roger fall to the ground around the same time as the loud gunshot. She needed to find him. She needed to find him. She needed to help him. But what can she do?

There was more rustling of the leaves than another. Wait, so find the three people shot Roger only. And Stu. The two that were kind of walk away. And then another boom. And Dana's voice. Stu, what happened? Are you okay?

And Stu responds, I've been shot. They shot me. And you can hear him distinctly in pain. Sandra's trying to listen for Roger's voice, but she can't hear it. She just hears Dana and Stu, and she's with Mike behind this tree. So Roger, what's going on, right? And she's like, what's going on, Mike? What do we do?

What do we do? I don't know. And they hear the rustling getting closer and closer to them. The people who are shooting are walking towards them. Sandra could even start hearing them talking. Where would the police come with your hands up? Mike at this moment whispered to Sandra, don't run, the cops already shot at us.

And he gets up with his hands in the air. And Sandra was going to follow behind him. And he says, don't shoot, don't shoot. There's two of us. As he gets closer to the three men, he asked, who the hell do you think you are shooting at us? And with that, another boom. Mike was knocked to the ground.

Sandra runs to Mike. He had been shot in the shoulder. She's freaking out. There's blood everywhere. And she looked up and she sees the three guys staring down at her. She said it felt like a horror movie. Like this right here, this is what it feels like to be in a nightmare. And they start whispering and they head back to the campsite where the other three are. So Sandra lays down near Mike and she thinks if she runs, they're gonna come after her. They can probably hear better than her in the woods. They look like hunters or something. Then maybe if she just lays there, maybe they'll

forget. They'll forget that they didn't shoot her and they'll just be like, oh yeah, we killed all of them, right? This is her thinking. She's 13. She doesn't know what to do. So she doesn't know why they didn't kill her. No. So they will. She lays down right next to Mike. She's thinking, it's fine, it's fine. But they slowly walk over back to them. And they kick Mike as hard as they can. And he's been shot in the shoulder. So him jerking from that kick, reacting to that kick, he's in a world of pain.

And they kick Sandra too. Both of you guys get up, put your hands in the air. Don't try anything. Even with Mike being shot in the shoulder, he was forced to stand up and put both of his arms in the air. He was an unbearable, unimaginable pain. Sandra saw that Dana was alive too. He was standing with his hands in the air and the shorter one.

So there's three people, okay? And we're going to call one of them the boss because that's what the rest of the guys refer to it as. They just call them the boss, then the shorter one, and then a guy that they call hatchet face. Because I don't know, maybe he has a hatchet face. So we've got the boss, shorter one, and hatchet face. So the shorter one says, let's take them this way, boss. This is a drug raid. Don't make any sudden movements. Do exactly as you're told. And he starts guiding Dana, Mike, and Sandra to walk towards a tiny trail not towards the main road but deeper into the woods. Which by the way there's really nothing more than like cliffs rivers and sharp sharp rocky areas. It's not like a hiking

path. It's really hard to maneuver around at night, especially when you've been shot like Mike has. So Sandra's helping Mike up the Rocky hills by holding onto his waist, and he was pale, he's not doing well. Finally, they're ordered to sit down by these three guys, and they say, don't try to pull anything. There's a guy around the corner. What? That doesn't even make any sense. What corner? So at this point, Hatchet faced his sights. He's going to go back, and he's going to leave the guys. So now we've just got the boss and the shorter guy. That's got these three people. So Mike asked them confidently and loudly, are you Mr. Jensen?

Do you know Mr. Jensen? Now I don't know if this is like the sheriff. I don't know if this is someone in the police department, but we do know that Mike believed that these guys are police officers. And the guy just responds, no, I don't know him. And he turned around and started forcing them to walk. Now Mike is holding tightly onto Sandra's hand. So tight that it hurt. And they helped him lay down. The killer said, okay, you guys can lay down. So Sandra helps Mike lay down. And he says, Sandra, can you help me move my arm onto my stomach? I can't feel it. I can't move it.

His breathing was heavy, it was uneasy, and he's gasping for air at this point. And that is when they look at them and they say, you guys get back up, we're gonna keep walking. So now Sandra and Dana are helping Mike get up and walk, and they're asking, like, where are you guys taking us? Don't ask questions. What are your names? Sandra, Mike, Dana. Mike kept asking about the ambulance. Is it coming?

We're getting deeper into the woods. How are the ambulance going to come for me? I've been shot. You guys shot me. So I think these three kids, they truly believe that these were police officers. Because I think they lived in a small town where, I mean, how do you know better, right?

And this was in the 70s where you were taught to, but believe all authority. And Sandra was worried. I mean, are we going to die here? Are we going to get hurt? There's nothing else in the woods. There's definitely not medical care for Mike. He's been shot. Where are we going?

No answer. Where is Roger? Will I be able to see these guys after you take us in? So she genuinely believes that they're being taken to a police station. No answer. Will they be in the car with me when we go to jail? Will Roger be in the car? Is he hurt? How long will be he be in jail? And that's one of the guys' answers?

Five to ten years. They can't do that. It's our first arrest. Oh yes, we can. You're in Iowa! The law is harder over here. Iowa? How do we get to Iowa? So side note, Gitchi is just the inside of the Iowa border, so only a small part of the reserves belongs to South Dakota. Oh, they're actually in Iowa. So he's like, you guys crossed the border into Iowa. You didn't even know it? Huh.

So now stay still and don't try anything stupid or else I'll fucking blow your heads off. Over here, hatchet face and the boss yells and waves at someone and two headlights appear out of nowhere. Oh, so the third guy went to pull up the car? Yeah, and a man steps out and it's hatchet face. So Mike is like, is the ambulance on the way like, okay, fine, this is good news. Cars can get up here, but we're saying ambulance, I'm gonna die. Hello. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We need your names, ages, and you have your IDs on you. So everyone kind of had like their school IDs on them, so they gave the school IDs. And regardless, the killers went to go read it in the headlights of the car, like inside the truck, that a hatchet face had just driven, and they come back really

annoyed. So this is kind of the motive that comes out. Dana in the dark could easily have been mistaken for a girl. He had really long hair. He had some quote unquote feminine features. And I think the killers were disappointed when they had seen his ID to find out that he was a boy Because they immediately asked how many girls are here? And it was just Sandra so she raised her hand And the three guys came back with thin gray wire and said sorry, we don't have handcuffs So we're gonna use these Put your hands behind your back and at that moment Sandra was so stressed

I mean she knew that she was looking at the face of evil, like these guys looked pure evil. She didn't know what else to do, so she put her hands behind her back. And one of them said, the shorter one said, this will cut the hell out of your hands. And he sounded so proud, so happy. Can you not put it on so tight then please? I mean the wire was already slicing her skin. And then the boss said, get in the truck. I can't, the truck has lifted and I can't. So the boss picks her up, helps her into the truck, but while he's doing this, his face is as close

as it's ever been to Sandra's. And she wouldn't even know it at the time, but her confidence of staring right back at him into his face because she believed he was a cop shook him to the core. The fact that she just stared straight into his soul. She did that for a war reasons. I mean, she genuinely thought he was a cop.

So she's just, so imagine if you're face to face with a cop, you might be staring at them in their eyes. So she didn't think it was a killer. Okay. So she's just staring at this guy through his soul and he's like, okay, why is she not rattled? I mean, this is a young teenage girl. She should be terrified.

She should be shitting her pants. Why is she just staring at me like it's a normal Tuesday? And he's just so confused. I'm gonna tie this bag over your head, okay? That's how scared he was because of her confidence. Why? Because you said you were cold. No, I didn't.

Besides, I can just put my hood on. I don't know. Look, I'm just trying to get you off the hook, okay? I'm trying to get you out of here before the sheriff gets here. Well then, will you untie me? And surprisingly, he agreed. And in that moment, Sandra kind of believed, okay, maybe these are cops, maybe this does make sense.

But where are the handcuffs, where are the cop cars, where are the radios, where are the badges, what about Roger and Stu? Did someone get them an ambulance? Where is Roger? Hello? Where's Roger? Oh, your friend? He was hit with a tranquilizer gun, he's gonna be fine.

Now don't try anything now that I've untied you, and he slammed the door shut. And that's when she realized that she's the only one getting in the trunk. The boss was getting into the driver's side and they took off in silence. So now she's looking behind in the window and she sees that they're driving away from Mike, Dana, and the shorter guy, and Hatchetface. Just two people in the car? Yeah, just the boss, and Sandra. And her friends were looking at her in the car, and it's as if they were mourning her already. That's the face, and her heart hurt. And for the rest of her life, she will ask herself if she knew what was going

to happen next. Could she have done anything at all to stop it? So we have the big boss with Sandra in the truck and they're driving away from the woods. Then we have Hatchetface who goes back to the campsite while the shorter guy is watching Mike and Dana. Right where they are. And then the Hatchetface goes to the campsite to get Stoos keys for his van but realizes that Stoos is still alive. Roger is dead but stew is alive.

So he forces stew to join him in his van and he drives up to where the rest are. So he's reunited all of the survivors essentially at this point. And the short one approaches hatchet facings as which one first? And I quote, the little hippie boy first. So they turn on stew's headlights and it's beaming like the high beams are beaming at these boys. They're like blinded by the light right now who's just staring at them all of them have no expressions on their face just staring at these two guys.

And within seconds they jump out and they shoot Dana down. Dana falls to the ground stew is terrified. He's in shock. This is his little brother, he doesn't even know how to react, he too, himself has been shot, and they turn on Stu and shoot him. Meanwhile, Mike knew that he was next, so he just stood there waiting. So he gets shot down too. Within seconds, all three of them are dead on the ground, but the shorter one he's not happy, so he keeps firing at the boys until there's literal fogs of gunpowder surrounding them, like swirling the bodies.

That's how many shots he's firing. So the two guys, they get back into the stew's van and they say, well where are we going to dump the van? We'll go behind the river, there's an abandoned house, we can just leave it there. Our car is in that direction anyway, so it's perfect. By the time that we get there, Big Boss is going to be done with the girl too, and we can get rid of all the evidence And that's what you call beating the cops at their own game

So meanwhile bosses with Sandra driving to an unknown location and he keeps saying listen I'm looking for the lake, but it's too dark to find it the gas is so low. Damn it Okay, I know a place to fill it up So he pulls into this house through the barn behind it and it has this giant gas tank. Now you're thinking that's weird, right? But sometimes this is common in isolated areas for people to fill up on gas. Like for your tractors, for your whatever gas fueled,

you know, farm machinery. I sound like I know nothing. I don't know anything honestly. And without being asked, he tells Sandra, I have the keys to the gas tank. I can use it anytime I want, but I have to leave $10. Okay. Weird information.

Weird information. That's cool. I mean, the whole thing felt odd. It seemed like he didn't really know what he was doing. Like, he's stalling. Like, he seems more nervous than Sandra, and she's picking up on this. Why is he over-explaining himself?

Mm-hmm. And so she watches him fill up the tank, and the one thing that she distinctly remembers picking up on this. Why is he over explaining himself? And so she watches him fill up the tank and the one thing that she distinctly remembers is this red gas tank is the same colors that was on her grandpa's gas tank and his farm back then. So she's just reminiscing about those days.

So they fill up the tank, nobody sees them, they drive off. Now Sandra's trying to take a mental note of every little detail. Everything they pass. Even inside the car, she sees that the windshield has a crack on the driver's side. There's an inspection sticker on the dash, and it's a really dirty truck. And then they stop. Okay. Listen.

What's your name? Sandra. I'm going to try to avoid the sheriff, because if he sees you, you'll have to go in with the rest of them. Now, I told my buddies that I'm gonna take you and talk to you because you're too young to get busted. Oh, okay, thanks. I thought that if I talked to you,

you'd promise not to tell what we look like or any of that because, you know, that's not gonna be doing you any favors, but I promise. I promise if you stick with me, 100%, I will get you out of this. I promise you, you will never smoke weed again ever Okay, but why did you just shoot and not say anything? Well, no, I gave a warning shot. I said hold it

No, you didn't I heard the gun and then stew yelled You didn't give a warning shot Well, I had to shoot a couple of them. It's easier to take them in that way But why did you shoot Mike? His hands were in the air. Because he smarted me off! That won't work. I lost my temper and I shot him. And with that Sandra backed off because he sounded like he was getting angry. And she waited a little while and she asked, did you think Dana was a girl?

Yeah. Well he's not. He's a super sweet kid and his hair is long, but it's always clean. It's never dirty, like a lot of guys with long hair. Honestly, Sandra was smart. She didn't feel good about any of this, but she was just trying to stall. It seemed like he was driving without a purpose. It seemed like he was kind of thinking about doing something and she didn't know what. Like he has a lot on his mind, so she's trying to fill that space and talk, show that she's a real human.

You know all night to night Sandra, your friends are going to be blowing up balloons every hour on the hour. The police can tell just how much weed they've been smoking. Do you know that? Well, I wonder where my friends are. Every time there's a drug raid, we drive around in these unmarked cars. And just in case the sheriff insists on seeing you, you need to drink this coke. Drink this and they won't be able to tell if you've been smoking. There's an asset in the coke that kills the scent of grass, so they can't bust you.

Sandra had no choice but to drink the coke, but she was like, that's dumb. Like she knew it in her head. She's like, that's dumb. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. So he continues to drive, and I can only imagine how she's even holding up in this situation. I don't know what their plan is at this point. I know it's not good, but I can tell you, I don't know what I would have done. Like I can tell you I would have been completely just terrified. I would have been peeing myself. And she kept asking, well where are we going? It seemed like they were headed deeper into the country roads. It was dark, barely real roads, like all gravel.

We're gonna meet my buddies for the next drug raid. And they pulled in to an abandoned house. And he said, we think that the drugs are here. They're stored here. We just have to raid it tonight. Okay. There were rusty barbed wire fences all around. There was another car on the property. See, look, my buddies are already here. Sandra hoped that Roger would jump out of the car,

but instead it was just the shorter one and hatchet face. Well, we need to take care of some business, so I'll be right back. So they leave her in the truck and she can kind of hear their conversations. I mean, they're talking about the three guys, her friends. Well, what happened to them, right? She's listening and they say,

well, they tried to escape those dumb idiots, so we had to do what we had to do. Like, this is what she's picking up on, but she has no idea what that means, right? I mean, she's 13. She doesn't know. So she's waiting there, and all of a sudden, the shorter one comes up to the door and gets in. Well, you guys go to your thing and I'll stay here and make sure that she doesn't go anywhere. And he's sitting alone with Sandra and he immediately screams at her, take off your pants, your underwear too. And she's shaking.

Even the smell of his breath was so bad she couldn't even be near him. She unsypped her pants and she wanted to throw a wub. But the short guy was getting upset. I mean, she wasn't being fast enough, so he ripped off her pants himself and got on top of her and he ripped her. He grabbed her hair and forced her to stare at him while he did it, and she said that there was so much pain, but her survival instinct had kicked in. She felt detached. She felt like she was watching herself outside of her body, and the only thing that she could think of was, the girls at school are not going to believe me when I tell them what happened.

It's a strange thing to think, I'm sure, but that's how brains work. You're just like, wow, no one's gonna believe me when I tell them this, because this is crazy. Are you kidding me? She said it was over very quickly, and then the short one got out of the truck and now she was alone.

She could still smell his disgusting stench and she put her pants back on and she started to subconsciously brush her hair with her fingers and she wanted to throw up but she kept holding it back and in her mind she still believed that these were cups only because of her previous experience of her abusive foster parents. She was taught that sometimes people who have a powerful position they take advantage of it. That was in her head better than what she probably knew was the truth, is that they were going to kill her.

This was better. This is like your brain trying to protect you. Don't freak out. She heard them outside talking, laughing uncontrollably. Hatchet face seemed to be a little bit mad though and he kept screaming at the big boss. You screwed up. I didn't have time. I'll do it then. Shut up, I'll take care of the girl. I have a club where I can get my shotgun. Well, let's take care of her right here then. No, I said I'll take care of her. We can meet back up at the farm.

So Hatchetface walks up to the truck and says, Hey, I told the sheriff on the radio and he was bragging about making his next drug raid himself. So he's going to get all the credit. And she's like, I don't know what you're talking about. Like, what are you saying, right? And he says, come on, shorter one. Let's go.

And they drive off and he's screaming at the bus. We got to take the short one back to his second home. So you're thinking, what's his second home, right? The short one, his name is actually JR. That's what he goes by. And his second home is the county jail. He was an inmate. right? The short one his name is actually JR that's what he goes by and his second home is the county jail. He was an inmate. They had a work release program where he was allowed to sign out and return to lock up after work but JR worked

for a towing company so he didn't have a set schedule so the prison gave him absolute freedom essentially. That's freaking crazy. This guy is at this point living his life just rent free. So he had checked out of prison that day at 6.30 in the morning and he was clocked out of work by 3pm and the rest of the evening and afternoon he was out of prison killing people and he wouldn't be back until 2.30am which is nearly 24 hours of being checked out of prison. So Hatchetface drops him off at the jail and starts getting rid of the shotguns that

they use by checking them into the river. He was so happy and he hoped that JR was happy, but JR is just never a happy person. That's the one thing that bothered him. So he's getting rid of the murder weapon and meanwhile the big boss in Sandra are still in the car and she's so confused her brain is just trying to make sense of everything and she keeps asking him what's going on? You know I was a virgin right? And the boss says no you weren't. Yes I am. I'm only 13. She had no idea that these words would change the course of the entire night.

So he told her I'm gonna see how many guts you have. And it's cryptic, what does that mean? Many guts? Yeah, how much guts you got. And he bends over and drags out a large broken axe handle. So essentially think of it like a baseball bat. Like you could kill someone with it. Gives her a flashlight and says, go into the old house. I'm gonna try to scare you to death. What are you talking about?

And he's laughing uncontrollably. He's laughing so hard that he's wheezing. Get out out now. So they get out of the truck and he tells her, go to the house, go inside. You're gonna go in there and look for some animals that need to be killed so I can kill them. She's like, no, that's weird.

I'm never gonna kill an animal. I'm not doing that. I'm not going in there. Okay, then it's your choice. You either go in there, you go back in the truck. I don't think that he thought that she was gonna choose the truck. I mean, who would? You're just been assaulted in there.

If Sandra had chosen the house, she would have been murdered inside by the boss. Instead, she books it for the truck. So I don't know why he gave her the choice, but he did. I don't know if it's some sick twisted game that he's playing. So she sees, she gets back into the truck

and she sees that it's around 4.30 in the morning. She's exhausted. She had to fight herself to stay awake. The only thing that she knew was that the boss didn't seem like he knew what he was doing. So she kept, you know, stalling and pondering and she was like, I'm 13, like, please, I just want to go home. So they're both sitting in the car right now? Yeah. And he looks confused. He doesn't know what to do. And then he says, where do you live? I don't really want to tell you. Well, if you don't tell me, I can't take you home. And if you tell anyone what I look like, I'm gonna come and get you. I'm gonna get you

good. You're gonna take me home? I'll take you home. But if you tell anyone what happened, I'll go to prison, but only for five years, because I'm a police officer. And when I get out, I'm gonna make you pay for it. So where do you live? She gives the address. And what's your phone number? She gives it to him. If I'm ever back here, I'll call you. Okay.

She didn't know what he meant, but she wanted to go home, so she's going along with it. And he starts driving in that direction. The roads become familiar. He turned down the street that is where her house is on, and she almost starts crying. He parked right in front of the house and says, alright, get out now, I'll call you. And she sprints out, runs into her house as fast as she can, she bolts the front door,

and she sees that he's driving away. I mean, she's so confused. What do I do now? So she's just stalling. I mean, everybody is asleep, nobody's there. Can she even call the cops? These are cops. So she's just stalling. I mean, everybody is asleep. Nobody's there. Can you even call the cops? These are cops. So she's just pacing her room.

In a couple of hours, another couple were going for a test drive. They wanted to see if they should buy this new car that they're test driving. And the husband was familiar with Gitchie Manitou. And he thought, well, what better place to test drive than Gitchie Manitou, where we always go. So during this test drive, he looks outside the window and he sees kind of like this weird figure in the grass like a mannequin.

Or maybe it's some kids playing hide and seek like in the grass maybe they're laying down so he honks his horn but they were still. Okay that's weird. What's all that red stuff? Oh my god what is that? So he stops the car and they get out to see and it was three bodies. They were already in rigor mortis and it was clear that these three very young people had been murdered. I mean, there were multiple holes in all of their bodies. There was tissue, blood, flesh, brain matter, just splattered everywhere. Their eyes were wide open. They were steering into space.

So they rushed to call 911 and the police would later also find Roger's body. He had seven bullet wounds, skull fractures, brain injuries, wounds all over his body. And while this is happening, Sandra has no idea what to do next. She's 13. So all she can think of is, well, I gotta wake up my brother. So she wakes up Bob and she's like, I don't know what to do. I need your help. What's wrong? So she frantically tells him the whole story and he says, listen, you gotta call the cops. They don't sound like real police Sandra. You have to call the cops. But what if they are Bob? What if I turn them in and they are?

Well, I don't know, but you have to do something. No, they know where we live. I gave them our home number. Okay, well why are you going to sleep and let's think about it? I think Bob had just woken up. I don't know if he's confused. He's confused. This never happens. What kind of stuff happens like this? So she goes back into her room and she falls asleep till about nine in the morning.

And the first thing that she does is try to call Rogers house over and over and over. No answer. She tried Debbie. No answer. She tries another friend. And the other friend says, listen down. Listen, calm down Sandra.

I don't know what you're saying, but I have to go to church right now My parents are walking out the door, but I can come over after church. My parents can drop me off Okay, okay hurry she hangs up. She goes back to calling Roger non stop dozens of times Finally his mom picks it up is Roger home Who's calling Sandra? No, Roger hasn't come home all night We didn't think so because we went upstairs this morning and he wasn't there. Do you think he went somewhere with Dana? I don't think so, but Sandra, why didn't I check sweetie and see if he's here? Okay, please. Has anybody else called?, Sandra, nobody. Well please, ma'am, if you can just let me know, I'll call back later, let me know if

you hear anything or if you find him. So Sandra's freaking out. Honestly, Roger's mom wasn't because she just assumed that he probably slept over at a friend's house. He did that often. He's a teenager. Sandra's pacing around her house all morning and finally there's a knock on the door. It's that friend that she was on the phone with.

So she sits down, let's call her Anna. She's like Anna, this is what happened last night, right? She spills the details on everything. And she's like, well, we gotta go. We gotta go to Gitchie. We gotta make sure that the guys are still there. What if they're not there? Okay. So they don't have a car. They start walking on foot to Gitchie. We have to find Roger. Maybe we can hitchhike. We gotta do anything. So they were really nervous about hitchhiking, but this nice lady pulled up and they felt like they could trust her. So they get into her car, she takes them as far as the river and she lets them out. This is a few miles from Roger's house, and Sandra finds a phone booth and calls Roger's

home phone number. Hello? This is Sandra, has anybody heard from Roger yet? It's Roger's brother. No. I know what happened to him last night. These three guys came up and shot him. They said they were the cops and the bullets weren't real and that it was tranquilizers.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What's... Sandra, slow down. One of them breached me. Where are you right now? I'm gonna pick you up. The interesting thing is Roger's brother did an teller that the family had already gotten word from the police.

That Roger was found dead. Why didn't he tell her that? So he picks her up and drives her to the police that Roger was found dead. Why didn't he tell her that? So he picks her up and drives her to the police station. So I think that he didn't want to tell her because he doesn't know where she is, how she's going to react. Okay. And he says detective, this is the girl that was with my brother. Sandra, there's been a, this is what the detective said.

Okay, keep this in mind. Sandra, there's been a homicide. Do you know what that means? Sandra did not, but she said yes. And immediately with that, the police arrested her and read her her rights. Roger's brother was pissed. She was like, what is this?

I didn't bring her here to be arrested. I brought her here because she's a victim too. She was with the boys. She knows the full story. I just brought her here so you can catch the real people who did it. They kicked him out of the interrogation room. And thankfully he kept standing up for her, but the police still kicked him out.

She was fingerprinted. They told her to write down her testimony of what happened. She's 13 without her parents sleep deprived traumatized, feeling nauseous. She hasn't eaten anything, but she sat there and wrote down everything she remembered. It was about 10 pages of notes. Then the police grilled her. The poor girl couldn't even keep her eyes open, but they forced her to reiterate everything that she had just written down, and she was so calm. She tried to be as helpful as possible. She answered all the questions, but the police felt she was

guilty. She was so cold. Why is she like this? So suspicious. We just told her that her boyfriend died. She's 13. This should be the end of the world for her, but she's so composed. The problem is, she didn't really know what homicide meant. So no. She didn't. She doesn't even know they're dead. She doesn't know anybody's dead. She thought homicide meant crime.

A crime has taken place, and she's like, oh yeah, no, sh- Cops, come on. Sandra didn't know until after all the questioning. Her mom picked her up, and the police officer told Lolo, ma'am your daughter provided excellent information that'll be useful in catching the killers. And Sandra heard killers and she collapsed. She was sobbing. From there the police did not let Lolo take her home instead they separated them and drove Sandra into another interrogation room where a lot of doctors came in and she felt like she'd been violated all over again by men wearing

medical masks because they were doing a rip kit, which honestly is just retraumatizing victims. I mean it needs to be done, but it is retraumatizing victims. What makes matters worse is that since the big boss knew Sanders' home address, instead of finding a better option right away, they had her stay in a juvenile detention center for the night. Are you kidding? Like, this is just traumatizing on top of traumatizing. It would take them a few days for the department to find a safe house for the family.

So Sandra tries to sleep but she would wake up screaming, shouting, any time she was away from her mom for even two minutes, she would fall on freak out. She couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, she wasted away, she was losing weight rapidly. A psychiatrist tried to get her favorite chocolate cake, and that was like the only thing that kind of Lifted up her spirits Every time the investigation needed something it was rough They needed sketches of the guys and immediately afterwards they put her in the back of a police car and drove her to get she And she's screaming I can't do what I won't do it

I don't want to see that campsite ever again or even walk past this spot where Roger was killed to see that campsite ever again or even walk past this spot where Roger was killed. I can show you everything that happened on a map or something, please, I just, I want to sleep, I'm so tired, please. Listen Sandra, we wouldn't ask you to do this unless it was absolutely necessary. At some point, everything we find in this park will be used in court and we need your help to figure out what happened that night. I promise, we wouldn't ask you unless we needed it. I can just tell you what happened. I can just need a map.

Someday, Sandra, the video of you in the park will be used in a courtroom. And it's going to give you a vivid and believable picture of what happened the night of the murders. By going out to the park and telling us what happened, you'll be helping us solve this terrible crime. And he reached out, grabbed her hand that was shaking. And he said, listen, don't tell anyone. I'm not really a chef, but I know how to buy a delicious cup of hot chocolate on the way to the park.

You can do this, Sandra. Remember, you said you would do whatever it takes to help the boys? Now it's that time. Okay, I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes to help the boys? Now it's that time. Okay. I'll do it. I'll do whatever I have to do. And she fought every inch of her body to fight back those tears that were waiting to come

out because the boys had been brave. They were brave that night, and from now on, she had to be brave for them. So she went through the entire night with the police with every pain, staking detail of every part that the entire ordeal had taken place. She said even though when she was in the truck she looked back at her friends and they looked brave. They looked sad but they looked incredibly brave. Meanwhile, other officers are looking for where Sandra was taken. Where was that abandoned house? I mean it could be anywhere. You're looking at hundreds of miles to cover. It's not gonna be easy. It's gonna take weeks, and Sandra, I mean, we got to drive her around to jog her memory, and it wasn't gonna be pleasant

either because there was a division in the ranks of the police. Some officers believe that Sandra was lying. Think about it. It just doesn't make sense. Why would they let her live? Why would they drop her off at her house? Maybe Sandra didn't kill them, but she knew the killers. And for some reason she doesn't want to turn them in. Maybe it's another boy that she's seeing. Maybe she wanted to get rid of Roger, I don't know, teenagers these days. She's just leading us on a wild goose chase, and we're never going to get answers. We're literally falling victim to this 13 year old manipulative girl.

There were other officers who just, they couldn't even explain why, but they just knew that she was innocent. They just knew. Sandra even begged to be sent to the funeral and the police were frustrated. They were worried that the killers were staking out the funeral home because all of the boys were going to have a funeral at once. There was going to be a lot of people there. It was going to be just very dangerous.

What if people follow her back to the safe house? It's just not safe. But they agreed. For her closure, she could go, but she'd be behind a very thick curtain, practically a separate room, and police officers in plain clothes would be surrounding that area. She thought I would give her closure, and it didn't, at all, because a relative of one of the boys had heard that Sandra was there, and they were pissed. They screamed in front of everyone.

But she's lying. She's lying about what happened that night. I don't want her here. Where is she? And they burst through the curtain and screamed. You get the hell out of here. You know more than what you're telling the cops, I want you out of here.

And in front of everyone, she grabbed her things and left. And it got worse. Reporters were all over this funeral incident and they started writing articles that kind of made it seem like, you know, Sandra is suspicious. But Sandra was trying, I mean, she was trying to help the police as much as possible, even retraumatizing herself in the process over and over and over again.

She remembered very specific details like the inspection sticker on the windshield of a truck, but nobody had been arrested yet, so the public, not knowing the truth, turned on her. Everyone at school thought that Sandra had something to do with it. One police officer got so frustrated he sat her down and screamed, Enough of this! You need to tell us what you really know. And she would say, what?

I'm literally doing everything I can, like, what more do you want? Why is this not good enough? She knew that people assumed she was guilty of something, but she loved Roger. She would never do that, she's a 13 year old girl, and she was a victim too. The police gave her a polygraph test she passed. But people still accused her. Oh, you know, teenage girls, they're the best liars. Now, if this wasn't already as such a weird investigation clouted with mystery and suspicion, an almost unbelievable thing happens.

Get this, at one point, a note just poof appears in the police station. They say, hey guys, who left this here? Nobody knew. Well that's so strange. We locked up and we went out for dinner, but when we came back, it was slipped inside on an inner door. So that means, imagine, I locked the front door of my house, but there's a note slipped in through my bedroom door.

Like, how did you even get in? Who would even have a keys to this area? Why would the police do it? I mean, the police are the only ones with a keys. Why would a police officer do that? If they thought that someone was guilty or if they wanted to give it like a clue or a hint, they would have just said it.

But what's on the note? The note read, check into James Friar as one of the killers. James Friar. They said, well, do you guys know what James Friar? Doesn't really bring a bell. The author of the note was never discovered and the police put it on their long list of things to do because they were swamped by this case.

They didn't immediately investigate it. What? Yeah. Now here's where it gets crazy. The one person that was on Sandra's side the entire time was Sheriff Vincent, Sheriff V. He just felt in his soul that Sandra was innocent. She was just telling the truth. So every morning he would pick her up and they would start driving down random roads to see if Sandra

remembered anything. Their main search was for looking for that red gas tank on a farm somewhere. Sandra remembered a strong detail. No, it's red. Just like my grandpa's, we have to find it. It's a very specific color. And while they're driving, the two start bonding, Sandra didn't even know that his entire career was on the line because the further they got from finding the farm with the red tank, the more pressure, the more scrutiny he was under. After two weeks of searching, Sandra started to field down

to even tell him, no, that's not the one either. She was so paranoid because of how the public was treating her that the more she said that's not the one that eventually he would look at her and turn on her too and call her a liar. You're making this all up huh? There's no farm. There's no red gas tank we would have found it by now. But he wouldn't.

He actually admired her. She never gave up, she always kept going even after everything she went through. She was tenacious. So one day while they're driving, Sheriff's talking to her, they start opening up about their home life and Sandra screams, that's him, that's him, that's the boss! And she's pointing at a white pickup truck that just pulled into a farmhouse with a red gas tank. Oh my god.

There was a detective that was in the back of the car with the sheriff, and he said, Vincent pull over, pull over. He has a, I saw it, I saw it. They don't want to freak out, Sandra, but they had seen his shotgun. I saw it, I saw it. So they pull over, on the side of the road. The detective and Sandra get out of the car and they stay hidden in the bushes. Their sheriff was going to pull over the boss, and he was ready for a high-speed chase, but

he was surprised because he pulled over right away. Get out of the vehicle, put your hands in the air. And when the boss stepped out he looked just like what Sandra had described to Mass. His name was Alan E. Fryer. He was 29 years old and he worked at the farm that he just pulled out of. He took care of their machinery, sometimes their livestock, but in his free time he was spent all day cuddling his shotgun. No really, like he'd babyed his shotguns. Not alarming at all. Allen gets arrested without incident, interrogated, and Allen claimed Bill, who looked just like him. It's like a doppelgamer almost, okay? Well, he was like my best friend, he just moved out of town, but I think Bill is the one

that did it. Like we look the same. It's crazy how much we look like, like our friends would always tease us for it. Today actually? No, there's no Bill. Guys just making it up, it's like if I get arrested and I'm like, you know what, there's a girl that looks exactly like me. I was her best friend, we look like twins, but she just moved. And she told me that she killed someone. It's like, what? What are you saying?

You should really look into that guys. I tell you he's guilty. He's got to written all over his hands and hands on face, you know, because we look alike. And the police are just sitting there listening to this show and at the end, when he's done trying to convince them, they tell him, yes, so Sandra already IDed you. So here's what really happened, okay? That was a small talk. So that night, my brother and I decided to go fishing. You with your brothers? What are your brother's names? So James Friar? The note. James Friar.

James Friar, aka JR, and David. Those are my two brothers. David is hatchet face. They're actual brothers? Actual brothers. Oh my gosh. Well, we went out to the campsite and we were trying to catch some catfish, mind and arm business, when boom, someone shoots at us, I ducked, I cover my head, I'm good at that. Someone yells at us, come out or we'll shoot again. So I tried to get away at first, I was thinking I'm gonna make a run for it.

But then my brothers and I were like, wait a minute, this is three versus one. So we grabbed him and we tried to get his shotgun out of his hand, but he's like waving it around and it just fired like a million times while we were fighting. What does that mean? So while we're fighting, the shotgun fired a million times and I guess the teens, you know, the people that died, they just happened to be in the wrong spot. I didn't even know anyone died. I assumed that's what happened. We were just firing into the woods because we're trying to

get the shotgun out of this guy's hand, so they were all shot like that. Huh? Okay. That's really dumb. You know that, right? Get this shotgun out of this guy's hand, so they were all shot like that. Huh. Okay. That's really dumb. You know that, right? You know what? You're right, which is why that's not really what happened. So this guy's an improv type of guy. You know, he's feeling like the audience is not having it. The police are not like in this little setup. So he says, okay, here's what actually happened.

We saw these teenagers and they were super high on weed. So we're just out here yelling, screaming, doing the most, then my brother, J.R. James Friar decided he's never had weed before, so he planned on stealing the weed from the kids. They were distracted anyway, so we were gonna scare them with our guns and take their weed, but that's when it all started.

J.R. my wonderful brother started shooting them out of nowhere, and Hatchett faced my other brother. He just started shooting people too, but I know I didn't Also James my brother raped Sandra. I didn't do that so I was thinking about turning him in because I'm an honest citizen, but it's my brother Why did they call him boss?

I don't know that's just his nickname. Yeah, so the two guys were brought in James and David They were also arrested without incident and interrogated, and they all just started pointing fingers at each other. All three brothers were felons, they were not allowed to own a firearm, but they all had one. And according to them, it's just because they hunt for food. David, Hatchetface, had a long history of arrests. He had gotten into a car with one of his older relatives when he was still super young, and the two of them were playing this game, where they would drive down a dirt road and just shoot at any pedestrian. They did this three times.

Not three, not three shots, three separate times. Like, oh hey, what are you doing today? You want to go shoot people before police arrested them? Three times. Thankfully, they had bad aim, nobody was hurt. David gets sent to a juvenile facility, which this one was surprisingly not bad. They had a lot of resources to use for the kids. They had a work program, education group therapy, fun hobbies. They focused on rehab, but it didn't work. Because obviously, look what happened. So who slid the note of J.R.? Still on soft to this day. I mean, it has to be one of the cops, right? Yeah. So do you think it's probably a cop that kind of knew what happened or guess what happened? I think it's a cop.

Maybe they're responsible for this. Yes, but J.R. Because maybe they have connections with maybe the correctional officers at the prison. Yeah. But they don't want to kind of get themselves in trouble. Or like betray their friend. So like if I were a cop and my best friend was a corrections officer, I might feel bad if they found out that I'm the one that

ratted them out. But the correction officer told me that, hey, this guy didn't come home. Yeah. And this guy was out forever. Wow. So at first, David tries to claim it's self-defense. The teenage boys had guns, and they started firing it

as first. Well, we found no guns at the crime scene. OK, you're right. You're right. So David essentially just says it was self-defense and then he goes on to blame his brothers. JR, the short one, the rapist, the one that's really evil like he genuinely has the look of evil, he claimed that it was a completely different story. It was all his brothers.

Their criminals, he's trying to get his life together. I mean, this was all David's idea. But what about the girl? You raped the girl. Well she was having a blast with Alan. My brother, the boss, it was almost like a date, she was laughing and everything. I mean the girl loved it, she told us, she told us straight up, oh my god I would screw all of you. And what I did, I screwed her. Me and David both had sex with her, she never hollered, she never fought. I mean, it was completely voluntary on her part. Yeah, the police were looking at this guy like, that's definitely not what happened. We

know exactly what happened. We did a rape kid and everything like you're disgusting, you're scum. So all three brothers were charged with four counts of murder. They were shipped off to prison and Sandra could rest easy. Well, not really as easy as she could because her name was cleared in the eyes of the public, but she still had PTSD, she had panic attacks, she had depression, she had anxiety. And all of that would only get worse, because two of the brothers would escape from prison for a week. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, they were re-arrested, but can you imagine the emotional and mental trauma that would have on Sandra?

Then the trial takes place place and there's three separate trials so she has to testify over and over and over and over again and relive those nights non-stop. All three brothers had been tested for lower than average IQ. They were in their 70s to 80s and depending on their motive like why did this happen? What is their motive? It seems that was their biggest motivator. They were disappointed to find out that Dana was a boy, but why did only James rape Sandra? So they did this all for James? It seemed maybe the other brothers couldn't perform.

So why did Alan let Sandra live? So he claimed that it's because she was too young. So he had no idea that she was 13 and he has step-dotters that are 13 years old. So I'm a little bit torn on this because it does, he's at this during court and it does make him seem more of a compassionate person than just being like, I was too scared to kill her. So it just seems like a very easy excuse, but I'm glad that it happened. I do think that this is a more feasible option that he was forming an attachment to her.

He liked her for her age. He realized, oh, she's 13. Oh, I could easily groom her. That's why he asked her her phone number. I thought that if he saved her, he could groom her, and he had these sick fantasies of dating her. I mean, I feel like this fits better with who he is as a person and his crimes better than just, oh, I just decided not to. After a month of trial, they were all found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. David said, If all my appeals fail, I will write to the governor and ask for the death penalty.

I will not live the rest of my life in prison. It's like living with wild animals and hogs. Yeah, you're a pig, David. But he was given life with that parole, so it sucks to be you, David. Sandra told the judge, they need to die in prison, because I am in prison. She talked about her nightmares, her PTSD, her panic attacks, and after the trials she tried to live a normal life. She had missed one and a half years of school.

Everyone was calling her Gitchie girl because she was the victim of rape, even after they cleared her name of the crime. Even if they said she has nothing to do with the killers, it's... Nobody supported her. They thought she has nothing to do with the killers. It's... Nobody supported her. They thought she was tainted. They avoided her. They didn't want to be friends with her. One of the biggest rumors was that she was dating one of the killers.

Someone said no, my uncle said it was a drug deal gone bad. She literally offered to have sex with all of them. Well if she was, what was she doing in the woods with four guys anyway? Oh my gosh. Anytime she tried to date a person, you know, because that's what teenagers do, it would be all good until they would tell her, I'm sorry Sandra, but my mom found out who I was talking to, and I can't be a friend anymore. And she said that the worst was just being so lonely.

It wasn't even the bullying anymore. It wasn't even the name calling. It wasn't even the name calling. It wasn't even the whispering. It was just that utter isolation, even when you're surrounded by people. She was just lonely. She never had counseling because this was the 70s, and she just felt like she was 20 years older than all of her high school friends. As soon as her mom allowed, she dropped out, and her life is spiraled. Every anniversary was the hardest part.

She didn't know how to get rid of these thoughts. Felt it was just the best to party and drink, and at least that helps her forget for a little while. She was showing heavy signs of survivor's guilt and PTSD. She hated leaving her out. She would spend days in her room just crying until her body was numb and exhausted. She woke up screaming from horrible nightmares. The only time she could sleep was if her mom was right next to her. Belola was working hard hours. Sandra would have a panic attack after panic attack. She would sob. She was depressed. She was utterly alone. To one day, after another crying session, she threw her things against a wall and she went to the bathroom and she looked in the mirror and she realized, I'm throwing my life away.

I already gave up on myself. And the only person she felt like she could talk to was Roger's brother, the one that took her to the police station. So she would hang out at Roger's house, she bonded with their family, Roger's mom accepted her into the family. They had a big dog that she loved, which was really cute because Roger's brother hated smoking. So the dog was actually trained to take

unlit cigarettes out of people's mouths. What? Yeah. But by the end of the year, Roger's mom had passed, and everyone was dead of stated. She was the glue of the family, and soon the family started to disperse. And Sandra stayed in the hometown,

and the small town, and she partied, she drank, she started taking drugs. She got into a series of super toxic relationships and they would just encourage her to drink more. She would go to Rogers Grave and sing to him. She said that when she was there, she felt, she felt him, not like his arms around her or anything, but just he's there. He can see me and he knows I'm there. She said, I was the youngest in the group. The boys never let me know that things were as bad as they were

They never cried. They never begged for our lives. They stayed strong even Mike and Stu who are seriously injured stayed brave They will always be my heroes and I never had the chance to tell them that Right after Sandra turned 19 She moved to a small town in Minnesota with Bill and Bill's girlfriend, and it was nice. Nobody knew her as Gitchie Girl. Nobody. She was a normal girl there, and she was introduced to her brother's boss, Carol Kranz.

He owned a pawn shop and Sandra had a job at a restaurant and he showed up. The first time he ordered one beer. That's it. They're a blast. It comes back again and again, and she, because she was in all these really toxic relationships, she thought it was weird. You only ever drink one beer, you don't want to get shit faced? How do you have fun?

But they were having such a blast. He was so polite, so put together, and then out of nowhere, he asked her out. And he did not take her to wild parties. He took her to these cute movies, nice restaurants, they would go to the park and talk about life, and Carol was not rich, by the way. He worked hard, he took her on these super modest dates, but it was true love. After these dates, Sandra said it was nice

because she would wake up in the morning, and instead of feeling hungover, instead of feeling disappointed, she felt loved, just like secure. And after a year of dating, Carol proposed her. And she was over the moon. I mean, she was so ecstatic. They went to Las Vegas. They got married. They wanted a month-long honeymoon just driving down Pacific Coast Highway in California, PCH. She fell in love with traveling. And during these long road trips, Carol would

ask her, would you say married to me even if I go completely broke? Yes. What if I go bald? Yes. What if I lose my teeth and I need fake teeth? What if I gain so much weight that you have to roll me over to get to work every day? Yes. And she would just be giggling the entire time. I mean, they were so in love.

Within months, Carol asks, hey, this new shop opened up, this new space. It's a huge lease, it's a much bigger lease. It's a big risk. Kerala asks, hey, this new shop opened up, this new space. It's a huge lease, it's a much bigger lease, it's a big risk. What do you think? She said, let's do it. Sweet, expands his pawn shop, and it was an instant hit. They bought their dream house, Kerala paid off all the debt that Sandra owned, owed her mom. So Lolo had been supporting her over the years, and Kerala paid it all off.

Wow. He was a really nice guy. He was quirky too. He would even drive through like lower income areas and just throw money out the window. And I know it sounds really trashy just saying it like that. But his reasoning was he didn't want to give it to someone, but he wanted someone to come across it because that would make their day. Someone who really needed it. If you if you really need to make a run and you stumble across like a $20 bill, that's going to make your entire day your entire week. Sandra treated Karel's two kids like they were her own. She loved them. One of them even asked Sandra, did you lay me?

What do you mean by that? Like how a chicken lays an egg. Did you lay me? She rescued a dog named Buddy who had survived a gunshot to his back. Which, you know, and animals became a huge factor in Sandra's healing. And then one day for closure, Sandra went to go see Alan in prison. Oh. She asked him, would you have done anything differently that night? No, because my brothers wanted you dead, but I saved you.

Why didn't you kill me? You reminded me of one of my step-daughters who was around the same age as you. Well, you did the right thing by not killing me. And she shook his hand and left. She said she felt thousands of pounds lighter out of there. And when the book Gitchie Girl came out, Sandra was overwhelmed with love. I mean, she had been bullied all this time, even after her name was cleared. And she said that women were confiding in her, thanking her for being so strong, for giving

them strength. For all these years, she thought nobody cared. And she said, but look at all these people. And she told her mom, mother, I am no longer ashamed of who I am. For so long, it felt almost entirely on you to be my rock. When I look in the mirror, I see you and I see how you raised me. I will carry on your loving and forgiving ways. For many years, I didn't think about how my mom must have felt, silently suffering from being

the mother of the Gitchee girl. But she never said a word. I know it must have been difficult. But my desire is that everybody who hears my story will use it to spread love and support to make our society a better place to live. And that is the story of Gitchi Girl. And I hope you guys enjoyed this week's mini-sode. It was a tough one if it was an emotional one. Let me know your thoughts. I think I'm just out of loss for words. I think that this has been like weighing on me for weeks and finally like saying the story out loud.

I'm like, I feel so, I feel so confused. And I'll see you guys on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye. episode. Bye!