Rotten Mango - #250: The Adopted Orphan Who Killed Her Siblings For Attention - The Real Life Case of the Movie “The Orphan”

Episode Date: April 6, 2023

17-year-old Janice was hiding under the bed. There were 3 masked men that had broken into the family home. They were going from room to room attacking anyone they stumbled across. Janice managed to slide under her bed, but she had no idea if they would find her - if she were next. She couldn’t make a single noise. She tried to text her family to send help. She posted on Facebook, hoping someone would read it and call the police. By the time her father came home - 2 of the 3 siblings were found dead. But in today’s case - nothing is what it seems. 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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in all states or situations, prices vary based on how you buy. Betting betta boom. Okay, this sounds like a scene out of a horror movie, but it's part of a real life case that just happened in the Philippines. December 10th, 2021, so this is pretty recent. 17-year-old Janice is hiding under her bed. There were three masked men that had broken into the family home. They're going room to room, attacking anyone that they stumble across. Janice is hiding underneath her bed, literally a horror

movie. Janice managed to slide under the bed, but she had no idea when the door to her room would open, when they would walk in, if they would even see her. Maybe, I don't know, maybe they would drag her out by her ankles. She didn't make any noise, she can't make any noise. She obviously can't call the emergency service lines. She doesn't even want to talk. She's terrified. So she starts texting her family group chat, hoping her parents would read it and maybe they would send help. They would come to save her. Her parents are both at work. She's home with a loan with her two siblings, and she starts texting the group chat.

Three masked men enter the house. They're attacking us. Please, please help. I can hear them screaming. They're hurting us. Please. That was at 2.40 a.m. Janice could hear her siblings scream for help, and she was getting no response from her parents. Maybe they didn't see it yet. They were at work. So she didn't know what else to do or who else to turn to.

I mean, think about it, like how quickly do your friends respond to your texts. So instead, at 3 p.m., so just about 12 minutes later, Janice as quietly and as quickly as her sweaty fingers allow her to, she posts on Facebook. Guys, help me, please. So when broken to the house, help, please, I don't wanna die. I'm here inside a room hiding right now.

Please, please help. And then she heard footsteps approaching her door, her bedroom door. She didn't know if it was a parent, a police officer, or maybe it was the three masked men. Her father would later come home to find two of his three children dead. As always, Full ShunutsuReveille

about rottenmingleodcast.com. This case is pretty recent. It's based in the Philippines, and a lot of the sources were a mix of tagalog and English. I did get a tagalog speaker to help translate and help with the research, but of course, there are still things I think that can get lost in translation. If you guys know anything about this case

that I didn't mention today, please let us know. And with that being said, let's get into the very, very strange case that everyone is comparing to a very specific Hollywood horror movie, like one of the most iconic horror movies. Because this case is truly one of those instances where you think you're like, I know where this is going, and then it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. So let's go back to December 10th, 2021, really quick. Clearly this is a crucial day. This is the day that Janice is hiding under her bed.

And immediately, the beginning of the day was off to a memorable start, a good start. It was the first time that Janice called the McWads, her parents, McWad, Mr. and Mrs. McWad, mom and dad. They were leaving for work. They were kissing the kids on the cheek and she called them mom and dad I mean, I'm sure they told her for a while now that she can call them whatever she feels comfortable with But she finally called them mom and dad. That's a huge day for any adoptive parent you you feel accepted

I you feel like you earned this child's trust you earned the title I imagine Mr. Maguad Cruz, his first name is Cruz, went to work just smithely like ear to ear split grand. He just seemed really excited about this and about the family that he was working so hard for. So while he's at work, his coworker opens the door, he's a teacher. So opens the door to his classroom, pops his head in and is like, don't freak out Mr. Miguad,od don't panic but your house has been ransacked you need to go home now Mr. McWod panicked he freaked out he runs out of the office I think it took him about 15 minutes to get into his car drive all the way home from the the school and there was no context given to him about what

his co-worker said all he knew is that his house was ransacked and his three kids were at home or they were supposed to be at home. He's terrified. He can't care less about the damn house. He just needs to get home first kids, okay? He forgot his house key in the hurry because when he jumps out of the car, he runs to the front door and he doesn't have the key. He's shaking the handle. It's locked. He's pushing up against the door. It's still locked. It's not budging. So he decides I got to try another door. He turns to leave the front door and he looks down because there's like a crunch underneath his feet. He realizes that at the front of the front door, just on the floor is a blood soaked blanket and a knife. The handle of the knife was also missing. So he

tries to lay part? Yeah, just the blade part. I imagine, and this is speculative, but I imagine that would happen if you were using the knife to do very severe things for the handle to break off. There must be a lot of force applied in some sort of direction. I don't think anyone came in with just a knife blade. So he tries the front door again, and this time there's a stronger sense of you know panic and Distrat software. What he saw he's banging on the doors shouting his kids names three kids nothing the dorm won't even budge So he runs around the house to the back door and he's still screaming his kids names like Gwen boy boy It's an nickname Janice and so he's running through around the house to the back There wasn't even a single screen coming from inside the house.

It was eerily quiet. He gets to the back door, yanks it open. Thankfully, it's unlocked. And this is when Mr. McGuad realizes he's got to protect his kids. Okay, so of course, any father wants to immediately run into the house and scream as kids' names and frantically just look for them

making sure that they're alive, but he's thinking, if there's an attacker, if they're maybe holding my kids hostage so that they can't scream and shout, I gotta be quiet and maybe I can at least sneak up on the attacker. That's what he's thinking. He's like, maybe I can knock them out. So as quietly as possible, he starts tiptoeing through the kitchen, and the minute he steps into the living room, his entire life, at least how he knew it, into the living room. His entire life, at least how he knew it, just ended in that moment.

The entire living room was painted, read with blood. You couldn't even see the floor, that's how much blood there was. Broken vases that were knocked over, there were glass shards everywhere. Blankets were soaked in blood, they were just thrown around.

Even things that didn't belong in the kitchen, like pans, pots, baseball bats, they were just in the center of all of this and they were covered in soaked and blood. And in the middle were the bodies of two of his three children. They had been murdered. Whoever did this was clearly sick and deranged and angry. I mean, the injuries on the McGuard kids were really bad.

One of them was even missing an ear. It had been severed off. Now, one of his children did manage to survive, but they were incredibly distraught, obviously. They had been hiding under the bed when the attack took place, and they heard everything. Every noise coming from downstairs. In what was supposed to be one of the best day of Cruz Maguad's life, it was now like a living nightmare. Every time he closed his eyes, all he would see are the two kids laying in the living room. Before we get into who survived how it happened, I need to give you a breakdown of the Muguad family. It starts with four Muguads.

The two Muguad parents, Cruz and Levella, and their now teenage kids, Gwen and Louis. So it's the four of them. Until one day, Gwen and Louis, they're both teenagers. They come home. They're like, mom, dad, we gotta talk to you about something. They sit their parents down, and in like the most professional shark tank proposal, concise, calm, wealth out presentation, they're telling their parents why they need a fifth member of the family, why they need to adopt Gwen's best friend Janice. It kind of sounds crazy.

It's like, no, we're not just going to adopt your best friend so that you can have a never-ending sleepover. That's not friend Janice. It kind of sounds crazy. It's like, no, we're not just gonna adopt your best friend so that you can have a never-ending sleepover. That's not how life works. But the kids are like, mom, hear me out. She's an orphan. She's been bouncing around from house to house. She is working as a live and nanny right now, and she's never gonna have a future like this. She hasn't even been able to go to school or study or have a childhood. She's constantly working, and then the minute that the family decides they don't need an Annie anymore She's gonna be out on the streets She's 17. She was forced to grow up when she was like five years old. Please, please, please

Can we just can we just let her move into our house and she said that she would cook and clean and do the laundry and all of this and we don't even have to pay her She just wants to feel safe Please, please, please, please Parents are like okay, what this is really please. Parents are like, okay, what? This is really intense. Do you know how old they are? The boy? Yes, Louis the boy is 16 and Gwen just turned 18.

Oh, okay. So they're all teenagers, yeah. Like teen teens, yeah. And the parents are like, I don't know, guys. We don't even have a spare room. The 16 year old Louis, the boy is like, well, I usually sleep on the couch. Like, I'll give up my room. Wow. I mean, a 16 year old boyie, the boy is like, well, I usually sleep on the couch. Like, I'll give it my room.

Whoa. I mean, a 16 year old boy to give up his room, that's very, very selfless. He's like, come on, guys. Like, you always told us we have to help our friends in need, like, come on, mom, dad. They're begging and they're like, let us have a private conversation about this

because this is a lot. And the few points that they keep coming back to as adults are Gwen's friend Janice was just a kid, you know, just like their kids. She deserves a fighting chance at life. They had seen her around and yeah, she looked miserable. Also in the Philippines, just like everywhere else in the world, when a young woman doesn't have the proper resources or support system,

there's a very real risk that they might end up on the street. And once that happens, it's very likely that she could potentially be forced into sex work or worse. And even just the thought and threat of that looming over Janice's head, I mean, as parents, that's heartbreaking. Like this kid is growing up, knowing that this could happen to her in any moment, just like one choice from somebody else. She has no control over her life, no safety net. The Muguad parents decide, maybe we can take the bird and off of Janice.

She's just a kid. She shouldn't have to worry about making sure that she has enough food and shelter. So the Maguads are very religious. They thought, you know what, maybe the Lord has blessed us with enough to provide for our family and a little bit more because maybe we were meant to provide for Janice.

Look, the Maguads are incredible people. So the McGuad family, they went from four to five members. They formally adopted Janice into the family, like legal papers and everything. So let's talk about each one of the family members. Mr. McGuad, Cruz, the father. He worked as an elementary school teacher and it seemed like his career path was on the right track.

He was spoken very highly of constantly getting recognized for his good work. There was a promotion in the works, so he was doing well financially as well. And his wife, Novella, she was the principal at the same elementary school. So the two of them, they don't make like an insane amount of money. Their schoolteachers, their principal,

but they were considered more privileged in their town. They owned land, which is a huge deal. They're able to support their kids. They didn't have to choose between putting food on the table for the night or turning the lights on. A lot of families around them, unfortunately, had to make a choice between the two. Now, the two kids, Louis McQuad, nicknamed Boy Boy.

He's the youngest, he's the 16-year-old. He's like the charismatic one in the family. He's calm, but he has this like energy when you meet him. You're already spilling your life secrets like your deepest fears, what you wanna become one day and you're like, why did I just tell this random boy that I just met all my deepest fears in life? I think he was just very warm and comforting.

People felt inclined to open up to him when they saw him. He also never judged anyone. In fact, he would find a way to relate to you so that you don't feel alone or weird. So he's 16 at this point and he tells his parents, I'm going to continue working hard at school and I'm going to grow up and I'm going to be a lawyer. This is a huge commitment to make at 16 years old, but he was down for it. Okay, I don't know. Just reading about Louis, he seems like the type that I would be very intrigued by.

Like, he's very smart, but he's also very creative. He plays the guitar, he likes to read and draw. It's the feeling of, okay, if this kid grows up to be a lawyer, I really hope that I'm not the one sitting on the other side going up against him. That's the feeling. So that's Louis, the youngest of the family, boy boy. His older sister's name is Gwen, and she was really the studious one, like the super smart one. Like Louis Smart, but Gwen is intense. For example, she was a girl scout as a kid, and you know how they have those like sashes that they wear? Her sash was filled with badges and pins. There wasn't even a single space left for an extra pin. She completed every level of the Girl Scouts program in her free time for basically for fun. And she's like, wow, I kind of need more challenge. So in high school, she

enrolls for this pre-med prep school at the local university for high schoolers. She's like, I'm going to go up and be a doctor. So I don't know what the Muguads did, but they've raised their kids, right? Like one wants to be a lawyer, one wants to be a doctor, and they're both really upstanding moral kids. She also volunteered in her free time. Okay, I swear, she's like a college acceptance administrators dream candidate. And yeah, I probably wanted to be my doctor, okay?

She's really approachable. If you happen to be at a gathering, if I'd use sort of like a party, you're feeling extra shy, uncomfortable. You're like, I don't know. A single person here I'm so nervous. She would sit with you and keep you company the whole time. Okay, you know how some people will come and sit with you and they'll chat you up,

but the minute that someone more interesting comes in or a friend of theirs comes in, they did shoot. They're like, okay, bye, have a good one. Gwen was not like that. She would sit there until you were comfortable. She would be there with you with the whole freaking time. That's how she meets Janice, her best friend, and now adopted sister.

The Maguads are really well liked, and they're constantly being invited to these social gatherings. Now, one of their close family friends had a live in Nanny that would tag along to all these dinners and parties and just kind of run after the family's kids. So she's a live in Nanny for of the McWod's family friends. So she's brought to these parties on a working basis. She's running around looking for the little kids

that she's supposed to watch. And there's a bunch of other teenagers there that are just teenagers like Gwen and Louis. They're there because it's fun and it's a Saturday, but she's working. And Gwen noticed her on more than one occasion. Mainly because, you know, Gwen's like, she looks like my age. She must be my age, but, wow, this is, she's working.

So Gwen strikes up a conversation with her and they instantly click. Janice is a year younger, she's 17. Gwen just turned 18. And the two of them are like attached at the hip after the first time they start talking. Their favorite thing to do, this is like, they're go-to. Whenever Janice could get off work for a few hours, they would come up with these elaborate photo shoot sets and they would like hang up sheets in the backyard and do these fancy little backgrounds.

They would set up the little string lights. They would try to time it with golden hour and then they would do each other's makeup and hair and they would spend hours just goofing around trying to take pictures of each other. They also really enjoyed filming TikToks together. Just of them dancing. It's really cute. It seems like they're really close friends. They kind of look a little shy doing the dances but Louis is really cute and charming. Okay, in a way that little brothers typically seem to be, he's like sticking his hairy leg out to block the girls when they're dancing and they're all like laughing and swatting his leg away.

So the three of them, they look very comfortable with each other. So it's like once they're comfortable, Gwen feels like she can finally ask, you know, the question like, why are you living nanny for this family? Like you don't seem to enjoy it. Do you need to make money for your parents? Like what's going on? You can tell me, or if you don't want to, you don't have to tell me.

Janice opens up and she says, I don't have parents. And she starts walking, going through her life story. And it's pretty heartbreaking. Janice said her first real memory started when she was like eight years old, before that she doesn't really remember much

She just remembers she's eight and a stranger found her wandering around a ship by herself like a giant boat Not even like a cruise like I'm talking like a shipping container boat her parents were nowhere to be found I don't know they may have lost her but more likely Janice believes that they just completely abandoned her The stranger was nice and thankfully not a child predator because they help post Janice's name and picture on Facebook. I don't know if that's a good idea but you get it. And they were posting on online forums to see if her parents were looking for her. Nobody ever responded. Finally Janice is dropped off at the Philippines version of CPS, the Department of Social Welfare and Development. We're just gonna call it DWSD. And that's where Janice stayed. So she's where Janice stayed.

So she's bouncing around from home to home. And then recently she was offered a job as a live in Nanny for this young family and she took it. Okay, so she hates the job, she hates it. But don't get me wrong, she's so grateful for this opportunity. I mean, to have like a family take her in and let her live with them, that's a great job.

You know, it's sad though. She like gets to see these young kids live this amazing life with a family that care about her. She sees Gwen and all the teenagers at the gatherings being, you know, teenagers. They have stress, but it's different. They have parents to comfort them. She told Gwen one of the things that she wished for the most growing up. She just wished that she could run around with kids. She wished that when she was running around, she would fall down, scrape her knee, and she could just have a mom to run to, that would hug her and put her on her lap

and blow on her knee and tell her, it's okay, I got you. I mean, even now, Janice said she wished that all she had to worry about was getting good grades and getting accepted into college and not getting fired and being without a home and having nothing to fend for herself. So Gwen is really emotional when she hears Janice's story. I mean, for one she had come to see Janice's sister. So to hear about how hard her life was, I mean, it was rough. But another reason

was I'm sure I touched on the privilege that Gwen felt like she had to know that she was lucky enough that she could always depend on her parents to be there. So like side note, Gwen's parents, they're not like free-for-all parents. They're not showering her with amazing, luxurious items and like letting her do whatever she wants. Just because they were doing okay, didn't mean that they were spoiling the kids. Each member of their family, they had their own set of chores. Everyone had to pitch in.

The kids had a study, they had to get good grades. Everyone had to be responsible. They had to go to church on Sundays. Like, there were a lot of rules. They were actually pretty strict parents. But Gwen and Louis had come to really respect their parents for that. They really were raised, really, really well.

Like, I think the fact that Gwen and Louis are even comfortable enough to ask their parents to adopt Janice, that just shows you how tight they are, how close they are. So Janice moves in. She gets formally adopted, okay? She moves in to Louis' room. He moves out.

He's permanently on couch duty now. And from the moment, from the moment that Janice moves in, everyone treats her like family. They wanted her to feel like at home. They enrolled her in a school immediately. I mean, she had all this room to breathe now. She didn't wake up every single morning to worry about work and putting food on the table.

She was just a kid. She said for the first time, she had the luxury of daydreaming about her future. Like, what her dreams are gonna be, which she wants to be when she grows up. She had never done that before. So after moving in, the three siblings, they get closer and closer.

They kept doing their photo shoots, hanging out all the time. Janice even went on vacation with the Muguad family for the first time. So really close. Now, I do want to make it clear, not everything was sunshine and rainbows. I'm sure any adoptive parent will tell you that it's freaking hard when a new child has to get accustomed to their like new environment, learn the rules, and even just to trust the adoptive parents, it's a long process. There's this long hard grace period you have to go through, and it's completely normal for there to be hiccups along the way.

You just have to be open about it, which the Muguads were. I really do think that them being educators helped them in this whole process. They were always patient and understanding. So Janice's first hiccup came a few months after her adoption. The Muguad family had land. And a few pigs that they were raising on this land. So they have little pigsters. And Cruz sold one of these pigs for about $200 US dollars.

He takes little cash, it's a bunch of small bills. He puts in a little cash jar in the primary bedroom. Because he knew that, I don't know, maybe he'll need it for an emergency one day. What you watch depends on what kind of majoring. Sometimes you're craving comedies like friends or South Park, and sometimes you're more into dramas like HBO's Succession and House of the Dragon. There's also cooking shows like Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay

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month. The per month. The same month, his elderly parents test positive for COVID. Now in the Philippines in 2021, there were these quarantine facilities that you have to go to. So at least in this area, so his parents, they're being quarantined in a government facility and they would need money for food and supplies while they were stuck in there. Cruz is like, okay, perfect. I knew that that that $200200 was gonna come in handy.

He runs to grab it from his little glass jar. And it's freaking empty. It's gone. He's like, that's how weird. So he asks his wife, hey babe, like, have you seen the money? She's just like, now why would I touch the money? He asks his kids and they're like, no,

I haven't seen the freaking pig money. Like, why would, what? He's like, okay, well, do you the freaking pig money. Why would it, what? He's like, okay, well, do you guys know where it would be? Everyone's shrugging, they have no idea. They all start helping crew search for the missing money. Crews even wondered if maybe thieves had gotten into the house to take the money, but that didn't make sense because nothing else was stolen.

And usually someone was home, so wouldn't they have known? They also have these big dogs that bark like crazy at strangers, so he's genuinely puzzled by this. It's like, this is the case of missing money. This is mind-boggling to me. The family look around for hours. You know, the family is doing well enough to feed the kids and everyone. They're financially stable to a degree, but they don't just have a ton of extra money laying around. So Cruz really was counting on this $200 to give to his parents. He needed that. They're doing everything. Couch cushions, under the refrigerator, under the stove,

they're turning over all of the rugs. And one of the kids picks up Janice's backpack. Not because they think it's in Janice's backpack, but to search the ground underneath Janice's backpack. Her backpack was suspiciously heavy. Again, he had received small bills for the sale of the pig, including, I believe, like, heavier coins maybe. And so it's not just like two $100 bills.

They're like, oh, that's weird, because we're doing remote learning. We don't really have a lot of textbooks in our bags right now. So they thought, what the hell? Why is her backpack so heavy? But they didn't, they didn't accuse her. They're just kind of glanced at Janice. And she saw the kid, her sibling holding her backpack,

and it was just the look of guilt was so clear on her face. It was clear as day. She confesses. Turns out Janice had a secret compartment that she made in her backpack. So you know the bottom flap of your backpack, you open it up and you look inside and you're like,

oh, and that's the bottom of the backpack. Well, she undid the seam, created a little empty space between the fabric and the actual inner lining of the bottom of the backpack? Hit the cash in there, sewed it back on, basically creating a false bottom for her backpack. Very crafty, but the crazy thing is, and this is why I'm like,

I don't know if I can be a parent because it takes so much patience and understanding because I'd be like, why'd you do that? That's crazy. But Chris wasn't even angry. He was disappointed, he's human, and her new family, they all looked at her, confused and disappointed. But Janice was breaking down, she's like, I'm so sorry. I don't even know why I did that.

I don't know you probably hate me now. It's awful. I'm so sorry from ceiling from you. Please, I totally get it. If you want to kick me out of the house, if you want me gone. I get it, if you never trust me again. But please, I'm'm so sorry from stealing from you. Please like I totally get it if you want to kick me out of the house If you want me gone like I get it if you never trust me again, but please. I'm just so sorry. I really don't know why I did that The McGuards were hurt, but they also kind of understood So Janice had grown up with nothing. She didn't have the security that the McGuard kids had grown up with and side note stealing is actually very common in families with recent adoptees Especially with money and food. It comes from the child's scarcity mindset. So I mean think about it And side note, stealing is actually very common in families with recent adoptees, especially with money and food. It comes from the child's scarcity mindset.

So, I mean, think about it. If you never know where your next meal or money for your next meal or even shoes or socks is coming from, and now you're suddenly in a place within abundance of food, of course you're going to think, I should probably grab some more so I can save it for later when I inevitably need it again. There's no way you're just gonna take it for granted immediately and be like, this is my life now, unlimited food. These children truly believe this family's gonna let them go, they're gonna face scarcity

again and they need to stock up. I know it's messed up that she stole the money, but it's kind of heartbreaking when you think about the psychology of why an adopted child might steal from their new families. So yeah, the Maguads were disappointed, but they got it. They understood. And it didn't matter to them because it's like when your kid makes a mistake, what do you do? They're still your kid. And Janice is their kid. That's how they thought about it. Janice's our daughter. Of course, we're not going to turn our backs on her because she did something wrong. She just needs guidance. So after this little hiccup, the family focuses on rebuilding that trust.

And it wasn't on this. Janice, you made us lose our trust and you so earn it back. It was more so than McGuod's trying to comfort Janice to reaffirm in her belief that their family now, and she never has to worry about food for as long as all of them live because she's family. After this incident, the family actually come out stronger than before, more bonded together. Gwen started tutoring Janice when everything went into remote learning. And December 10th of 2021, before the Maguad parents left for work, Janice turned to them and called them mom and dad. It was supposed to be a very, very, very,

good day. But there was a problem. Janice, their adopted daughter, whom they thought was legally categorized as an orphan, meaning without parents, when turns out Janice wasn't even an orphan. In fact, she was regularly communicating with her mom on Facebook. What? So what the hell is going on here? Back to the day of the murder, December 10th of 2021. I'm not sure how Cruz's coworker knew that the family home had been ransacked. Maybe he saw Janice's Facebook post or someone he knew had seen it.

But Cruz rushes home, finds two of his children dead in the living room. He tries to check if there was anything, a small pulse or anything, but there was nothing. It said Cruz dropped to the ground was anything, a small pulse or anything, but there was nothing. It said Cruz dropped to the ground and he cried out, he's religious, he cried out, Lord, why did you have to take both of them?

Why do I have to lose both of them? Why? And then he collects himself as best as he can because he's still a father. He has to look for his third child. So he's scrambling and he's praying that he wouldn't stumble across another dead body and he calls her name out and finally he hears like the creaking of a door like you know when you crack it open and he hears her voice and he screams Janice and

he runs to her room and he's putting her his hands on her head and shoulders and arms and he's frantically checking all over her to see if she's hurt. She wasn't hurt, but she's dripping wet. And for a split second, he was panicked that it was blood, but it wasn't. It was water. We're gonna come back to this detail. It's clothing too? Her hair is soaking wet in water.

He made sure that she was okay, rushed them out, and he kept asking her, are you sure you're okay? Are you hurt? Why is your hair wet? Are you sure it's not blood? Are you bleeding anywhere? Janice is hyperventilating. She's explaining three men came into the house. and he kept asking her, are you sure you're okay or you hurt? Why is your hair wet? Are you sure it's not blood? Are you bleeding anywhere? Janice is like hyperventilating.

She's explaining three men came into the house. They had talent, quit, and boy boy. She had enough time to run into her room. She hit under the bed. She was so terrified. The screens were so loud. There were so many screams. She was so scared.

She knew that she couldn't help her siblings and she didn't know what to do or how to even do it. And then finally, I went silent. She didn't know what to do. She was so stressed, she was having a panic attack. So the only thing that she could think to do in the moment was take a bath. Take a bath? Yeah, okay. So this whole bath thing is interesting, but we're going to come back to it, okay? It's just very odd because you know, I know what you're thinking and I maybe we're on the same page, let me know, but I feel like a bath is very vulnerable. And when you're in a bath, you're naked and in a slippery, wet tub, defense lifts, it just feels like

the last thing you want to do in a situation where your environment doesn't feel secure. But again, people grieve differently. They respond to shock differently. Maybe she was in a state of shock where even her brain wasn't registering because, you know, our brains like to protect ourselves. Yeah, I can't imagine. Bath and shower, even shower, you close your eyes or in the water, you can't hear things well. And then you gotta get the towel.

That's a horror movie. And then bath too, it's just none of that makes sense. And then the water filling up the tub is really loud, typically, and it takes a while, and you're like, oh my god, I'm so nervous. So Cruz comforts her. And honestly, he stayed strong for her because two of his children are dead.

He keeps it together so that she doesn't break down further. He felt like she had already been through enough. Mrs. McGard, LaVella, arrives at the scene just after the police and she sees Janice standing there, soaking wet, crying. And she rushes up, she hugs her. And she's like's like oh my god thank god you're okay are you all right what happened where Gwynne and boy boy? Cruz was the one to tell her tell his wife and the mother of his children that their two kids were dead Mrs. McGart LaValla is an elementary school principal she was very loved for being this

soft spoken person when you're an elementary school principal, you have to be calm, collected. You have to know what to do in the event of a crisis. You have to know how to handle these things. Kids, parents, staff, literally everyone trusted her to know what to do in every situation. But in this situation, there's like no answer. There's no solution.

And it said that Mrs. McGuad completely broke down in every sense of the word. She was a broken woman and a broken mother. And I think Cruz, seeing his wife break down to the core like this, he had been holding it in for Janice. I think just seeing the devastation in his wife, he broke down. And so the three of them there outside the house crying in each other's arms and the McWad House was taped off as a crime scene. The police were really busy inside.

They found like an abundance of evidence in the living room, just scattered everywhere. There were a few different things that could have been used as murder weapons, so there was this bloody baseball bat, a hammer, a few kitchen knives that could have been used as murder weapons So there was there was this bloody baseball bat a hammer a few kitchen knives including the one near the front door pans pots shattered glass bottles and they had to log all the evidence take it all in and they tried to match the weapons with the injuries on the siblings Gwen had been stabbed to death and it seemed very personal and we know this through all the cases that we've covered over the years, but when it kills our stabs a person in the face, it's typically incredibly, incredibly personal. There is a level of hatred and cruelty and oftentimes it can indicate that it comes from a place of jealousy, like that's typically when you see that

extensive injuries on the face and her chest and abdomen, but a lot of wounds on her face, which you don't see necessarily in all stabbing cases. So the chest and the abdomen and sometimes the back, those are pretty common areas. Yeah, because face is not to kill, right? Face is just so personal. And again, to ruin someone's face, a lot of experts believe it stems from jealousy. So keep it in mind later. Gwen was stabbed multiple times,

just face, chest, abdomen. She was missing an ear. She had wounds all over her arms and hands, indicating that she fought till her very last breath. Her hair was completely matted with dried blood. Louis' body was just as bad. The police counted 51 stab wounds on his body. Let me repeat that.

51 stab wounds on a 16 year old's body. How can anyone ever hate a 16 year old so much to stab them, I mean, even once, with 51 times, like, it doesn't make sense. Their bodies were so badly damaged, the morgue workers had to physically sew the teenagers back together before their parents could hold a funeral. The investigators that were looking into the case,

their initial working theory is that, okay, attackers came into the McWat House since they're going off of Janice's statements as well as the evidence. Maybe the attackers, they were looking to target one of the better off families in the area. They most likely thought that the house was gonna be empty, but they came across the three McWat children Maybe the attackers, they were looking to target one of the better off families in the area. They most likely thought that the house was going to be empty, but they came across the

three-moiguot children and all hell broke loose. That was the running theory. That was the very initial theory. But when they're taking log of everything at the crime scene, just laying around in plan site, there are so many objects of value. TVs, phones, laptops. I mean, if these are thieves that are willing to kill teenagers, innocent children, I feel like they would steal on their way out. And it's not like they were hearing police sirens on their way. So very quickly, the

angle of burglary gone wrong, it was dropped. The next runner up as a theory was a family dispute over land. So Lavela had siblings and there have been reports prior that Lavela and her siblings had gotten into these fights over land. Maybe some of the siblings were jealous enough to hurt the Maguans? Maybe they thought that they could get the Maguads to hand over some land if their children were now dead? But the evidence wasn't adding up with that either. I'm sure the police check the alibis and the motives because in the end they ruled that theory out too. So now they're out of options. The family, the public, they all want answers. I mean, this is terrifying to every single family in the area.

I think whenever children are involved, it's a huge, huge deal. And like, don't even get me started on what's going on in the US. But when even children aren't safe, you feel like what is wrong with society? Like, we need to do something drastic now. People are demanding answers and change.

Like, they're in their homes. So the police, they form a specially investigations unit focused on this crime. And the Mayor Principal Award for $5,000 for anyone with information that would lead to the arrest of the attackers. Meanwhile, the police go back to the crime scene. They're like, we got to start to do everything again. This is how we're going to break this case wide open. They bring in forensics teams. They're coming through the place. And I'm not sure why they didn't follow up with some of these leads to begin with, but they finally decide. We got to search the perimeter of the house. Not just inside the house, not just the living room, but like outside. And it's not just the backyard.

They're going a little bit further than that. They're expanding their search scope. And that's when they come across this irrigation creek near the McGuat house. So it's like a small pond. And I's when they come across this irrigation creek near the Maguad House. So it's like a small pond. And I guess since they weren't looking for a body or even a murder weapon, they just didn't think to search it until later. They got incredibly lucky.

There in the creek was a little plastic bag. It felt like someone had tried to throw it down the creek and they assumed the water would carry it out, but the plastic bag got caught on a tree branch. So it was just stuck, swaying in the water would carry it out, but the plastic bag got caught on a tree branch. So it was just stuck, swaying in the water. They dragged it out and inside our bloody clothes. The killers after the murder had taken the time to change their clothes, put in a little plastic baggy, tied up, and throw it into the creek. Okay, now they're getting somewhere. So with this in mind, they're feeling a boost of confidence, okay? They start combing

through the McGuad family house. Again, and they're searching for anything at all that might seem even remotely suspicious. Meanwhile, the netizens, they're doing their own little investigation. And you know, the police, they explored the perglary-gon-wrong theory, the land dispute theory, but there was one theory that nobody really wanted to be the first to say. Do you know what I mean? I mean? It just feels almost politically incorrect. It feels wrong. It feels cancelable. To be like, hmm, we think the survivor did it.

Like, even just saying that, that's crazy, right? I mean, normally, I'm like, don't say it then. If you think you're gonna get canceled, don't say it because you're probably, like, don't come up with these theories. Wait, do people think of that right away? Yeah, like, netizens were like, mmm, I don't really want to say it. They're trying to, like, come up with roundabout ways of being like,

well, there's a few parts. Nobody wants to be like, I think the survivor killed them. The netizens did have some strong points, though. And normally, I'm against these types of theories, because more often than not, they're not true, and it just ends up hurting the survivor even more. But I'm gonna walk you through some of the biggest points of contention. Point one. The freaking bath. The bath. Okay, this was the weirdest part. This is the part in the case where immediately my little radars are going off. Like it's very strange. When Cruz, the

father found her in her room after he found his two children murdered in the living room, he was just so happy that she was alive. He was so happy that she was injured, but she's soaking wet. And she explains to him, once the screams of her siblings stopped, she took a bath because she was so nervous. Again, what an oddly vulnerable position to put yourself in when there were just three homicidal attackers in your home. I think that's even a nightmare to most people.

Being in a bath, when intruders break in, you just don't feel safe and secured. That's why when you're like showering, you're trying to open your eyes and you're like, I gotta keep looking. Even Cruz said, when I heard that and when the shock of my kids passing were off, I just couldn't stop thinking about that part. He didn't want to, but he couldn't help but wonder like, why? Like, wouldn't a more natural reaction to be either run to your siblings' bodies, keep hiding under the bed

until someone found you, or maybe even run out of the house? Nett isn't speculated in a very round about way initially that she took a shower to get all the blood off of her after she stabbed her siblings. And again, Louis was stabbed 51 times. That's just on his body, that's not including the injuries on twins. Another point of contention was the fact that Janice didn't come downstairs when she heard crews yelling their names.

The house isn't massive and from where her bedroom was, I mean, she could hear him banging on the front door, screaming the kids' names, running around to the back of the house. She didn't even scream back. She didn't alert him that she was in the house, nothing. She stayed hidden and she didn't come out until she heard him come across his children's bodies in the living room. But there's bigger points to be made. The third point is the room that Janice hid in was ransacked. She said the attackers entered the room and they just didn't see her hiding under the bed and they ransacked her entire room. I don't know. It's just kind of weird and the house

really isn't that big so if she ran away when the attackers were already inside the house wouldn't at least one of the three attackers had seen her run to her room and one of the first places you would check is underneath the bed. So they just go into her room ransack the room and think you know what, I'm sure she's not going to tell anyone what happened. It's weird. Also she stayed at that she locked herself in the room and then hit under the bed. If the door was locked from the inside, how did the room get turned inside out? There were also droplets of blood that were inside of her room. And so she's arguing, yeah, because the attackers came into the room and ransacked the place, of course there's going to be droplets of blood because they were probably

covered in blood, because look at how graphic the crime scene is. But it just wasn't making any sense. Then the last point of contention was Janice sent the message to her family group chat at 248 pm. Remember, after the autopsy, police discovered that the McGuod siblings' time of death was closer to 2pm. So what happened during those 50 minutes? This next one is a bit more speculative, but I'm still gonna go over it. A lot of netizens were wondering how she was able to post a Facebook-like post, spelled 100% correctly, and including emojis. So the Facebook post begging for help because there were intruders in the house that post included emojis

Just kind of strange And on top of that just a few minutes after posting on Facebook she changed the last name to her profile to pee pe We don't know what pe is her birth last name is CBL and Her adoptive last name is McGuod. I don't know what Janice P is. Wait, after she made a pull, she changed her last name. Yeah. So you're telling me you're hiding under the bed and there's three knife wielding attackers downstairs, murdering your siblings, and you're like, I need to update my Facebook name, like right now. I wonder, um, okay, this is against speculation time, but maybe in her

17 year old mind, she thought that if her name wasn't Janice McGuod, the police couldn't find her profile. So like, I think maybe she thinks the police are gonna go and be like, oh, you know what, let me just investigate this whole family and okay, Janice McGuod types it in Facebook, there's no Janice McGuod. Was it Janice McGuod before? Yes, yeah. Oh, okay, she's trying to hide her name.

I mean, that's all they can think of in a 17 year old's head. Because obviously they're gonna find you regardless. Yeah, okay, she's trying to hide her name. I mean, that's all they can think of in a 17 year old's head. Because obviously they're gonna find you regardless. Yeah, okay. But I'm trying to think like a 17 year old, cause it's so random. For now, these are just netizen theories and arguments. Meanwhile, the police would find droplets of blood in rooms of the house that just didn't make sense.

Like the laundry room. There were droplets of blood there. But the laundry room shows no sign of struggle or anything. So the killers just like walked in there, spattered some blood around from their clothes, and then walked out. Now the police believe that they do an exhaustive search of the house, and the crime scene tape comes down, and the maguads were allowed back into their home to clean and tidy up. And I guess figure out what they wanted to do with the place. Mrs. maguad felt like a zombie in this house, so while the police were investigating, all she did was cry and grieve and scream and then crawl up in a

ball and then wait for the wave of emotions tight again. And now she's back in the house. She's like, I just want to stay busy so that these floodgates don't open. She starts tidying up the areas and she starts with Janice's room. It's been ransacked. So this is Louis old room. Mrs. McGuodd starts going through and cleaning up and she stumbles across an ID. She's never seen this ID before. It doesn't belong to her children.

She rushes to hand it over to the police. And since the ID belonged to a 17 year old male, his name has not been identified to the press, but he's often referred to as Marlin, which is a pseudonym. Lavela did not know Marlin. She had never seen Marlin before in her entire life. So why is his ID in her house? Her neighbors had seen him before though.

Why would you break into these apartments? For money, for drugs, whatever was in them? Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No, who's gonna 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 gonna 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, app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your shows The day of the murders a few eyewitnesses came forward to say that they saw Marlin heading towards the McGuad residents And it wasn't just neighbors a store owner that was asked said Marlon came in and asked him which house belonged to the McGuads. A motorcycle driver said that he even drove Marlon to the McGuad house that day. What? So the police, they finally have their first big lead. And since Marlon's idea was found in Janet's room, they bring her in and they start questioning her.

And when I say questioning, I mean that in the lightest sense possible. They're not interrogating her. They're just like, hey, we found this idea in your room. Do you recognize it? Like do you know who this person is? Are they suspecting her at this point? Oh, okay. They're just like, oh, like we found this in your room. Maybe it's Louise. Like maybe Louise had a friend,

but we just want to know if you know, just simply asking questions. And she's like, yeah, I know that person. They're kind of taking it back. I don't think that was the answer that they were expecting. They're like, oh, you know this guy? yeah, I know that person. They're kind of taking it back. I don't think that was the answer that they were expecting. They're like, oh, you know this guy? Yeah, I know him. And she breaks down and she says,

I had something to do with the murders. In that interrogation room, in the presence of a lawyer, Janice admits that she and one other accomplice were the ones that murdered the McGoat siblings. Look, the admission itself was never released. All we know is that she admitted one other accomplice were the ones that murdered the McGoat siblings. Look, the admission itself was never released. All we know is that she admitted to it. But we don't know how active of a role she took. We don't know if she participated in the physical killing.

I think most people suspect that she absolutely did. But we don't even know who her accomplice was. Beyond the fact that everyone calls him Marlin. And that's not even like a nickname. That's just an online pseudonym for him. But is he caught though? Yeah, so her and the 17 year old, they're both caught. We know that he's 17.

He works for the church. He worked as the person that sets up the church hall before service begins. And that's really the extent of what we know about him. We don't even know how the two met. What kind of relationship that they had. Netizens suspect that they were dating, which normally that sounds like a good theory, right?

But it's weird because Janice's Facebook, she had pictures with another guy that she would refer to as her boyfriend and it's not Marlon apparently. Speaking of Janice's boyfriend, the police were able to track him down. They questioned him, make sure that he's not involved somehow,

he wasn't. But he did say something that struck me is really weird, really interesting. He said that he saw Jan involved somehow, he wasn't. But he did say something that struck me as really weird, really interesting. He said that he saw Janice's Facebook post that day. Of her freaking out that there were intruders in the house. He saw it, he called her, she actually picked up the phone. But she didn't answer, she didn't respond, it was just like silent on the other line. He didn't hear any strange noises or anything like that, so after a few seconds of silence,

he just hung up. He assumed that nothing really bad was happening. Like maybe she was being dramatic. Okay, so this was odd to me. It strikes me as so strange. Either this guy is a really shitty boyfriend. The world's worst boyfriend. Or maybe Janice has a history of making bizarre claims.

Or being dramatic. Like it's just really strange behavior. I can't imagine a world where you're loved one or anyone posts like that on social media and you're just like, oh, well, silent when I called them, they're probably fine. Unless it's frequent, I don't know. The police immediately tracked down Marlon. They find out that he is a record.

He was caught with illegal drugs not too long ago. And there wasn't even a chance to deny his connection with the Maguad murders because they found Gwen's phone in his bag when they arrested him. Now, this is where the case starts getting really, really strange. So at first, this was looking like a final girl situation, which if you guys know the final girl trope, it's a trope in slasher movies, horror movies,

where one final girl at the end survives and she either confronts the killer or she lives to tell the tale. So a lot of people thought that this was like a final girl situation, but it went from that to being compared to the movie orphan. Do you know what I'm talking about? It's about this husband and wife who adopted nine-year-old girl after they lose their baby, but the nine-year-old turns out to be a thirty-thier-year-old woman

who is just hell-bent on killing the entire family. Side note, I know the movie orphan was very controversial. A lot of adoption groups hated the depiction of murderous adoptees. And I think that there was even speculations that it affected adoption numbers for like a year or two. I don't think I can really give input on that or anything involving adoption

because I don't know. I guess I was always in the belief that adoption is really good, but then recently I was seeing TikToks of adoptees saying that they feel a lot of resentment towards adoption centers and groups and their adoptive parents and I'm like, okay, I know nothing about this world to say anything, but this case has been compared to the real life orphan. And I just want to put a disclaimer.

Just like any other case, there's bad people everywhere. Like you're going to take a group of people, you're playing a numbers game. There's gonna be an evil man, an evil woman, an evil adoptee, an evil religious slaydar, an evil politician. They're all kind of evil in that little area, but you're not, I mean. So don't take this case or any case,

it's like, oh, this is why I'm scared of these people or these situations. So anyway, people pointed out the similarities between this case and the movie. Both girls were adopted by a family that was kind-hearted, financially stable. Both girls disguised their hatred and jealousy with like this super fake, sweet facade.

But the similarities kind of end there. Janice is not an adult. Janice was a minor when she committed those crimes. So she was a child who killed two other children just so that she could be the only child left. Is that right? That's it? That's the theory.

We're going to get to it. So, I mean, again, I do see why people keep comparing the two cases. It's human nature to draw these connections, but I will say unlike the movie, Gwen and Louis were very real. Like, these are real people. So, the Mugwad thought Janice was a troubled orphan, looking for a chance at a better future, right? That's what they thought, but she wasn't even an orphan. Her parents weren't dead.

They didn't abandon her. They weren't gone. In fact, she was still in contact with her mom at the point that she was adopted by the Maguads. Okay, Janice was born to a pretty rough environment, though. That much was true. Her parents, Michelle, and Juanito, they didn't have much. Most of their meals growing up as a family consisted of just eating sweet potatoes, not even three times a day, like maybe once every four days just to feel full. Sometimes they

would eat sweet potato leaves if they didn't have any more sweet potato to the soft, or they would ask their neighbors and beg them for rice or eat almost rotten bananas. So Janice did not have a normal childhood. She was never carefree. Her dad was always getting drunk and upset that they didn't have money. And Janice was found on a boat in 2013. Now, it's hard to say if she was abandoned, like she claims, or she left her family willingly. But she's found on the boat, she lies about not having parents. Maybe she was embarrassed, maybe her parents were dead to her after everything that happened, I don't know. I think this part we can sympathize with, right, like her childhood.

And maybe even the fact that she lied to everyone about her parents abandoning her. In a way, maybe she did feel abandoned by them. Either way, it's speculated that she just wanted to be taken in by the McGuads. But all this trauma, all this hurt, started resurfacing when she saw how loving the McGuad family was. She saw how they do it on Gwen and Louis, and they protected their kids and loved them

and helped them grow into good people. And Gwen was beautiful, smart, kind, and it's suspected by netizens that Gwen was everything that Janice wanted to be. And so the more comfortable that Janice got with the privilege that the McGuod family could give her, the less content she was getting. The McGuod's were loving, but they were strict.

So when Janice was adopted, she got her own house duties and chores, just like Gwen and Louis had. And this isn't some like Cinderella situation where they're giving her all this work and they're like, you're the adopted kid, you better do it all. The maguads were fair.

The problem though was, Janice was used to living by her own rules now. She just wanted all the positives of living with the maguads. She didn't really care for the negative parts. She also saw how much the maguad parents adored Gwen and Louis and she didn't like that. But the crazy thing is, they gave Janice the same love. Like, from the minute that they adopted her, Janice was treated like a member of the family, to an extent where people around them thought that Janice was a cousin that they had taken in.

But Janice was not content. She just wanted all of it. Mr. Maguad thinks that's the reason his children are dead. He said, based on her confession, she was jealous and envious and she hated our daughter Gwen because of the love we showered her with. But the netizens are confused because even if she saw all the love Gwen is getting, she also has love. Love is not a finite resource. How can someone be greedy enough for something like parental affection to kill their siblings? To add weight to the theory of this motive.

Remember how she called the Muguah parents mom and dad for the first time the morning of the murders? Now in hindsight, that could elude to her jealousy and her belief that she would soon be their only daughter. Yeah. And I think it's the feeling of maybe Janice felt like she could never compete with Gwen and Louis because these were the birth kids. And so maybe she felt like the only way to truly be their daughter was to get rid of the

birth kids. So Janice admitted to being involved in the murders and the theory of why she did it is still being debated. But I feel like up until this point, even for them, it felt okay, it doesn't feel excusable or even understandable. But from a psychological standpoint, it seemed... Like, you know what I mean? It kind of made sense psychologically. Not in the sense that any murder makes sense. Like all murders are senseless.

But I guess psychologically speaking, everyone was like, I think I can connect the dots. I think I see where this is going. Everyone's like, oh, she's feeling this intense jealousy. never having loving parents, she wants all the love to herself, she's intensely jealous, this is the only way to not be in competition with the birth kids, she gets them out of the picture. That's what we thought. And then the police find text messages in her phone.

They're in tag-a-log, but they've been loosely translated to English. The identity of the person she's texting hasn't not been released, but we can kind of assume that it's Marlon. And the text Janice says, There are seven people I want to kill. I won't tell you who they are now because you might report me,

but this is all I have left to do before I can finally get the freedom I want. He texts it back, don't do it yet. Think about it first, then do it when you learn how to. They both laugh, and she texts him back. I think I can do it now. Tell me, do you think anyone would still take me or accept me if I ever do kill someone? Isn't there saying that no matter how big your sins are, even if you killed someone, the Lord was still for you.

You just have to ask for it, right? Hell, I mean, even soldiers kill people, so I should be allowed to. You're crazy, Janice. But for me, it's okay, because I have someone special who will still love and accept me, even if I do end up killing someone. Janice says, I'm being serious, I wanna be a Marine.

Yeah, she wanted to be a marine, okay? And he says, soldiers don't kill people who wouldn't kill them first. I just want to finally be happy and do what makes me happy. Same. I want to not worry about the people around me anymore. Janice gets upset and she says, whatever, if you don't want to do it with me then I'll just find someone else who will. I just can't take my surroundings anymore, it's not healthy for me. Same. ha ha.

Don't you have anything better to say than just same? Anyway, can you imagine it? I think it'll be fun to kill someone. The other person asks again, who do you want to kill? Let's make a list. I don't want to tell you though yet, because you might report me to the authorities.

This is all while she was living with them. Yeah. So I don't really know if I believe in this whole like, I wanted to be the only loved one. Not that that's even more excusable, but I feel like there's a financial motive. There's something. On December 16th, six days after the murders,

both Janice and Marlon were arrested. They weren't sent to jail because they're minors. They were both taken into basically like a juvenile facility. And um... Wait, so what's going on with her mom? You're saying she's still talking to them all? They're minors. They were both taken into basically like a juvenile facility. And, um, Wait, so what's going on with her mom? You're saying she's still talking to the mom? Yeah, her mom has no idea what's going on with her. I guess the mom is like, okay,

you're just off to fend for yourself and they would just keep in contact through Facebook. So her mom was a shitty mom. Speaking of Janice's mom, she would actually meet with the McGuod parents. She would look for them and, um, she ran into them at Gwen and Louise Cemetery. So Michelle, Janice's mom approached them and she got down on her knees and said, I'm so sorry. Every time I see their photos, I can't hold my tears back. I feel, I feel how you feel. Laval lifted the woman back into a

standing position so that they were eye to eye and she said, you don't need to kneel. If only I could make you feel how painful it is, but I don't have the courage to do that. All I want and all I'm asking you is, maybe you're the one person that can get her to tell the truth of what really happened. Michelle Janice's mom tried to go meet with Janice, but she was not allowed to see her. So the killers were tried separately, so they were tried for the murder of Louis and for Gwen separately, one for Louis, one for Gwen. And when this first sentence came out, it was in say, Oh, speaking of while they were at this juvenile center, they're provided with like activities, it doesn't even seem like prison. They're they're going through therapy, they have activities to keep them not bored. And while they're at the

center, Janice, for a lack of a better word, she gave everyone the creeps. She was just sitting in her cell quietly, never made small talk, no interest in anything, just sitting there watching everyone. The other kids there were so scared, they asked to be transferred to a different room. So the first sentence came out,

and the two killers would receive 10 years each for the murder of one Muguad sibling. So there's still another trial left, but the public and the Muguad parents they were outraged like how can someone get only ten years in prison for taking another life, for taking the life of a child? It said the sentence was light because in the Philippines the criminal age of responsibility is 15, meaning if you're younger than 15 you get no legal liability, just rehabilitation, but Janice was 17. So between the ages of 15 and 18, the criminal sentence would be rehab until they reached

18. Basically, they're going easy on them, because they were minors when the crimes happened. That's freaking crazy. Yeah, the Muguad parents were not happy at all with this sentence, neither was the public. Cruz and Lavela, they started giving media interviews, talking to officials. They went on national TV and they just wanted to put pressure on the judicial system.

Lavela admitted something really heartbreaking in these interviews. She said that because of her religion, she was actually willing to forgive Janice. She said she was trying to be understanding. And she felt like Janice in her eyes was a victim in her own life, you know, a victim of the system, a victim of circumstance, poverty, the lack of education.

She said she wanted to forgive Janice. I mean, this woman is so strong. But then one day, Janice was taken into custody, and Lavela was there, and the two made eye contact. Janice was looking at the woman who gave her love and support, and who treated her like her own children. She looked at the parents of her two victims and her face was completely blank. No remorse, no guilt, not even anger or sadness or confusion, just cold indifference. That was when Lavela changed her mind.

She said, we were so proud when we adopted Janice because without God was using us to help this young girl. It was a blessing, but then this is what we get. Then she turned and she addressed Janice through the screen and she said, is this how you repay us after all we did for you? Does Gwen deserve this after convincing us to take you in? After seeing how little Janice cared about killing Gwen and Louis, LaVella no longer wanted to forgive Janice. There was a lot of outrage sparked because of this case.

You know, one of the arguments was recently the age had been raised from the age of criminal responsibility had been raised from 13 to 15 in the Philippines. So a lot of people were debating that. People were debating the fact that Janice was taken in to basically CPS in the Philippines and they didn't do anything. So they said that Janice was produced as a killer by the system. Like, they should have been able to support her in a way that she didn't have to kill someone, that she didn't have to end up in the situation. And another thing is, they were just kind of confused.

If Janice had a mom, CPS didn't know that, and they legally let the Muguads adopt her, like, that's crazy. So finally, the day comes Janice and Marlon received the second sentence. And for the murder of the second Muguads adopt her? Like, that's crazy. So finally, the day comes, Janice and Marlon received the second sentence. And for the murder of the second Muguads sibling, both of them would receive 22 years in jail. So with this sentence, in the last one combined, the killers would spend about 32 years in prison,

no chance of parole. And the sentence isn't huge compared to other cases we've covered. And the Muguads weren't satisfied with the final verdict. Their children were dead, but the killers would be able to walk out of prison in their 50s. They would have half their life left to live. Half a life that the Maguad siblings would never go to have. The Maguad parents, they went to therapy and they are in their healing process. They've opened up a restaurant in remembrance of Gwen and Louis. They opened their doors August of 2022.

They painted the walls like this beautiful red and yellow color and they named it Casa M&M. They serve rice dishes and even offer like a dessert bar. So now everyone that eats at this restaurant, they have a chance to experience just the love and the warmth and the compassionate nature of the Maguads. And despite all the hurt, the Maguad parents seem to be doing as best as they can be. I think they're finding a lot of strength in their community. And I just hope one day they find happiness again. And that has been the viral case of the Maguad murders.

What are your thoughts? Please stay safe. I'll see you guys on Sunday for the mini-sode. Bye. hearts, please stay safe. I'll see you guys on Sunday for the mini-suit. Bye!