SERIALously - 137: House of Terror: Dad Had Multiple Children with His Daughter & Hid Them For Years?!

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

In August of 2023, police in Oklahoma City received a very haunting tip. The tip was about a man who lived in a typical neighborhood in southeastern Oklahoma. From far away, the man’s house looked n...ormal. However, what was found inside shook the entire neighbors and the entire community to the core. Everyone had the same question: How could anyone do this? Seed Go to https://www.Seed.com/ae and use code 25AE to get 25% off your first month. Quince Go to https://www.Quince.com/ae for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Beam Go to https://www.shopbeam.com/annieelise and use code ANNIEELISE at checkout for 40% off! Follow the podcast on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@serialouslypodcast        Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_      SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/   Shop the Merch: www.shop10tolife.com     About Me: https://annieelise.com/      For Business Inquiries: 10toLife@WMEAgency.com Sources: KOCO5 Oklahoma City Oklahoma County Court Records Audio Credits: KOCO5

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This cul-de-sac in southeastern Oklahoma City looks like any other. But inside this yellow house was a man with a secret. And one woman would unearth the truth. A house of secrets and abuse. This is my lover and that's my wife. I said, what? I seen him kissing her. And I said, you know what? This is it. Hey, True Crime Besties. Welcome back to an all-new episode of serial asleep
Starting point is 00:00:55 Hey everybody, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise, here to break down another case that is going on right now in the true crime world. And this is one that honestly makes zero, zero zero sense to me. I mean it makes sense because it's unfortunately a similar case to ones we have talked about before but what doesn't make sense to me is how parents and how humans can act this way. And you know what I'm actually wearing my piece of merch that says make it make sense and it's pretty fitting for today's episode. So here's what I want to kind of do before we jump into the episode. I want to just say I feel like usually we talk about cases where we know a little bit more about the people involved. But today's case, guys, it's not like that at all.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Now, due to the sensitive nature of this story and to protect the victim's identity, the person charged in this case has never publicly been named. However, as we go through the court documents and also the allegations, you'll understand why, why that is. I also want to discuss this case with you guys because it has a much different ending than we normally hear in so many of the cases that we cover. And the victims in this case have spoken out in this anonymous style type of interview way because they wanna tell their story.
Starting point is 00:02:13 They wanna tell what happened to them, what they were put through, and they want to raise awareness. So you're gonna be hearing directly from them. So guys, let's just jump right into today's case. In August of 2023, the police in Oklahoma City received a very haunting tip. Now, this tip was about a man who lived in a very typical neighborhood in southeastern Oklahoma. From far away, the man's house looked completely and totally normal. It had dark orange brick, a pretty decent sized yard, big beautiful trees, and it was located in a cul-de-sac. Now, I do want to mention that there was a
Starting point is 00:02:50 toilet in the front lawn, so it wasn't exactly a cookie cutter, white picket fenced type of home, but you get what I'm saying. But despite the toilet, this tip had nothing to do with the lawn or that toilet or the house. It was about what was going on inside that house that was the issue. See, the tip that the officers received was about a man that had introduced a female as his stepdaughter, but then later this man was seen hugging and kissing this female. Again, his quote, stepdaughter. Now additionally, this tip that came in indicated that the man had numerous children, but none of the children could apparently read, write, or speak at an adult level. Police were also told that there were younger children living at the house as well, and these younger children were actually this man and this stepdaughter's children. And as if this couldn't get any weirder, any more creepy, any more complex, that stepdaughter slash mother figure was
Starting point is 00:03:49 apparently a child herself. Yes, you heard me correctly. A man had multiple children with his quote minor stepdaughter. So the police had this tip, which was obviously jolting. I mean, they were pretty freaked out by this and they knew that they needed to follow up on it. They needed to go and talk to this man. They needed to get to the bottom of it and see what the hell was going on here. So one day, police officers approached the front door of this seemingly normal looking house. They knocked and the man answered. So police spoke with this man, with his wife, and with their four children, who were all adults. They all acted very confused, like they had no idea what these officers were even talking about.
Starting point is 00:04:33 There is a mistake here. We're adults. We're a normal family. We're fine. And not only that, but they said that there weren't even any younger children at all living in the house to begin with. So there really wasn't much that the police could do here. As disturbing as this tip was, police followed up on it, and it didn't pan out. Everything checked out. It was a normal family. It was adult children. Nothing like what this person who called in this tip claimed to have seen. So maybe somebody got the information wrong.
Starting point is 00:05:02 Maybe the person who gave this tip was mistaken in the first place. Maybe they didn't see the stepdaughter and this man kissing, and he had just been kissing his wife all along. But not so fast. So let's talk a little bit about who this person was that originally called in this tip to the police that was so concerned with such unsettling information.
Starting point is 00:05:24 This person that called the tip-in was a woman named Doris Cole. And after the police went to this house and looked into everything and found that everything was normal, everything seemed fine, they told Doris, they're like, no, we followed up on this. Everything was fine.
Starting point is 00:05:36 We talked to the family. Nothing was out of the ordinary. There wasn't much we could do. So it's not panning out, end of story. But Doris was absolutely certain about what she had seen. And she wasn't going to stop until she could prove to the police that she was telling them the truth. Something was wrong with this house.
Starting point is 00:05:54 Something was wrong with this man and with this family. So talking a little bit more about Doris and who she is. Doris Cole is a business owner in Oklahoma City. Now she had initially met this man back in 2017 when she was hiring him as a contractor to paint some walls and ceilings for several of her different businesses. She worked with him on and off as a matter of fact
Starting point is 00:06:17 until about 2021, so about four years. But not long after starting to work for Doris, apparently this man started bringing two of his teenage daughters to work with him all of the time. And Doris said that she noticed that, quote, they all looked crazy every single day. The clothing that they were wearing was in terrible condition. They apparently smelled really bad. And the van that this man was driving and drove to work, it looked like it was packed with clothes, packed with food, definitely didn't seem like a normal vehicle that somebody is driving to and from work.
Starting point is 00:06:51 Now Doris also noticed that the teenage girl's speech was really bad when she first met them, even thinking that maybe they had an accent because their speech seemed so out of the norm, seemed so, you know, troublesome. They also apparently could not read or write. So she asked this man several times, maybe the girls are homeschooled, are you homeschooling them? But she never got a straight answer. This all gave Doris a very bad feeling. She knew something wasn't right here, and she said she felt like she was going insane during this time because she was seeing all of these red flags, but there was nothing that she could really do about it. Then one day, she met the man's stepdaughter. She met her in one of Doris's buildings that the man
Starting point is 00:07:35 was apparently working in. She met her in the hallway, and the first thing that Doris noticed was her appearance. And she thought to herself, wow, that girl looks really young. In fact, she looks like she just had a child. So Doris, she's doing the math. She's putting the math together, realizing it is not adding up. It isn't making any sense. At first, she was thinking, OK, maybe those kids are hers and his. But then she started asking even more questions.
Starting point is 00:08:03 And because of this line of questioning, because she was trying to get more information, suddenly the family became very distant. And then one day she never saw them again. This was for two years. Then sometime in 2023, when the man decided to come back around, he came to Doris and he said he was looking for work. So Doris, she agreed to help him. I mean, sure, she could use the help, of course, with her businesses, but she also never got over that feeling of worrisome that she had,
Starting point is 00:08:34 and never got over that feeling of like questioning what the truth was, what was really going on here, knowing something wasn't quite right. She even made a point in this moment to say to herself, you know what, I'm gonna get to the bottom of it this time. I'm gonna figure out what is truly going on and this time this man is not getting away. Interestingly though, this time around as he's re-entering Doris's life, the man had a completely different story than what he had previously told her. He said,
Starting point is 00:09:02 look, okay, this isn't my daughter. This is my lover, my wife, all while he was pointing to the young girl. And Doris later said that she saw them kissing, saw them hugging, and she finally said to herself, you know what, I'm done. Something's weird. I'm calling the police. So that is when the tip came in. And that's when the police first came to the family's home and began interviewing them. And Doris was worried that when the police went out there and when the police first came to the family's home and began interviewing them. And Doris was worried that when the police went out there and when the police would start talking to him, that maybe the man would get spooked.
Starting point is 00:09:29 Maybe he would disappear or run off with these people, with this daughter, with these kids, similar to what he had done just two years before when she was asking him all of those questions. And she definitely didn't wanna let him get away now. She didn't know exactly what their living situation was, but she knew that the man and his family lived somewhere. Not in their van, not on the street, but she didn't know much more than that. She didn't know the specific location. So to make sure that
Starting point is 00:09:55 he didn't disappear, didn't get spooked, didn't run, Doris offered to let the man and his family stay at one of her homes so that she could keep a closer eye on them. Now little did this man know that now Doris was working with the police. She was watching them, waiting and telling the police everything she saw and every detail that she could. And what was about to be exposed was going to be far more sinister than any of them could have imagined. And we're going to get into all of than any of them could have imagined. And we're gonna get into all of that guys after we take a quick break to hear from our sponsors of today's episode. So lately I've kind of gotten into this new routine guys where every single night I journal, I write like the three top takeaways of the day and then the three things that I wish that I could improve on and it's really
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Starting point is 00:13:44 quince.com slash AE. Okay, so just to recap, police had first interviewed the family back in August of 2023. And then after that, they were continuing their investigation with Doris' help. And now there was a lot of suspicion that there were in fact minor children
Starting point is 00:14:03 involved in this family. And that the reason that maybe they hadn't seen them when they had gone to do that first follow-up after receiving the tip was because the children were hidden all along. So now Doris is watching the family. The police are watching the family. The police are talking to the neighbors and all of their spidey senses are going up thinking, yes, there are in fact minor children. We are confident about this. We need to go and check out this house one more time. We need to see what is truly going on here. So fast forward one month after first interviewing the family. And on September 21, 2023, after speaking with Doris, after speaking with the neighbors,
Starting point is 00:14:42 all of these things, the police surrounded the house again. But this time the man wasn't there. So the police reached back out to Doris to see if she knew where he could be, see if she could help, and sure enough she had the answer. So this time police responded to this location and they were able to enter the home. And upon further investigation, much of which is still being uncovered to this day, what they found was horrifying. It was unnerving, it was foul, and quite literally, it was against the laws of nature. Inside that house, police discovered five children, all under 18 years old. They were unbathed, they were completely unkept, and they had severe, severe dental problems. All of them. There was also nowhere for
Starting point is 00:15:32 the children to sleep other than one singular heavily soiled mattress that was on the floor. And heavily soiled guys is a direct quote from the court documents. None of these children had also ever been to a doctor They actually weren't allowed to go anywhere else alone, but be in that house. They weren't ever allowed outside So in total, let me just kind of break this down for you guys again Because I know we kind of went through the beginning with like the lover the wife the stepdaughter It gets confusing because of all of the lies that we're told. But in total, you have the man, you have his real wife, you have their three biological children,
Starting point is 00:16:11 you have this quote, stepdaughter, and then you have five younger kids. So nine children, adults and minors, all living in this house and under the control of this man. 11 people in total, with 9 children hidden. And nobody was allowed to leave this house without the man's permission. According to the court documents, the minor children were evaluated by a forensic interviewer, but two of the children were non-verbal and could not communicate.
Starting point is 00:16:41 However, the other three children were interviewed. Now guys, the horrifying details that came out of this interview, it's heartbreaking but it's also kind of one of those moments where you're like, thank god, thank god these children were interviewed by a professional and they were able to get this information because had this information not come out, this story, this case, may have a very different ending. So in an interview with one of the children, she had said that the man had touched her chest, quote, because he's a doctor. She also said that he touched her, quote, privacy, which was then described as her vaginal area.
Starting point is 00:17:20 She also said that he touched the other children in the same way whenever he would, quote, check on them. Almost as like this way of playing doctor. Fake doctor. With your kids. With these minors. Touching them pervertedly. It is so sick.
Starting point is 00:17:38 The man's wife was also interviewed, but she was interviewed by detectives. And she admitted that the stepdaughter, and I say stepdaughter loosely in quotes, was she and her husband's biological daughter. She also admitted that her, quote, stepdaughter was the biological mother to the five minor children, and the man, her husband, was the children's biological father.
Starting point is 00:18:04 Meaning that this freaking creep had sex with his own daughter, fathered five children with her, and then abused those children as well. His kids slash grandkids slash, I mean like it makes your mind real. It is so disgusting. And as if that couldn't even get any worse, his daughter had her first child that was fathered by him, her own dad, when she was just 12 years old. This guy is a predator and a pedophile in every single definition of the word. He is so beyond sick and just ugh, it makes me want to vomit. Now the court documents show that when the man was interviewed by detectives, he admitted that the children were he and his stepdaughters. He also told investigators that the children had never been to the doctor, they were all home birthed,
Starting point is 00:18:58 and they never had a medical professional there. They also never went to school. They never were homeschooled in any sort of way. Nothing. Just born into seclusion, into abuse, and never given any sort of resources, any sort of health care. Nothing. Nothing. They were just used as accessories for his sick perversions. It is so beyond disgusting. So of course the man and his wife were arrested, right? Now initially the man was charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a child and five counts of child neglect.
Starting point is 00:19:35 But his charges were later upgraded to include incest, which duh, and again, thank God these children spoke up. His wife is also facing several charges, charges of enabling sexual abuse of a child, child neglect and child abuse. Evan, just right now we can tell you that suspect and his wife are both locked up tonight here at the Oklahoma County jail. The father accused of multiple counts of child abuse and sex charges. The wife is accused of
Starting point is 00:20:04 allowing this abuse to go on for years. Inside the southeast OKC home, court documents detail just some of the abuse a man inflicted on his children. Detectives say they found five children all under the age of 18.
Starting point is 00:20:12 All of them with quote poor hygiene, foul odor and lack of dental care. According to court documents, two of the children were nonverbal and could not communicate. Other children told
Starting point is 00:20:20 police that they were touched in a car accident and were not allowed to leave the home. The police say the children were nonverbal and could not communicate. Other children told police that they were touched inappropriately.
Starting point is 00:20:30 Court documents say a business owner who the suspect worked for contacted police back in August. After she grew concerned, the suspect would clean her business. She told police that he brought a woman who he identified as a stepdaughter to help, but the owner witnessed them quote hugging and kissing. So she called police.
Starting point is 00:20:49 According to court documents, that tip led to the discovery at the home. The suspect admitted to investigators that the young children are all his and his stepdaughters. She would have just been 12 years old when she first gave birth. He also said quote the children had never been to the doctor and were all home birthed without a medical professional present. After the news of the parents' arrests, neighbors and family, they all came out and were speaking out
Starting point is 00:21:15 and they were horrified and disgusted. We always thought something was going on in there. We spoke with a neighbor reacting to the discovery. It hurts me because I got to see the young ones. They never left the house with only with him. Evan and Jess, I've been going through these court documents all day long and really looking into the couple's past, including other states that they've lived in. Now, the more we've dug into this and into their past, the more intense those details get and the web they've created is
Starting point is 00:21:44 disturbing. past, the more intense th the web they've created i documents say a couple wh Oklahoma City lived there Children and five minor c claimed the parents of th the homeowner and not his daughter. Now, okay, see this afternoon
Starting point is 00:22:05 that woman may not be a stepdaughter, but could be the man's biological daughter and they're waiting on DNA tests. If those tests show the man and young woman are in fact father and daughter, the man can be charged with incest. Neighbors say they had suspicions about the relationships and what was going on in the home.
Starting point is 00:22:27 We never got to see anything until that day that I saw that that kissing the oldest daughter. I went in inside and told my daughter I thought that that kissing the daughter. See, I told you mom. I've been telling you mom right now.
Starting point is 00:22:39 The dad sits behind bars and faces two charges of sexual abuse and five counts of child neglect. Those two charges of abuse, according to officials, are because the mother of the children gave birth to her first child at just 12 years old and the second at 13.
Starting point is 00:22:58 Sky five flew over the house today where you can see toys in the backyard. Neighbors say the father was strict and the kids needed his permission to ever come outside. The kids didn't go to school or anything like that, so they will come out and play sometimes late like 1011.
Starting point is 00:23:15 Sometimes documents also say the children had quote poor hygiene, foul odor, and lack of dental care. There was smelly all the time like really bad. The man's wife is also behind bars facing multiple charges for enabling that neglect and sexual abuse. Now this is a really complex case with a lot of people involved. KOCO will not be naming those suspects or any of the adults involved in this
Starting point is 00:23:44 case in order to protect the victims and of course those minor children. Now we did reach out to DHS today for a statement and they did not have one but these documents do say that all five of those minor children have been taken into DHS custody. Now this nightmare it was only just beginning and it wasn't anywhere near being over yet because the children were about to speak and we're gonna get to that in just a quick minute after we hear from the final sponsor of today's episode. I have a question for you. Do you ever have trouble sleeping or do you like wake up in the middle of the night
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Starting point is 00:26:00 episode and then we were giving five winners a big chunk of change a chunk of cash and let's break it down so we did get a total of 371 entries and then 71 people guessed the secret code word so the code word was smoking gun and it was one a word that you had to decode from the phrase and I'm gonna play for you where in the episode it was so that you know for future episodes and future giveaways how we do these little puzzle things so take a listen. ...at both bars where they had been drinking the night that John died and inside the house that Karen allegedly dropped John off to. She made one kiss.
Starting point is 00:26:41 It's nobody's guess guaranteed untilaranteed. Until now. Prosecutors said that Karen was involved in a quote, romantic entanglement with Brian. So the five winners out of the 71 people who did guess Smoking Gun were Vicki Heike, Charity Nicouette, Brittany Underhill, Hannah Jursten, and Kristen McKay. So congratulations guys! We will be emailing you individually so that you can claim your prize and stay tuned everybody because we definitely are going to be doing more giveaways in the very near future. So now you have this man and his wife, this creep and
Starting point is 00:27:19 this enabling creep arrested finally behind bars. They're charged, people are talking, everybody is calling them out for who they are but here's where what I want to mention first and foremost before we get into the children's interviews, one of the reasons that I wanted to cover this case is because it's not often that we hear from the victims. We don't ever really hear from victims who have been rescued from situations like this one.
Starting point is 00:27:45 To go through severe neglect, social isolation, and sexual abuse on top of all of that, all at the hands of your own parents, and then to come out of it on the other side and choose to see positivity in the world. I mean, it's absolutely remarkable and truly inspiring. I mean, the level of bravery, I can't even imagine for minor children at that. So I wanna play the children's interviews that they did with a local Oklahoma City news station, because I want you to be able to hear from them
Starting point is 00:28:17 what their story is. Let them tell their story. A house of secrets and abuse. In August, Oklahoma City police got a tip that a man had multiple children with his stepdaughter. That report would unravel a family and shake an entire community. Thank you for joining us here. I'm Jessica Shambaugh. I'm Evan Anstott. Tonight we are hearing for the first time from the adult children on life behind those closed doors. A family of 11 lived here.
Starting point is 00:28:46 Mom, dad and nine children hidden away from the world. They never left the house with only with him. The children had never been to school, the doctors or even a movie theater. All to conceal a secret they never knew was wrong. Their dad's relationship with their stepsister. Did you know that the younger
Starting point is 00:29:08 kids were your dad's kids too? That I already knew about. I never knew that it was ending wrong with it. We just grew up like it was. Normal to us at 12 years old, their oldest sister had her first baby with their dad,
Starting point is 00:29:26 according to court documents. She gave birth to four more inside this home. KOCO sat down with three of the siblings who wanted to share their story. But when she had her first baby, you were just little. Yeah, I think I was having 8. Did you ever question why you guys
Starting point is 00:29:44 weren't allowed to leave the house more? Not too much because dad always said that he didn't want us to get hurt or because he'd protect me up because of people that are outside. He tried to home sue us and then they went from trying to not doing. What was the feeling inside of your house? I was hurt because What was the feeling inside of your house? I was hurt because my dad took forever to come. The adult kids were left alone with their secret siblings, waiting for their dad to face up to the crime. Both see her also as a victim.
Starting point is 00:30:18 Do you see that too? Now or yet? You don't think she should be arrested? No. Now, yes. You don't think she should be arrested? No, I never thought that dad would touch us or say anything sexual to us. I never worried about it. I can't hate them because he is a strong one. I could only forgive them. I could only forgive my dad.
Starting point is 00:30:40 And I could have needed the rest of it into God's hands. Today, the adult kids still live in Doris' home and work for her. They're now enrolled in school. I'm doing better on my reading, so I read a book yesterday. Have their first IDs, are learning how to drive, and working to get their sister's children back to her
Starting point is 00:31:00 from state custody. Now, looking back, do you feel grateful that Doris intervened? Yes. Because she was helping us out. I mean, that was all pretty heavy to hear. I'm sure I know it was for me when I first heard it and one of the things that stuck out to me the most in these interviews is when they talk about the fact how they thought that this was completely normal.
Starting point is 00:31:26 They thought that their sister having children with their dad was completely, absolutely normal which makes sense because how would you ever know otherwise? If you're born into this environment, you aren't watching TV, you aren't seeing other relationships, you aren't talking to friends at school, how would you ever know that that isn't what normal human nature, human life is all about? What existence is all about? It's just so scary when you think that someone can weaponize just all of these things against someone in such a way to where like they're so calculated and they literally form thoughts for these children at such a young age to where
Starting point is 00:32:06 they're able to completely manually manipulate the way that the children see the world, the way they see it, the way they believe it to be true. It is such an incredible responsibility and it's also just like it's such a high level of power to be able to do that and like these people are just abusing that power and manipulating it for their own gain it is truly revolting it really really is. Now listen to Doris's reaction about this whole thing once police finally got to the bottom of it once everybody was interviewed and when the truth was out there. Listen to what Doris had to say. It just took someone paying attention and believe it or not he was telling on
Starting point is 00:32:44 himself every single day no one listened. I was looking for someone to paint the ceilings and he answered the ad. Doris Cole hired the father in 2017 as a contractor. She was opening several businesses at 10th in May. They looked really crazy every day. The clothes, the clothes that they wore from the smell. He started taking two of his teenage daughters to work and doors picked up on something. She couldn't let go.
Starting point is 00:33:12 They can't read. They can write in the speech. It's really bad when I first met her. I thought she had. She had an accent. She would question the family's homeschooling, the father's persistent phone alerts, and the van packed full of food and clothing. But there was nothing overtly wrong.
Starting point is 00:33:31 Every day it was driving me insane because there was nothing I could do about it. There was nothing I had to tell the cops. Until she met the stepdaughter. The first time I met her was in the hallway. And I said, man, that girl look like she just had a child. She was young. And he was looking at her as if she was some sort of candy.
Starting point is 00:33:52 I started putting stuff together. I said OK, maybe those kids are hers and his. The family became distant. Doris believes it was because she was asking too many questions, but they came back two years later looking for work.
Starting point is 00:34:07 Now this time I said, okay, I'm not letting this guy get away until I figure out what's going on. And this time the father told her the truth. He said, well, this is not my daughter, just one of the kids. This is my lover and that's my wife. I said, what? I seen him kissing her. And I said my wife. I said what I seem kissed in her
Starting point is 00:34:27 and I said, you know what? This is it. I called the police. Detectives began interviewing the family, worried he would take them and run doors, let them stay in one of her homes as she worked with police without the family knowing. And on September 21st,
Starting point is 00:34:43 police surrounded the home, but dad wasn't there. They asked me if I knew where it was and I said, well, he's at his other house. He said he was coming back. And so I called him and I said, hey, you know the police are at the house. He's like today.
Starting point is 00:35:00 See the kid. I'm in amazed at the same time, amazed. And shocked. That I'm looking at the same time amazed and shocked that I'm looking at this entire family I never seen before. I've seen bits and pieces and the condition that the little ones were in. I never imagined." Court documents reveal the kids had poor hygiene, foul odor, lack of dental care and were sleeping on one heavily soiled mattress on the floor. Investigators say two of the children were nonverbal. After three hours, dad finally showed up.
Starting point is 00:35:42 I stood there on the porch. I didn't get to see his face up front. But I saw him from the porch. That was one of the. Most satisfying days probably in my life. To watch and go get in the police car. Alright, take a seat for me. Both mom and dad were arrested. The father's
Starting point is 00:36:05 charged with three counts of sexual abuse of a child. Five counts of child neglect and three counts of child abuse. His wife is charged with multiple charges for enabling neglect and sexual abuse. How did you watch that? How did you hold your daughter's hand?
Starting point is 00:36:21 Watch he's having a baby by your husband. You have a 26 year old that can't read, How did you watch that? How did you hold your daughter's hand? Watch, he's having a baby by your husband. You have a 26 year old that can't read, can't write. How does she teach her kids that can't read or write? How do I? It's just hard because I was the one that did it. But I'm also the one that's taking care of it. Now, Doris hopes the community can wrap around this family
Starting point is 00:36:47 and lift them up as they navigate life for the very first time. I'm hoping that if there's anybody that wants to help, that it's a genuine help. And they've already been lied to and hurt their entire lives. So I'm hoping that their journey in this world and the people that
Starting point is 00:37:07 run into them would remember that reporting Kylie Thomas KOCO 5 news. I just gotta say Doris is a mother effing hero. Can you imagine had she not come forward? And it would have been so easy for her once he fled the first time around to just wash her hands of it,
Starting point is 00:37:32 to just not let him back around because she thought he was creepy, not do her due diligence, not follow up on anything. Once she did call the police and they told her, look, the family is normal, there's nothing more we can do, everything checked out, it also could have been so easy for her in that moment
Starting point is 00:37:46 to walk away once again and be like, guess I was seeing things. Guess I was hyper paranoid and I need to calm down. I need to quit watching Dateline or I need to quit listening to Annie, but she didn't. There were so many checkpoints along the way in which she could have just done the easy thing, turned to the other cheek,
Starting point is 00:38:06 walked away, let it go, and she didn't. And because she was like a freaking dog with a bone with this guy and followed up on everything, helped monitor his movements, asked the questions, she literally saved multiple people's lives. It is so unbelievable when you really think about it and it sounds so cliche guys but I'm gonna say it it's just such a glaring reminder for all of us if you see something say something and always trust your gut. If you're feeling like something ain't landing something doesn't smell right here keep looking at it I mean within reason. I'm not
Starting point is 00:38:45 trying to like throw you off the rails, but like there's a reason that our intuition, no offense men but especially as females, there's a reason that our intuition is usually so spot on. So I think hearing what this case was all about and hearing Doris's perspective of all of it and just how many times she kept following up. I think it's inspiring of course, but I also think it just serves as such a good reminder for all of us. Trust your instincts. If something isn't feeling right, there's a chance that it's not right. So the man and his wife are currently in jail with their cases moving through the court system, probably slow because we know that the court system likes to move at a glacial pace,
Starting point is 00:39:27 but at least they are locked up, at least these children can go on to live somewhat normal lives and begin to repair and undo what they were taught. And luckily they got out of the grasp of this monster's hands before it was too late,, God forbid, before they fathered more children, or he fathered more children. I mean, it's just, again, we very rarely hear an ending like this, and it just, although they went through the ringer, I'm just so happy that they are still alive and that these monsters have been identified and called out for what, not even what they are. That is the right description. So I will definitely keep you updated as I'm sure more information will come out, but I definitely wanted to jump on here
Starting point is 00:40:10 and share this case with you. All right, guys, and don't forget to snag all of those amazing deals. I have all of the links, all of the codes for you in the show notes below. Get them while they're hot, get them before they're gone. As a reminder, I'm back on the mic every Thursday. Aside from just these big Deep Dive Monday episodes, every Thursday I do a full recap of other cases
Starting point is 00:40:29 happening that week in the true crime world, case updates, breaking new cases, many deep dives on cases. So Mondays and Thursdays, those are your days to hear brand new content from me. And if you feel like you need an extra little true crime fix because you've exhausted all your options and you need more, you can also get ad-free bonus episodes every single Friday, and you can get those by signing up over on my Patreon, which I will leave the link in the show notes below, or you can do it directly through Apple Podcast. Alright guys, thanks again for tuning in to another episode of Serialistly with me today,
Starting point is 00:41:02 and until the next time, be nice and don't kill people. All right, guys, bye.

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