SERIALously - 148: Rapist Gets Castrated, Suzanne Morphew Killed With Barry's Tranquilzer Dart?! & Karen Read Trial Recap
Episode Date: May 2, 2024Suzanne Morphew, the Colorado mom who went missing on a bike ride in May 2020, died by homicide, according to an autopsy released on Monday, April 29th. Will her husband, Barry Morphew, be charged wit...h her murder again? Karen Read’s murder trial is officially underway. Opening statements and testimony from family members and first responders were heard during the first 2 days of trial. Madeline Soto Episode: https://pod.fo/e/223667 Suzanne Morphew Episode: https://pod.fo/e/1f2e08 Karen Read Episode: https://pod.fo/e/22c58f Shop the Merch: www.annieelise.com Follow the podcast on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@serialouslypodcast  Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise   All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_  SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/  About Me: https://annieelise.com/  For Business Inquiries: 10toLife@WMEAgency.com Sources: Denver Post Fox26 Houston NBC10 Law & Crime Denver7 Audio Credits: Fox26 Houston Denver7 Law & Crime Good Morning America
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Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly.
Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise. I hope you guys are having a good week so far.
I'm probably about to ruin it with all these case updates and new cases I have to share
with you.
But before we get into all of that, I did want to just let you know, you might be noticing
that the cover art has changed a little bit.
The reason why, long story short, is before we had on the
cover art the serial was emphasized because of course serialously is a play
on the word serial like serial killers and things like that but apparently I
made a few enemies at the New York Times and they thought that I was trying to
make it a spin-off of their series Serial because they're the ones who own
the podcast Serial. And so we had
been talking with them trying to make it work to where, you know, we could have the podcast name
that we want. And we told them out of all the reviews we have and everything, nobody's ever
said that they thought that there was a tie to Serial. But anyways, we settled on changing the
cover art so that the Serial wasn't emphasized and that the new name of the podcast would technically
be Ser serial-lessly
with Annie Elise.
So that's why you're noticing a change in the art.
Not that it matters, but still wanted to address it in case you're like, oh, what's going on,
Annie?
I miss the old art.
I miss it too, guys.
But we're just trying to make everybody happy over here.
We're not trying to make enemies with the man, if that makes sense.
Okay, so we have a lot of cases to talk about today.
New, old, existing, all the things.
I wanna start with the Madeline Soto case,
because if you have been following that,
you know that there have been some updates
that are coming out.
Madeline is the little girl who went missing
when she was supposed to go to school.
Her mom reported her missing later that day.
She had never showed up at school,
come to find out that the boyfriend was involved.
There were allegations that he had been
sexually abusing Madeline for years.
He was also caught on CCTV dumping her school backpack
and I believe her school laptop as well
and it just wasn't looking good.
Then when they seized his devices,
they found all sorts of explicit child material
involving Madeline on it.
And I mean, it was pretty obvious that he was
the one responsible for her disappearance and for her murder because her remains ended up being
found. But weeks and weeks went by and there were no charges. But officially now, Stefan Stearns,
the boyfriend of Madeline's mom, was officially charged with murdering her. Now unfortunately,
there aren't any other details other than he's been charged and the prosecutors have not said whether or not they will seek the
death penalty but once there is more information I will definitely keep you
guys updated. We also don't know if the mom is going to be charged with anything.
She hasn't at this point but a lot of people think that she is complicit that
maybe she didn't commit the murder but helped him with the cover-up because
there was some weird stuff going on with her interview, her stories weren't really
matching, and again because the sexual abuse had apparently been ongoing for
years people are like how couldn't she know? Was she complicit? Did she allow
this? Which I don't want to shame her, she is a victim in this in my opinion in
the sense that she's a mother and lost her daughter. However, if she was complicit, my opinions of course change.
But I think that there are many times where somebody can be being abused in a
house and other people in the house don't know, so that's not to shame her at all.
But we'll find out if she did know and we'll see if she is charged as an
accessory or any sort of conspiracy or concealment,
cover up any of those things.
So stay tuned for that.
I also will put in the show notes the full episode I did on this case so that you can
get caught up, but a million trigger warnings guys, it is beyond horrific.
Now with that, I kind of want to go into a case that makes me very, very happy and it's
about disgusting, creepy rapists who are finally getting the punishment that
they deserve.
Because Glenn Sullivan, a 54-year-old man from Louisiana who repeatedly raped a 14-year-old
little girl and impregnated her, he is going to be physically castrated while serving a
50-year prison sentence.
This is all part of a plea deal.
According to court records,
Glenn had groomed this 14-year-old victim,
and he also used threats of violence against her
and her family, also that he could keep her quiet.
I mean, truly disgusting, truly sick.
Then when she was pregnant,
DNA evidence proved that he was the father of the child.
So he pled guilty on April
17th to four counts of second-degree rape and he agreed to be surgically castrated as opposed to
chemically castrated. Which let me just say when I first saw this headline I was like, wait this
can't be real and I like clicked into it I started researching it. It is. I was like why isn't that
the rule of thumb for all rapists? Why
aren't they all castrated from the jump? I just feel like it makes so much sense, not
only so they can never reoffend in the future if they're let out, but also so they can't
reoffend in the prison with other inmates. You know what I mean? So I was really pleased
when I saw this. It probably made me more happy than it should, but it did. Now, the
district attorney in this case said, and I quote, sex crimes against juveniles are the
most malicious crimes we prosecute. I intend on using every tool the legislator is willing
to give us, including physical castration, all to seek justice for the children in our
community.
Many of us have heard of chemical, but when you talk about physical, exactly what does
that mean?
Yeah, thanks for having me. Of course, we're talking physical this time, as you said, unlike
the chemical. I've had probably two or three, I think over the course of my career, chemical
castrations that are ordered.
And what that entails in the state of Louisiana is a scheduled administration of shots
throughout the remainder of the defendant's life
that he has to go in, he has to report,
and he has to voluntarily intake.
And if he ever were to take testosterone or steroids
to counteract those injections,
then that would be a new charge
and he would go back to prison.
For the case of physical castration,
we're talking about a surgeon surgically removing the defendant's testicles from his body.
So Glenn Sullivan has lived in Libeson Parish, if I understand his whole life, and I can
tell you he is what we call a longtime offender or a career defendant. He has constantly been
a part in the justice system as a defendant.
And this particular crime that he's
committed is just so
egregious and so heinous.
The raping of a 14 year old girl,
which led to her being pregnant.
Now this girl is raising this
child.
I mean, she has to live with this
the rest of her life.
With this child that I'm sure she's
gonna love and she's gonna raise. And I know, I really commend her. She was able
to actually finish school, get her high school diploma, and she's really
making something of herself and I'm proud of her for that. And Mr. Sullivan,
just being the lifelong defendant that he is, committing such a horrible act to
this young girl, I think he deserves every bit of this.
It just makes me so happy. I feel like finally that is good justice. That is, I
appreciate when people go to prison, don't get me wrong, I can appreciate like
all of the things, but like that is just true divine intervention if you ask me.
Speaking of divine intervention guys, I want to talk to you about Suzanne Morphew
because I have been long awaiting this day
and you'll understand why.
Now, as a reminder for those of you
who are not very familiar with the case,
Suzanne Morphew is the Colorado mom
who went missing while she was out for a bike ride
back in May of 2020, specifically on Mother's Day.
Her husband Barry had been arrested,
which I will get into in
a minute, but then he was released and the charges were dropped. But Suzanne died by homicide. This,
according to an autopsy that was released on Monday, April 29th. Now, if you haven't heard of
this case before, I will link a podcast episode about this case in the show notes as well, because
this one is so wild. I mean, from the jump,
I definitely thought that her husband Barry was involved.
There were so many shady things he did,
such as his cell phone activity on the property that day
that she went missing, the weird trip to the hotel,
which then reeked of chlorine.
Then it was like the papers he brought to the hotel.
Like nothing was making any sense,
which he ultimately ended up being charged.
But then the charges were dropped,
which we talk about all of that in the episode,
and I'm gonna talk about more of it in a second here,
but I have just been like waiting for justice in this case.
So Suzanne's body ended up being found
almost three years later in September of 2023,
when investigators were searching on an unrelated case
in Moffett, Colorado,
which is about 90 minutes south of where Suzanne lived.
So her death was determined to have been caused
by homicide by undetermined means
in the setting of butoprenol, azaparone,
and metadiminine intoxication.
Now, I know that those were a mouthful guys,
but I'm gonna break down what they are.
So the El Paso County Coroner said that these drugs
are marketed as a compounded injectable chemical tranquilizer,
a tranquilizer for wildlife.
And they said that there was no indication of trauma
to Suzanne's body at the time of her death as well.
Her biking clothes were found with her remains.
And in addition, the autopsy noted a quote,
weathered bullet that was found with her remains. However,
the autopsy said that her feet and her shoes were missing. So like I said, very more few. Suzanne's
husband was charged with her murder back in 2021, but those charges were dropped in April of 2022,
just before a trial was supposed to begin. Now, at first, when the charges were dropped,
people were saying that it was because her remains
hadn't been found yet and they were waiting until everything like froze over so that they could
thaw the remains once they did find them all of these things. But his daughters have been standing
by aside from day one saying he absolutely would never murder our mother. We believe in his
innocence which we'll see what happens after this kind of feels very Chad Daybell like, right? But anyways, those charges were dropped in April of 2022. We've been silent for a long time and
we've decided that we finally want to break the silence. This morning, just days before the second
anniversary of her disappearance, the family of Suzanne Morphew is speaking out for the first time
since the murder charges against her husband were dropped.
It's been an emotional rollercoaster,
but we feel like we can finally take our first steps
in healing, which is a blessing.
And yeah, we just know our dad better than anyone else.
And we know he was not involved in our mom's disappearance.
Mallory and Macy Morphew, standing by their father, anyone else. And we know he was not involved in our mom's disappearance.
Mallory and may see more few standing by their father who
investigators believe was responsible for their mother's
disappearance 2 years ago, the 3 seen walking out of court arm
in arm just moments after the charges against him were
dropped.
We want to heal.
We feel like we haven't been able to heal these past 2
years.
The family says Suzanne left her Colorado home for a bike ride but never returned.
I just love my girls and I love my wife and I just want her to be found.
But investigators told a different story arresting Barry Morphew. The charge is ranging from first
degree murder to tampering with physical evidence. Prosecutors argued that Morphew discovered his wife was having an affair, then murdered her, disposed of her body and
staged a bike crash in a rural area. Releasing this body camera footage from the hours after
she was reported missing, police say Morphew touched evidence.
Hey, could you not touch the bike with your hands, please?
Morphew's daughters say he isn't a killer and are celebrating the dismissal of the case. Now demanding district attorney Linda Stanley should do
more. I just hope that Linda will step up to the plate and do everything she can
to find our mom because what they've done is not fair and we're never gonna
stop looking for a mom.
Court filings say that while authorities are close to
discovering Suzanne's body, weather has complicated the
efforts. The location where Suzanne's body is believed to
be has five feet of snow concealing it. But the family's
attorney says authorities have mishandled the case and are
planning to file a complaint against the D.A.
If you want to honor Suzanne and you want to honor the
daughters go find Suzanne.
The da's office telling ABC News they and law enforcement
have been diligently searching for Susan more few since she
was reported missing and that they are continuing to do so.
Prosecutors need to be held responsible.
And they need to pay for the damage they've caused to
Barry which is frankly nearly irreparable because it's hard
for anybody to believe that Barry is not who they claim he
was.
Now the family spoke out this weekend it was Suzanne Murphy
Murphy's birthday and her daughter say of course they
wished they were spending it with her the charges against
Barry more few were dismissed without prejudice which means that if investigators do uncover new evidence,
those charges can be filed again, Michael.
But now, the fact that she died
with animal tranquilizers in her body
has a lot of people remembering
about a certain detail in Barry's history.
And we covered this in the other episode,
which again, I'll link it all in the show notes.
But good old Barry has a history with tranquilizers.
Specifically, during a search of the Morpheus family home
after Suzanne disappeared,
law enforcement officials reported finding
a tranquilizer dart gun and empty darts
and a needle that was used to inject tranquilizer chemicals
into the darts.
They also found a cap that was used
to cover
the injecting needle in the clothes dryer at the home.
And what else was in that clothing dryer at the house?
Bedsheets and clothing.
So at the time when that was found,
people were like, oh, he 100% tranquilized her,
and then he forgot that he had the cap
and it came off in the laundry.
Now, prosecutors believed that on the afternoon
of May 9th, 2020, Barry loaded a syringe
for a tranquilizer dart, put his phone on airplane mode, then shot his wife Suzanne with the
dart.
He then chased her around the house until the tranquilizer took effect.
And we talk about this in all of the various phone pings around his yard.
Now here's what Barry has told investigators in interviews over the years about his tranquilizer
gun, his darts, and the chemicals.
This all according to the police affidavit
when he was arrested and charged with her murder.
Barry first told investigators on May 28th, 2020
that he kept the darts in the home
all in order to tranquilize deer,
to then transport the animals and to sell them.
But he said that he only ever used it in Indiana,
not in Colorado.
Months later in March, 2021, Barry also told investigators that he used the darts to shoot
and tranquilize deers so that he could cut off their antlers.
And he said that he might have tranquilized two deer at his home in Colorado in late April.
Then he told investigators he was afraid of getting in trouble with wildlife officials
for the practice, and that's why he hadn't mentioned it any earlier.
In April, 2021, Barry then told investigators
that he uses what's known as the BAM formulation.
It's a mixture of the three drugs
that were also coincidentally found in Suzanne Morphew's bones
and that he said he used that formula to sedate deer.
He told investigators that he bought the chemicals
in Indiana and that he kept them
on his workbench in vials. He said he mixed the chemicals in Indiana and that he kept them on his work bench in vials.
He said he mixed the chemicals into darts himself rather than using a licensed veterinarian.
When investigators asked whether he could mix the tranquilizer without help from anybody, he said, yeah, absolutely.
However, investigators didn't find any BAM formulation or tranquilizers in Barry Morphume's home after his wife Suzanne disappeared.
One investigator asked Barry in April of 2021 whether he might have thrown those tranquilizers
away in one of the five quote trash runs that he made in and around Broomfield on May 10th, 2020,
which was the day after Suzanne was reported as missing. And he said to that, could have been.
Yep, feeling like he has an answer for everything.
And guys, this is why I'm telling you,
this case was so crazy.
There was so much shady crap.
The trash runs, the hotel.
So you definitely need to listen to that full episode.
So he said, okay, yeah, could have been.
And now you might be thinking, okay,
well, what about that tranquilizer needle cap
that was found in the laundry room?
Well, Barry admitted to investigators
that it did look a little suspicious. A little suspicious that a tranquilizer needle cap that was found in the laundry room. Well, Barry admitted to investigators that it did look a little suspicious,
a little suspicious that a tranquilizer needle cap
was found with bedsheets in the dryer, saying, quote,
"'Because it looks like if I did something
"'and ripped the sheet and got blood on them
"'and then ripped them off and washed them,
"'to me, looking at it through a detective's eyes,
"'you would look a little suspicious.'"
Uh, yeah, dumb- dumb dumb, you think?
Now during the interview, he said that he was confident
that there was no evidence on the sheets, saying,
I'm just being open with you.
I obviously, things line up against me,
coincidentally or for some reason.
I mean, look back and see some of the things that happened
and like, wow, gosh, that makes me look,
it makes me think that, why would God allow that?
Those things in the situation to make me look like the sheets,
the bed unmade, all these things, kind of kind of saying like kind of kind of spiraling being
like I don't know why all those things are happening they're all making me look bad it's
kind of weird that the sheets make me look bad it's unmade it's this it's ripped but it's like
no it looks that way because in my opinion you did it and you made a lot of mistakes along the way
then during a separate interview in April of 2021,
Barry said that he had no idea
how that tranquilizer needle cap got into the dryer.
He also denied using the tranquilizer gun
on May 9th, 2020 when Suzanne disappeared,
which is the day that Suzanne was last known to be alive.
And he said, it's got nothing to do with me.
I hate that because it just makes me look bad,
being like, oh, it's everybody else.
It makes me look bad, but I'm innocent.
I had nothing to do with it.
Now, Barry's attorney previously said that the tranquilizer gun was broken when the authorities discovered it after Suzanne's disappearance.
And she also screened body cam footage in the court that showed the county sheriff's deputies,
stating that they didn't believe that a tranquilizer gun that was found in Barry's gun safe functioned.
But then Barry changed his story yet again. This time he
said that he sometimes shot deer in the backyard from his back door. He also
admitted that he sometimes shot the tranquilizer gun from a little breezeway
between the garage and the laundry room. Which let me just say how convenient
since that breezeway was also close to the area where Suzanne was last known to be alive.
She had been sunbathing right behind their home.
She also sent a selfie to her secret boyfriend around 2 p.m. on May 9, 2020.
And that photo is the last time that investigators can prove that she was alive.
And it's been suspected that he knew that Suzanne was about to leave him,
so did he come home, he saw her send this selfie, did he just like fly into a rage,
or had he already been planning this
because he knew that she was going to be leaving him?
But here's another weird detail.
Barry put his phone into airplane mode at 2.47 p.m. that day,
and Suzanne never responded to messages
from that guy that she had been texting,
which were sent at 2.44 and 2.46 p.m.
So as I mentioned, Barry's original murder charges were dropped and you would
probably be wondering like how?
Look at all the evidence against him,
which that's what my thoughts were exactly too.
But since then,
Barry has doubled down on his innocence going as far
as to sue the prosecutors because he believes that
he was wrongfully charged in the statement.
Barry Morphew's attorney with a call for action.
What needs to be done instead of pointing fingers at Barry Morphew is asking the officials about
the number of missing people and the number of human remains that have been
recovered in or from Sawatch County in recent past. And Barry Morphew's attorney
concluded with this statement, when law enforcement focuses in on one person and
refuses to review of evidence
objectively and fairly, it is a disservice to the community and creates exactly what
has come to light.
Years of unsolved murders."
End quote.
A defense attorney clearly on the offensive there.
And ever since Suzanne's body was found, Barry and their two adult daughters also accused
investigators of not telling them whether they tested the bullet or the clothing for any DNA evidence.
And according to Barry's lawyers, they've also spoken out and said that her autopsy
results do not implicate Barry at all and that he's still innocent.
They said, Barry Morphew is innocent and he could not have killed his wife.
She got up the morning of Mother's Day.
She had her cup of coffee. That is now confirmed
with the autopsy report because, side note, caffeine was found in her body. It's also confirmed with the
autopsy report that she put on her bike clothes. She was on a bike ride and abducted. The tranquilizer
that was found in her bones, allegedly, is a very common animal tranquilizer that could have been
used on farms or by hunters, which are people who are very prevalent in that area of Salida.
Salida is where Suzanne went missing.
Which let me just say, I get attorneys need to defend.
That is their job.
I don't know about all of that.
It seems like a huge stretch that coincidentally the same compounded tranquilizer that Barry
used, that he tried to lie about using in Colorado then finally
admitted to using maybe once in Colorado was also found inside his dead wife's bones after she
disappeared when his cell phone was pinging all around the yard chasing her when he also had a
dark cap that was mysteriously left in a dryer I mean come on come on. So my question here is, will there be an arrest and more charges
to come down the pike for Barry? We don't know yet. Personally, I hope so, because I truly believe
that Barry killed Suzanne. Allegedly. And this seems like even more proof that he did do this.
Plus, when he was first charged, investigators had not found Suzanne's body yet, if you remember.
So, I know murder charges can be filed without a body, but I do think that Suzanne's new
autopsy results would be key in getting a conviction against Barry, and so maybe that's
why they've waited to recharge him to add new charges, all of these things. And I'm just
wondering, are the daughter still going to stand by his side through all of this, now that this is
out, now that this autopsy result has been made public,
it's not looking good for Barry.
I again have thought he was guilty from day one.
I could be wrong, but I really don't think I am.
And I'm interested to know what you guys think.
Now let's talk a little bit about Karen Reed
because Karen Reed's murder trial is officially underway.
Opening statements and testimony started on Monday
and they continued through Thursday.
However, the court did have the day off on Wednesday
and they're restarting today on Thursday.
But as a reminder, Karen is charged with second degree
murder in the 2022 death of her boyfriend,
who also happened to be a Boston police officer,
John O'Keefe.
He was found in the snow outside a fellow
Boston police officer, Brian Albert's home
in Canton, Massachusetts, and it has been shady from the jump.
Prosecutors say that Karen hit John with her SUV, while Karen says that she's been framed, and this is a huge wide-ranging cover-up.
Now, if you're interested in the deep dive on this case, I will link an episode of everything up until the trial in the show notes below so that you can get fully caught up as this mega long trial goes down because I think it's going to be two months
they're estimating. But what's so fascinating about this case is everybody is asking if it's
a cover-up and a conspiracy which very very rarely do we ever see that in mainstream media.
They're always usually very careful to not question if there's a cover-up or
conspiracy and it's on every single header of every news channel. And I think that is very
interesting and kind of speaks volumes about this case in addition to the fact that so many people
are outside of the courthouse advocating for Karen saying free Karen, free Karen, she's been framed,
this is all a cover-up by all of these officers and
I'm gonna keep it real the evidence is pretty damning
Not necessarily the evidence against Karen, but the evidence that this very well could be a cover-up
So definitely listen to that episode. It's I think it's one of the best performing episodes
We've ever put out because it is that wild of a case now during opening statements
put out because it is that wild of a case. Now during opening statements, prosecutors said
that a cracked tail light and Karen's own words
to the first responders when she says she hit him
proves that she's guilty, saying,
"'The defendant, Karen Reed, is guilty of murder
in the second degree, striking the victim, Mr. O'Keefe,
with her car, knocking him back onto the ground,
striking his head on the ground, causing the bleeding
in his brain and swelling, and then leaving him there for several hours in a blizzard.
From all of those people within that house that evening, none of them at any point in
time was there when John O'Keefe came into the house.
They see the vehicle out front, they see the vehicle pull away, and they just assume that
they left, that no one was coming.
Now the defense had a far different story, saying Karen Reed was framed.
Her car never struck John O'Keefe.
She didn't cause his death and that means that somebody else did.
You will learn that there are other major problems with the Commonwealth's area.
You'll learn that when John O'Keefe was found, he did not look like he had been hit by a
car.
You'll learn that he looked to have been attacked
and beaten up. You'll learn that John O'Keefe was a large six foot two man who, if positioned
behind a Lexus SUV, would have had his torso completely exposed to the rear of that vehicle,
including to the tail light. You'll learn that no part of his torso was injured.
There was no bruising, no redges, no scratches, no punctures. You'll learn that his
chest and hips and legs were pristine, despite the Commonwealth's contention
that he was hit by a six-pound vehicle. The evidence will show that what was not pristine was his right arm. You will
take one look at that arm and you will conclude that a car did not cause those injuries. The
injuries to John O'Keefe's arm appear to be consistent with scratch marks and claw marks,
marks that make it look as though an animal had attacked the sign. But you won't have to rely just on your common sense when you look at those photos.
You'll hear from an expert forensic pathologist who is world-renowned,
who has personally conducted thousands of autopsies, and he will testify that those
marks are consistent with scratch and claw marks and bite marks from an animal, the
thousands of autopsies. And he
will testify that those marks
are consistent with scratching
claw marks and bite marks from
an animal, including a German
shepherd. You'll learn that on
January 29th of 2022, Brian
Albert's family dog Chloe was a German shepherd. You'll learn that Brian Albert has admitted that this dog is not good around strangers.
You'll learn that on January 29th of 2022, John O'Keefe would have been a stranger through that dog. And you'll learn that Chloe had been the beloved family dog for the Alberts for
seven years. The Albert family loved Chloe. Strangely, as we discussed this dog today,
the Albert family doesn't have its beloved Chloe anymore.
You will learn that there is no competent evidence that Karen Reed's tail light shattered
at Brian Albert's property in the early morning hours of January 29th of 2022.
To the contrary, you'll learn that when Karen left John at Brian Albert's house, she drove back to John's
house on Meadows Ave across town in Canton. At John's home, where he lived with his two
adopted children, Karen was drifting in and out of sleep, but she woke up for good in a panic sometime around 4 a.m.
because John hadn't come home.
And that was not like him at all.
He had never done that before.
Karen had a sinking feeling that something was wrong.
Something was seriously wrong.
The first witness in the trial was John's brother Paul,
who described having to rush to the hospital that morning
and also overheard Karen screaming,
is he alive, is he alive?
Paul said, quote, he was pretty banged up.
And what really stood out to me was the eyes.
It was as if there were ping pong balls under his eyelids.
The second witness to take the stand was Paul's wife, Erin.
She testified about the Aruba trip, saying that Karen had reached out to her to say that
she had seen John O'Keefe kissing somebody else in the lobby of the hotel that they were
staying at.
She also mentioned that when she talked to Karen after John's body was found, Karen
yelled into the phone, John's dead.
Next, the first responders testified about the scene when they first arrived. It was described as chaotic and that John was laying face up with Karen trying
to give him CPR. Karen had blood on her mouth from her attempts to perform CPR
and they said that Karen was just absolutely distraught that she was
screaming and she was screaming that John wasn't breathing. They also
described interactions with Karen. One firefighter testified that Karen repeatedly was saying, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,
when she was first asked about what had happened. Another officer testified that
Karen said, this is my fault, this is my fault, I did this. However, when
cross-examined by the defense, they were able to get two police officers to
acknowledge that they never actually heard Karen say that she hit John. They were also able to get two
police officers to admit that they never saw broken pieces of taillight at the
scene, which really goes to one aspect of why the defense believes that Karen
Reed was framed. So like I said, court will be back in session today and the
trial is expected to last six to eight weeks with full days on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays, and then half days on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
and then half days on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
So we're gonna follow this closely.
I'm gonna keep you updated.
I think we might do what we did or what we're doing,
I should say with Chad Daybell,
where we're doing full weekly recaps
of what's going down in the trial at the end of every week
to catch you up since I know it's difficult
to not only even watch one full trial that's 40 hours a week, but now two.
So if that's something you want, let me know because we're trying to figure out should
we do it every week, should we do it every two weeks.
It feels like we should do it every week because otherwise the information gets old and it's
hard to keep up as you're checking in and out in a case.
So I think we're going to do that starting next week.
But again, let me know what you guys think and if that's something you want. Other than that, that
is what we have going down this week in the true crime world. It has been a lot. I am
happy that the rapist got castrated. That just, again, not to harp on it too much. It
just makes me very, very happy. I feel like that should be the new rule of thumb for everybody.
But I know I'm not gonna be the only one that thinks that way but I and I also know people probably won't agree with me on that and that's okay we are all allowed to have our
own opinions. Other than that we just launched merch we are already sold out of quite a few items
so if you want to grab any of the new items it's at AnnieElease.com very limited quantities available
so go snag it now and hopefully we're not sold out by the time you go and check it out,
and hopefully we won't be sold out
by the time you check it out,
but you can find all of that at annieelyse.com,
and that is what I've got for you.
I will be back on the mic with you
with an exclusive bonus episode, ad free this Friday,
and then of course, brand new Monday super mega deep dive.
Guys, the Monday case is going to blow your mind.
It is like, ugh, God, it's a roller coaster,
it's a roller coaster.
So I'll be back on the mic with you,
probably, what, the next few days.
So just keep checking back.
If you're not following the podcast yet,
make sure you are so that you don't miss
any time these new episodes get uploaded
and that way you can fully be in the know
and keep up with us.
Alright guys, thank you so much for tuning into another episode and until the next one,
be nice, don't kill people, stay safe, and do all the things. Alright guys, talk to you soon. Bye.