Small Town Murder - #460 - A Russian Doll Of Murders - Arlington Heights, Illinois

Episode Date: January 27, 2024

This week, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a wild series of murders, some involving one family, make this a tale for the ages. Jealousy, and extreme anger seem to be the running theme, when a young woman is horribly beaten to death, a few years after her cousin was also murdered. Then, there's even more murder, as the murderer's husband murders someone, while claiming his ex wive's "spirit" forces him to! Confused? This episode will make it all make sense!!Along the way, we find out that some independent bands dominate the fair circuit, that jealousy is a terribly dumb reason to kill someone, and that someone can't project murderous thoughts into your head from prison!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. What if you married the love of your life and then stood by them as they developed 21 new identities? What would you do? This Is Actually Happening is a weekly podcast that features extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. Listen to the newest season of This Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay, choo-choo!

Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us today. This is a crazy edition. I say it every week. Never mind. It's a regular... It's a normal- Normal Express, which is absolutely

insane. A 12 on the insane-o-meter here. This is multiple murders, a bunch of murder stuffed into an hour today. So it's going to be a lot of fun. Quickly, quickly, before we get to that, shut up and give me murder.com. Tickets for live shows. They are flying out of here. I'm telling you. Unbelievable. Nashville is now sold out too. We've got Phoenix is sold shows. They are flying out of here. I'm telling you. Unbelievable. Nashville is now sold out, too. We've got Phoenix is sold out. These are nowhere. They're months away.

So please get your tickets. Places like Minneapolis. Minneapolis, by the way, if you sell this out, will be our biggest show we've ever had. You will have beaten Chicago. Yeah. So there you go. Over the years, you love beating Chicago. So try to do this.

Vikings bears grudge and let's do this to the max. Just wear a Vikings hat to the show and we're all happy and you can use that. It'll be a twins hat. You guys have been fucked over a little bit sometimes. So get in there and do that. Also, Boston, New York, all those are going fast. So shut up and give me murder.com is where you get those also listen to our other shows yeah crime and sports number one listen to because

first of all there's a lot of murder going on there in the last couple months check it out tons really nuts yeah really does cross over well with this and then your stupid opinions you gotta hear your stupid opinions it's so much fun every monday morning check that out and uh patreon.com slash crime and sports anybody five dollars a month or above you are going to get a couple hundred bonus episodes immediately and then new ones every other week and this week is no different you're going to get one crime and sports one small town murder you get it all baby right this week for crime and sports we're going to talk about morgana the kissing bandit who was an extremely large-breasted woman who would jump who would jump out of the stands and at large sporting events and sprinting sprint up to a player and

kiss them and everybody would smile and laugh and then she'd jog off with her tits bouncing and everybody would cheer and she did it for like 30 years. It's the craziest thing ever. And then for Small Town Murder, we're going to talk about the Prisoner Dating Game. Oh, yeah. All violent felon edition. Once again, going to line up my man here. Four bachelors, four bachelorettes. He's going to pick one of each based solely on their pitch and their dating website there. They have one thing in common.

They are all currently incarcerated for violent felonies. And then once he picks these two winners, he used that term loosely, he gets to find out what they did. Yeah, that's another Patreon reference. Patreon.com slash Crime and Sports is where you get all of that. That said, let's get right to this. A lot of show in front of us here for sure. I think it's time, everybody, to sit back. Let's all clear the lungs.

What do you say here? Arms to the sky and let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this. What do you say, everybody? Let's go on a trip, everybody. Oh, yeah. Here we we go we're going to illinois speaking of minneapolis trying to best chicago and ticket sales here we're going to

arlington heights illinois terrific which is a suburb of chicago so we're going to the burbs out here yeah it's about 40 minutes outside chicago okay it's about four hours and 40 minutes to Columbia, Illinois, which is our last Illinois episode, episode 415, Dirty Desires, Killer Consequences. I remember that one. It was a little gross. You should listen to it. Population here, town's a little above what we normally do, but it's definitely a suburb and a small towny feely type of deal here. It's not really a city. towny feely type of deal here it's not really a city 77 283 on the population uh median household income here also pretty high the average right now is about 69 000 here it's 106 996 about 107 000 there and median home price 363 900 bucks so not bad it's a nice suburb of chicago and it's known as a nice area too a really nice area

the nickname here they call it i don't know who calls it this but on like wikipedia it says the nickname is action heights oh i don't know what's going on there but their motto is the city of good neighbors is that right yeah they just stole that from you know like an insurance campaign and that's all yeah they were like that's good you know, like an insurance campaign. And that's all. Yeah, they were like, that's good, right? Yeah. Those admin knew what they were doing. Let's just keep that.

Now, a little bit of history of this town very quickly. Throughout the 1830s, they still had the tribes that were here to begin with. They were still in this area, the Potawatomi, which Potawatomi, sorry. They had camps in Arlington Heights there. They used them six weeks out of the year only. They were here for six weeks as from summer encampments. They would go from like they'd stay here in between their summer and winter places. They had summer and winter homes?

That's amazing. Yeah, and then an in-between home too. Outstanding. It was camping. They had summer and winter homes? That's amazing. And an in-between home, too. Outstanding. There you go, too. It was camping. They were thriving. It was camping. So in 1833, the Potawatomi signed the 1833 Treaty of Chicago with the United States.

Yeah. And this gave the United States control of all the land west of Lake Michigan and east of Lake Winnebago in exchange for some other tract of land. So that is how the suburbs became the suburbs here in Chicago, and Chicago got into a big deal here. Fantastic. Now, notable people, I don't know if these people, I love when they have people like,

these people are from this town, Yeah. Because this is like Wikipedia. But the funny part is some of them just like lived there for a day and then the town claims them. You know, they were there for like three months. Yeah. There's a there's a hotel in the middle of New Mexico somewhere that says Bob Hope stayed there. And it was because his fucking car broke. I was just going to say the tour bus broke down. Yeah.

And he was like, we got to stay in this shit all fine. And they put a sign up saying how excited he was to be there. That's excellent. That's excellent. It says here that Sebastian Maniscalco is from here, which he might be. This might be where he's from. Marlee Matlin, the actress. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The deaf lady.

And Ted Nugent as well, which I thought he was from Michigan. What the fuck, Ted? I thought he was from Michigan. What the fuck, Ted? I thought he was from Michigan. He might have a house here or something. You told me Ted might be a liar. I don't know how much hunting grounds are around here, so I can't see Ted really hanging out in this area. So reviews of this town. Here we go.

Four stars. Arlington Heights is the most family-friendly place one can go to. The most. Go to. Yeah. The most possible is the most family-friendly place one can go to. The most. Go to. Yeah. The most possible on the face of the earth is Arlington Heights. How do you even measure that? They have a very interesting scale of how they do it.

I feel like it's very mathematical. Yeah. Filled with so many activities for people of all ages. Truly a wonderful place to be. Truly. Four stars. Okay. Next one. activities for people of all ages truly a wonderful place to be yeah truly four stars next one less potholes in the roads please but otherwise the neighborhood streets are quite nice yeah this is for viewing potholes midwest yeah you got horrible horrible cold things asphalt doesn't hold up to things are freezing and cracking and warming back up all the time you see so many people walking on a nice day that's a sentence in the middle of this just a just to throw that in there bottles please you see people maybe they're walking because

their car hit a fucking bottle you see so many people walking on a nice day it's just this is just a random thought little thought bubbles that are popping out many children at the public parks and dogs with their owners did you have to say that nuts not stray dogs would have been fine unless you said tons of stray dogs everywhere we'd assume that dogs had owners somewhere that person is really annoying um three stars this is a i don't understand what they're saying quote do not know much about this is this is why the internet is bad because you'll just throw words someone can go do not know much about three stars how about don't fucking review it then if you walked into a restaurant never been here before before, I'm going to leave a bad review. They'd be like, how about you eat first?

What the hell are you talking about? One star, very dull, crazy high property taxes. Neighbors are extremely unfriendly. Wow. The one motto is, what is it? The city of good neighbors is the motto of the city. Holy shit. No public transportation.

And for such an expensive suburb to live in, there are no activities for young adults or adults in general. I'm 30 years old and meeting people was almost impossible. You know what you could do? Go to that giant fucking city that's 40 minutes away. How about that? Chicago's right there, you lazy bastard. That's on you. You live 40 minutes outside of a giant city.

Anything that is missing is all on you. It's all on you. 100%. You're in the suburbs. It's weird. There's not a lot for 30-year-old single people to do in the burbs. No, the burbs are for families. That's who lives there.

Do you think you move to the suburbs and they issue you a family and a wife? That's it. He's like, I didn't even get my wife yet. It's fucked up. How am I supposed to impregnate her? You don't get a step for it upon arrival. So weird. So things to do here.

The Frontier Days Festival. It starts in Chicago. It's a big festival. Frontier. Of the frontier, yeah. Which when I think frontier, I think Chicago suburbs, the frontier. Covered wagons, fucking Chicago. There is not going.

Cattle trains, fucking Chicago. I think Chicago, man. Yeah. So they call it an old-fashioned hometown gathering. And playing there will be Seventh seventh heaven who actually was playing at another festival we made fun of because we did it during a live show so i know exactly what these guys look like and everything they call them chicago's very own and they say they're one of recognized as one of the biggest independent bands in the midwest Maybe. We've heard of them.

They play small festivals fucking everywhere. All over the place. And then Lou Graham will be there, who is the original voice of Foreigner. Really? I think he's the original Foreigner singer. That's our jukebox hero? That's jukebox hero and fucking all that shit. You know what?

I don't know a single member of Foreigner, and I can sing probably upwards of 15 of their songs. Yeah, that's jukebox hero and fucking you know what i don't know a single member of foreigner and i can sing probably upwards of 15 of their songs yeah that's true i've never heard i don't know i fucking love them and have no idea yeah i bet you can name every member of poison though which is sad you could can't you uh i probably got three of them you might forget bobby doll but i doubt it you might get him that is fucking crazy that is fucking wild so there you go he's in the songwriting hall of fame wow so there you go and i know who seventh heaven is we know i've heard of him but lou graham you're like i don't know who that is that said let's talk about a whole shitload of murder here. All right. Wow, do we have just 10 pounds of murder in a two-pound bag this week?

Not just Lou Graham's reputation. Yeah, we've slaughtered Lou Graham's reputation. Let's move on to others now that deserve it less. Never forget him now, though. Now with two Ms. Remember that. Graham with two Ms. Terrific.

Never forget him. G-R-A-M-M. Oh, like the Insta. Not Graham like the cracker. No, no, forget him g-r-a-m-m now this oh like the insta not graham like the cracker g-r-a-m-m lou graham like graham of coke with extra m unbelievable so this murder let's go back to 1988 where we're going to start it's not when our main murder takes place but there's there's several so let's talk all about it this is just a this is some people there are some families and some corners of families that are just fucking doomed have you noticed that yeah where they're just like jesus what a doomed family this one died and then this one died and then this one was murdered and then this one holy shit so parents in a car accident yeah and then this one was murdered and then this one. Holy shit. So parents in a car accident.

Yeah. And then somebody got like, you know, their little sister got cancer when she was six and died or some crazy shit. And it's like this family is fucking doomed, man. Yeah. Two at once. Sometimes it sincerely makes you think, Jesus, what the fuck is happening in ancient burial ground? Is your house built on? So let's talk about Patricia Loretis.

Loretis. She is 16 years old in 1988. So born in 72. She has a boyfriend in 1988. It is 19-year-old Robert Kosick. K-O-S-I-C-K. Kosick. Okay.

So they are walking down the street together in 1988 a teenage couple hand in hand it's as uh they haven't been together very long so it's still shiny and hell yeah still smells good you know what i mean still got that new relationship smell to it where robert's still thinking about things he can do to her before parents find out yeah no one's bitter yet you know what i mean no no one has like years of resentment built up it's kind of nice yeah so as they're doing that um yeah they're walking on the edge of gregory avenue near his home in pastiki pastaki highlands yeah wow a subdivision north of mchenry now he said they were walking on the grass and she was on the grass and he was on the gravel to her right gentlemen so then he saw a car that he said was being driven by stacy mclean who was a 16 year-old girl who happens to be his, the boyfriend's, ex-fiance at 16.

Fiance. 1960. Oh, that's my ex-fiance. Hold on. Here she comes. We promised to spend the rest of our lives together. While we were sophomores. 16, yeah.

We were in sophomore math class, and we said, you know what? We should really make this permanent. So she goes to johnsburg high school you know 16 year old girl apparently they had dated for three years those two so she went 13 13 to 16 and been engaged for a year so that is wild and then two months ago he broke it all off everything he said all they did was argue he said quote we just never got along because of her jealousy that'll do it yeah well yeah probably also because you're not really mature enough when you're 15 to enter into a lifetime relationship

you don't understand anything yeah you don't get anything so then he said they're walking along. Here comes Stacy driving in her car. Yeah. And he goes on to say, quote, I saw Stacy's car come around the corner, begin to accelerate as it got close to us and come off the road as we turned into a driveway. Wow. He said that McClain was, quote, looking right at me through the windshield. The car came up off the road and turned into us i yelled to patty to look out and i jumped in front of her to get uh to get out of the way patty let go of my of my arm and i heard her get hit a thud sound oh jesus i turned around and saw

patty rolling in a ditch and stacy's car pulling out of the ditch area. Jesus. Back onto the road. Yeah. To drive away. Taking off. At least she didn't fucking wasn't putting a reverse to back over. I guess that's good. I ran to Patty to help her,

but there wasn't much I can do. She was bleeding from the nose and left side of her head and she wasn't breathing. Oh boy. She's dead. It's over. It's over. It's over. This 16-year-old girl fucking gunned it

and plowed into another 16-year-old girl over this dipshit, a 19-year-old who was engaged to a 15-year-old. What the shit? This is awful. This isn't the murder, by the way. This isn't the main murder. No, this is just background on somebody else.

Okay. Of her family. This is, okay. So the trial, by the way, Stacey McClain was convicted by a jury in 1989 here. But I guess she had a double plea of innocent by reason of insanity and guilty but mentally ill. Which is, they called it an unusual double plea i would say yeah i'm innocent she pled both innocent and guilty how the fuck do you do that i'm so crazy i'm gonna confuse the court that's how i'll get out of this they won't know

how to process it they'll have to let me go they don't know what's going on she what happened well she withdrew the plea of guilty but mentally ill and just pled innocent by reason of insanity and she was convicted of that okay but an appellate court ruled that the omission left jurors with a prejudiced and mistaken impression that mclean had continued with a guilty plea so they said even though she withdrew it, I don't know if they should have called it a mistrial then and got a whole new jury or what. That's what the, I guess the appeals court saying.

So they said that, um, she, she was originally sentenced to 32 years in prison. Jesus. And her conviction was reversed and she had served about 30 months of a 32 year prison sentence at that point. So then they have a retrial of her in 1993 where the boyfriend now on cross

examination, he admitted that he had a few beers at a friend's home nearby and that he and Patty, who he said also had been drinking or on their way to his home to get more beer and food. So they were like, Oh, so you guys were drinking. That's what people do. When you drink, you just jump out in front of your ex-girlfriend's car.

That's what happens usually to me when I drink. So she's not guilty, right? How the fuck does that matter? On retrial, this shit is introduced and now the jury is confused? Oh, it's the Midwest, man. Everybody's drunk. They're like, well, I mean, the jury's like, I had four beers before I got here. I mean, I had four or five beers before I even came into this place.

So I don't know what the hell they're talking about. We got a 12-year-old sitting in the sequester room. I can't wait to get back to him. They got us a keg in the jury room. So, I mean, I'm going to be back there. It's how it's going. Cannot wait. The prosecutors worked to establish that jealousy was the motive here.

And the defense tried to argue that it was an accident, that they were drunk and, like, wandered into the road as she happened to be driving by. Because, you know, she happened to be driving by her ex-boyfriend's house who happened to be wandering into the road and it's dark out and you hit them. And sometimes the chick that you're mad at dies. You know how it goes. Took away the only reason that I should be mad at him. Yeah. You know, sometimes you just get a lucky break in life and that's. Holy.

Sometimes sometimes the person you're most angry at drunkenly wanders in front of your moving car. That's a win-win for everybody, right? There it is. Yeah, that'll fix the situation. Oh, man. So they also found out that from some other girls how jealous she was that she had tried to fight people who were going after her. That were talking to her boyfriend. They even got the girl who was in the car with her when

she ran there was somebody with her someone in the passenger seat going you're not gonna run patty over are you of course hey holy shit you just ran fucking pat what the fuck oh my god what is wrong with you shut up i'm trying to drive what is wrong get out of the ditch at least jesus christ wow so the friend said Stacey was very jealous. She would get angry when Cossack was in the presence of another female. She said that while riding in McLean's car on the night of the death here, she was looking into her purse when I heard a thud. I was just checking. I needed gum.

I was looking for chapstick. You're on a residential street and you go, oh, there's my ex-boyfriend and her girlfriend. You hear the engine revving and you go, I need dentine right now. I got to look in my purse. Hold on, everybody. Where is that? She doesn't have a cell phone. It's 1988.

Slow down. I got to get my Burt's Beans. I just cannot find my Carmex in here. It is a mess in here i don't know where i put it she's got carmex all over her forehead yeah when it comes out she's like the lady in airplane with a lipstick streak going on holy shit she said i looked up and all i could see was hair oh that's terrible oh what the fuck it looked like stacy had hit a girl because the hair was long if i could have extended my arm through the windshield i could have touched the hair

so she was on the car basically i heard a scream i think it was patty stacy didn't stop she just kept going i couldn't believe what had just happened i said where are you going stop where am i going away from here idiot that's and she said after that she just drove in a very calm manner she's like she was calm she was pissed and now she's like problem solved everything's fine just driving along turns up the radio this is my jam yeah girls just come on sing it cindy whoa true blue baby i am a daughter too i don't give a fuck she also says here that not only did she they drive in a very calm manner but they stopped at four different locations looking for friends just to hang out i wonder where that party is tonight fucking whole blood on your fender and then eventually police arrived she told police that quote i blacked out is what she said she is

cold-blooded must have had a stroke or something one of those real early onset strokes that people have you know how that goes so um wow the impact of the car striking her patty left the car's right front fender dented near the headlight even such a big dent on she's just driving around looking for wow she got way off the road yeah so let's talk about patricia cousin now. This is Patty's cousin. So Stacey goes back to jail here. She goes to prison to get sentenced. More time. She, I believe, was paroled in 2001. Wow.

I think she did about 13 years on that one. She's got to be back in by now. She is psychotic. I was going to say, I would not want to be the guy who was doing the right of prisoner with her let's just say that that is terrifying i hope bumble rejects her good lord imagine she's a scary person oh my god the fact that her friend said afterwards she just drove calmly like nothing happened she wasn't even like good i got. She took me to the Sonic and the bowling alley. We were looking to hang out with friends.

You're a murderer. Everything's better. So now her cousin, her name is Kristen Marie Popelka. Yeah. Patty's cousin. Yeah. Her name is Kristen Marie Popelka, P-O-P-E-L-K-A. She was born January 3rd, 1978.

So she's more in our wheelhouse here. She's her cousin. Now Kristen has one sister named Kelly. Kristen is described by everyone and all as, quote, a beautiful, friendly young woman. So you know Kristen's in trouble in our story. Oh, it's not good for her. You know, she's not long for this world at this point. That's all you can say.

So now she is part of the family that mourned Patty here. Sure. Patty is the, I guess, I think her father and Patty's father, Patty's mother or brother and sister, something like that. It's a cousin like that. Close. So, wow, that's crazy. Anyway, 1999, by then, Kristen is living in her parents' house in Spring Grove in McHenry County.

It's a very nice community, nice suburb, no crime, very good stuff. nice suburb um you know no crime very good stuff um she ends up hooking up with a guy here by 2000 though and changes it she wants to go move out on her own she's also you know 22 you get to be 21 22 you don't want to live at home anymore yeah yeah you want out you got to get your own place in your own space a few years before that you're you were already salivating at the thought, for sure. Christ, from the time I was 11, I was like,

I think I can handle shit. You tell me where to pay the electric bill. I think I can do it. I'll be all right. I'll be okay. Yeah, I don't need any help here. So 2000,

her boyfriend's name is Steve Hudson. He's 26. So they're 26 and 22. That's fine. So she left her small hometown to move in with her boyfriend in Arlington Heights. And she had a job in Mount Prospect also. And this is closer to it.

So it helps. So she gets an apartment with her boyfriend in the 2100 block of South Gobert Road in Arlington Heights. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy.

The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit

with a little bit of cursing. This mother f***er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal, or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine

and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes, you should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car

to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again, leaving us to wonder, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott? From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week, hosts Aaron and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence, and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened. And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to Generation Y ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. By the way, later on, one of these apartments we're going to talk about, we're going to do reviews for it on Your Stupid Opinions because in the reviews, they mention this case, which is amazing. Still? Still. Still still it's hilarious so um now he has an ex steve does that does not like this relationship it's none of your fucking business much in the in the vein of stacy mclean we have irene roman uh romaniac romaniac our roman with an iuk on the end of it iuk iuk romaniac romaniac so irene will say irene's 30 okay and they were together for a long time i guess there was an engagement possibly that sort of thing here irene was dating a 26 year old yes and he is now dating someone four years younger than him four years younger not four years older what am i doing that's that stings i was going the other way yeah so you're

30 she's 22 and um so she irene her dad was a chicago cop He's a retired Chicago cop. I guess about a month before all of this, in about August of 2000, is when Hudson stopped seeing Irene completely. Before that, though, he was living with Kristen, having a relationship with her, but still seeing Irene on the side. Irene would come over to the apartment that Kristen and he shared, and they would fuck there. Oh, boy. This is still going on. But then a month before, in August of 2000, like I said, he stopped seeing her and tells her no more. I guess he's going to concentrate on the relationship with Kristen. But then at some point

he moves out of this apartment as well. So he doesn't live there full time. We gum things up, guys. We're so messy. We're just a messy people. Just a messy people. So the problem is, though, he doesn't live there, but he still has a key and comes over all the time

and sleeps there half the time. I don't know what's happening here with these people. I don't know sleeps there half the time. I don't know what's happening here. I don't know how guys figure this out. I don't know how to get this. How do you get yourself into a situation? This is your 20s is what this is. I don't know. We're sorted together.

I live there. I keep some clothes there. You have shit in like four different places when you're in your 20s sometimes. Yeah. How did we live like that? I don't know. What the hell is wrong with all of us? So September 28th, 2000.

All of this is Hudson and Irene and all that stuff is bubbling under the surface. Sure. So Scott Hudson comes home or comes to this apartment, I should say. Scott? Scott, yeah. What do I call him? I don't know. Steve?

Steve, okay. I think it's, yeah, Scott. No, it is Steve. It's Steve Hudson, not Scott Hudson. Okay. So Steve Hudson, he comes home at 10.30 a.m. is what he says. He says, I walked in at 10.30 a.m. and I found Kristen dead in my apartment. Bloodbath. Oh, an absolute bloodbath.

God damn it. She has been beaten over the head. Beaten? Her head is completely mashed in. damn it. She has been beaten over the head. Beat? Her head is completely mashed in. I mean, she has been pummeled, skull broken, blood fucking everywhere. It is a horrible scene, is what he says. He calls the police. They come.

They say this must have happened in the last three hours. It's still pretty fresh. Autopsy shows she died of severe head trauma she suffered 75 injuries good lord this is a savage beating savage time yeah so this is like chris on the wire beating up michael's stepdad in the street when he fucking stomps him to death and shit and she's like damn we didn't even fucking you know what the fuck yeah we didn't even get him in the house yet and shit. And she's like, damn, we didn't even fucking, you know, what the fuck? Yeah.

We didn't even get him in the house yet. What the fuck? Snoop's like, yo. So this is horrible, including a crushed skull. Yeah. Bruises all over her body. I mean, she has been fucking beaten horribly here. Terrible, terrible anger is behind this.

Just to sustain. Very personal. To sustain this level of beating you got to be super angry before you're like i'm bored with this and walk away so they said that um the police said that there were no suspects they interview hudson as we'll talk about but they they will not tell the press if he's a suspect or not old stevie boy is a suspect yeah you gotta suspect him that's the boyfriend and this is he just moved out super overpowered savage personal beating yeah definitely but they said he was released but they're still speaking to him that's all they would say so like okay what was

she up to when this happened what was kristin doing yeah so they said she had been ready to leave for her job as a customer service representative for A.J. Gerard, which is in Des Plaines, where she had worked since March. They said she's wearing a jacket and a purse slung over her arm. She was last seen by what from what Steve said, because he slept there the night before. So he was sort of living there. So he was sort of living there. He left about 7.30 a.m., he said, to go to the Secretary of State's office in Elk Grove to renew his commercial driver's license. Okay.

That's what he said. By the way, listen to our Elk Grove episode if you want to know about that. That's where 7.30 came from. That's where I think. Was it that one or was it the Missouri? I think it was the Missouri one, actually. I'm positive it was Elk Grove. You sure? I think it was Missouri, I think. Nope, I'm positive it's Elk Grove. Okay, positive it was it was you sure i think it was missouri at there i

think nope i'm positive okay maybe it was elk grove so she's last seen there and um that's what he says he said i went to get my commercial driver's license and you know they he was there yeah they can tell if he went to elk grove and renewed his license or not yeah because it's got a time stamp on a government identification. He did. But then they also said this could have happened anytime between seven and ten. So they're not discounting. Peter Scullin went and got his driver's license and then came home and went, oh, no, my poor girlfriend.

Yeah, that's what they're saying. You know, in the time period, that could have happened. You know, in the time period that could have happened. So they police talked to a couple of witnesses who say they heard a loud verbal altercation in the building Thursday morning. Now, one witness says they saw Irene in the complex and heard screaming and female voices and various sounds that sounded like banging on the wall. Now, no one thought to call the cops during all this, though. Yeah. No police calls at all?

No, I think there's a bunch of dudes going, it sounds like a cat fight, right? Yeah, buddy, I'll tell you what, I'd like to take a look at that. I bet a titty's going to pop out of that one. We're idiots, I i feel like all people um and there's not like a man beating up a woman so like i don't know it's two chicks they'll figure it out i think they're both safe yeah who knows apparently not so the police also said there was no ransacking quote it looked like the person was let in okay there's no forced entry or anything like that or it could be as she was walking out the door right somebody was outside exactly that could very easily be the case

so they said when she was found here's some evidence that's going to be very helpful she had strands of long blonde hair in her hands in both hands yeah um. Steve does not have long blonde hair, by the way. Well, that fixes it. That fixes that. The long blonde hair was also found next to her body. And a cosmetic fingernail was found nearby. They found a press-on nearby. So long blonde hairs and press-ons here. That's Steve so i could it's got to be steve or trixie

mattel we don't know it could be anybody really but somebody with that or real hairs real hair actually so maybe not um cosmetic fingernail and they also found bloody footprints walking out of the door so they're like really, because there's blood everywhere. They walked right through the blood. They walked right through the blood. And the footprints are much smaller than Scott's feet or Steve's feet. So they're pretty much thinking if Steve did this, it wasn't him that actually did it. Yeah, it must have been someone else did it.

He shrunk, grew hair, and got a manicure. And $8,000 is missing from the apartment as well, according to Steve. Yeah, $8,000 in cash. Okay. At the same time, in this very complex, the police are also pursuing a man suspected of stealing women's underwear from the laundry room.

This is the, by the way, the Tanglewood Apartments, they were called here. And we'll, like I said, we'll have a review of those. That looks bad, too. It looks like a guy that dresses like a woman is murdering people. Or just a pervert who was stealing panties, and now he's escalating it up to killing a woman. But the man who was seen was described as Hispanic, 25 to 35 years old. Not a ton of Hispanic dudes that are 5'3 and 25 to 35 years old not a ton of hispanic dudes that are five foot

three and 25 to 35 have long blonde hair that's the only problem not a ton and wear press-ons and had a muscular build with a pot belly and a mustache the long blonde hair with the mustache isn't a great look that's the problem that's how you know it's it's it doesn't really go together they said he had dark hair slick back but it does spread out bushy and curly below his ears so he's got so he's got some hair but it's not blonde we don't know he could have dyed it it's not sure he's got a slick back mullet yeah he's a little he's a little mexican dude with a with a mullet that's all he doesn't sound like someone who has Lee Press-ons and long blonde hair. He's a pervert cowboy is what he is. That's it.

I'm a pervert cowboy. I stole cowboy panties. So they said that Kristen had filed a police report on one of the thefts of her underwear about a week ago. Really? So they're saying her underwear were stolen and now she's killed, though. That's a week apart. That looks bad, yeah. That's why they're like, this is a lot.

The sergeant in the charge here said he's a suspect in the panty theft. Is he a suspect in the homicide? No. Do we want to talk to him? Yes. And he's like, I don't want to talk to anybody. Yeah. We know he didn't do the killing, but he might have been involved, they're saying.

So they called in the major case assistance team to help out with the case, and they said they were gathering all sorts of information. Family reaction, they freak out. This is, again, the second young woman who's been killed in this family in a 15-year period. In a horrible way. In 12 years, which is not a long time for a family no murder that they haven't even forgotten they've even gotten comfortable with that girl being missing being gone you know what i mean yeah family gatherings it's only been 12 thanksgivings without her that's not a lot is patty coming oh never mind oh boy somebody

is fucked up still and slipped and asked yeah absolutely where's patty so uh her friends her sibling here kelly her sister her older sister said that she loved to go bowling and she loved dolphins and had a collection of plates and figurines and pictures of dolphins it was all dolphins she was a dolphin chick they said people liked her quote she was cheerful she'd walk into a room and everyone would flock toward her they'd say look, Chrissy's here. She was my best friend. I don't know what I'm going to do without her, which is horrible. Joe Popelka, one of Kristen's uncles, stopped by here.

He has said that he had been in shock. He said, she's such a nice girl. You never heard a bad word come out of her. It's incomprehensible someone would want to do something like that to her and her aunt sue said that she remembers kristin as being kind and poised she said that she stopped by one time she stopped by on their way on his way out to a long weekend and and was so nice and she's just a good kid so she said they picked up some pies from quigs apple orchard and they stopped by to visit us what a great kid now the panty thief they said they had no leads but we're continuing to investigate the link between the killing and the laundry room undergarment theft because they think there might be a link there they said we're not discounting that but

we're not basing our investigation solely on the undergarment thief. Pretty solid police work, in my opinion. Not bad. They said they did question a man who resembled the composite sketch of the thief, but the man denied any knowledge of the theft and was photographed and released. Yeah. You stealing underwear from the laundry room? God, no. God, no. God, no.

Jesus. Even if I didn't know. No. The underwear is not the part you're supposed to be after, by the way. It's what's inside of them is what's the important part. So I don't understand that particular perversion, honestly. Being honest, I'm not even mature enough to walk past a rack of them at 42. No.

I walk past bras anywhere yeah and i'm getting those there's boobs going there he he one will be in there oh boy so they questioned hudson he's the one they really think is a good link here he was away taking his commercial driving test and uh he told the detectives that irene may have wanted to hurt Kristen here. It's possible. They said, quote, Miss Romaniuk told Mr. Hudson, I believe the quote was, she will never get between us. If she does, I will kill her. Lock her up.

And then he broke up with her and then she's dead. By the way, this will be hilarious, but I'll wait for that. Detectives said that they had met, this is Irene and Steve, had met several times at Kristen and Steve's apartment. And Steve believes that Irene left clothing in the apartment to reveal the relationship to Kristen. She left shit there on purpose to try to drive her away. Yep. So they also said that Hudson said that Irene had, he's a delivery driver, commercial driver's license. He said that she had been following him on his route from time to time as well.

What the fuck, man? Just following him. You know what? She just likes to observe the working man. That's all. She just likes to. Oh, boy. It's good old-fashioned American blue-collar work.

That's all it is. And she said, you don't see enough of that nowadays, and I like to follow behind it and watch as it happens dirty jobs isn't enough on tv i need to be right there i want to see what's going on i want to smell the i want to be in the sewer right with them so the the state's attorney said they also have four witnesses who saw a woman matching irene's description outside the apartment. Uh-oh. That's not good. So they bring Irene in. Irene, grab some fucking pine here and let's have a chat.

Let's sit down. If you did this, you are shit at this. Four people saw you do it. Well, yeah, it was fucking broad daylight also. This isn't like the middle of the night. It was 8 o'clock in the morning. So, I mean, tons of people coming in and out, going to work. So they questioned her. she agreed to be questioned this is the next day by the way so a whole day goes by which will tell you a lot about how dumb this fucking lady is when she shows up she is not only does she have long blonde hair, which helps, but she is missing two cosmetic fingernails on each hand.

And has a torn regular natural fingernail and open wounds on two of her fingers. She's trash. I like her. Just looks like she's been in a fucking melee at three in the morning at a bar. And she pulled the other chick's hair and it took like five people to pry their hair apart she left the house missing five fingernails yeah to go to a police investigation think about that where there's a fingernail she had a day to fix this she could have went and got her nails done didn't't do it. So that's pretty amazing.

They also said that the defense attorney says this is ridiculous. They took her into custody, which, by the way, she showed up and she agreed to come in for questioning. Yeah. So that's different. They said they took her into custody in her Chicago apartment without enough evidence to make an arrest. And they didn't even let her make a phone call okay she said later on that she asked to call her father who's a retired chicago police officer and the police didn't let her call because it wasn't there wasn't a pay phone nearby the police officers were carrying cell phones though irene said and she had a cell phone in

her purse which they put in the trunk of the squad car as possible evidence. So they they said that the cops said they came to her apartment and she voluntarily came in. She wasn't arrested. So she could call anybody she fucking wanted to. She could have said, hold on, I'm doing something. She wasn't in custody. Yeah, she wasn't in cuffs. So they said that, you know, Irene initially denies being at the apartment when she was questioned shortly after this happened. The detectives show her. This is weird. They show her a fake video surveillance tape.

There's a surveillance that doesn't show her doing anything, but they have a surveillance tape of just the apartments. So they say, well, we're going to play this tape. And they start playing it. And they go, is there any reason why you're going to pop up on this tape? It's not a tape of that morning. It's a tape of now. They just showed it because she thought that she was going to pop up on there. Oh, shit.

Now, if she wasn't there, she would have went, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about but she instead she she burst out before while the tape playing for 30 seconds she said burst out quote i was just there to drop off steve's clothes i didn't hurt anybody nothing happened oh my god they called her bluff they just called they they did the fucking the copy machine lie detector on her that's it incredible so they don't have any surveillance of her there at all absolutely not if they just let the tape play if she sat there with her arms crossed they would have never seen shit they said any reason why we're gonna see you on here that's how sure they were that she did it wow that's how sure yeah they put that on we're gonna see you pop up here pretty soon it's gonna happen oh boy i wonder what's gonna happen she's trying to happen. Oh, boy. I wonder what's going to happen. She's trying to, like, mitigate it before it happens.

So the Illinois State Police Sergeant Joe Michi here, he said when he went to her apartment the day after the body was found, her left pinky and ring fingers were missing nails and were red and oozing. And the police obviously found a bloody artificial nail near the body. They said, how'd you hurt your fingers there? You lost some nails there, honey. Yeah. She said she accidentally hurt her hand. How, Jimmy? What do you think her excuse is going to be?

Let's play a game. Everyone out there, pick an excuse of why there's some cuts on her hands and she's missing a couple fingernails and one of them's bleeding. Did she say doing yard work? Nope. That would be reasonable. At least that's a reasonable and one of them is bleeding. Did she say doing yard work? Nope. That would be reasonable. At least that's a reasonable excuse. Her excuse is insane. Hers was she heard it in the garbage disposal.

Okay. Both hands? What kind of – I've stuck both hands down. How about you wouldn't have any fingers. It doesn't just give you some nicks and take a nail off what are you talking about it chewed up my hand once and took a couple of nails i put the other hand in to get the nail yeah i said shit i gotta get that out of there i lost a ring in there so it's garbage disposal as soon as she said that that's when they said you're being detained now you're not allowed you were allowed to leave before but now you're not okay yeah um also the bloody shoe print found in

the apartment as matches the bloody soul of a shoe that they found in her apartment so they matched it right it's bloody still with her blood on it in a search of her house as well irene's house they revealed blood on the entryway floor a wall and a bathroom floor blood everywhere a garbage disposal was nasty she's the dumbest she is she's dumber than stacy stopping at sonic for to see if the fucking other kids are there. They said a person matching her description and a vehicle like hers at the Tanglewood apartment complex in the weeks before the death. So people had recognized her because they'd seen her before there.

So her attorney said, yeah, she had spent several overnight visits there. That's why people recognize her. It's not that she was there that morning. She just had been there before. She's there banging a guy. Yeah. Then they found blood on a tissue in irene's car that matched kristin's dna jesus christ not great there they said in addition a drop of blood found in the apartment matched also matt we're talking in kristin's apartment the murder scene matched irene's dna as. So her blood is in there.

What else was in Irene's house? All the panties? I was going to say, she's also the panty thief. That's a good one. All the panties, all of everything. Also like a pot belly thing to put on and a fake mustache. And a black mullet and a Cheech wig. That's what she's got.

All of that. By the way, by the speaking of Cheech, 420 virtual live show is going to be great. It's happening. Yes. We can't wait for that. Tickets go on sale soon. So they end up arresting her, obviously. Yeah.

Clearly. Duh. Charge her with first degree murder, invasion, and residential burglary, because there's $8,000 missing. Right. And that's not good, because that's fucking capital, right? That's exactly what that is. She's being held on half a million.

Prosecutors say, thinking about the death penalty here. Absolutely. For her. This is exactly kind of what they have it for i think is what the prosecutors are saying like this it fits all the parameters of right legally here so um they said during the bond hearing she just stood down stood still and looked at the floor she is estranged by the way from her husband oh she's married it gets way worse it gets way oh it gets way way to hear about the husband who's a secretary we're hear about the husband, who's a secretary.

We're not done with murder yet. Who's a secretary at Probo's Inc. in Chicago. Was is the key word there. At the time he was, later on he certainly will not be anymore. Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper. In this new thriller, available exclusively on Wondery+, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community.

Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity. The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer, unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law, her religious convictions, and her very own family. But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone

is watching Ruth. With an all-star cast led by Emmy nominee Sanaa Lathan and Star Wars Kelly Marie Tran, Chinook is available exclusively and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched.

He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother f***er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal.

Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes. You should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media would have to come to the conclusion that I killed my wife.

Hi, my name is Zach Stewart-Pontier. I'm one of the filmmakers behind The Jinx, and I'm excited to bring you The Official Jinx Podcast. We'll be revisiting all six episodes of Part 1 and watching along with Part 2 as it airs on Max, starting April 21st. Bye-bye. The Official Jinx Podcast.

Listen on Max or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, she has no prior criminal record, and they said it's probably jealousy. That's what it is. And the cosmetic fingernail also matches the DNA of Irene. Of course it does. Dead to rights. Now, they did say

at the end of all this that the Arlington Heights police were still looking for the person who's been taking women's panties from the laundry room just so you know we're not giving up on that one that's still a thing that we're worried about but also we caught the murderer yeah two separate people for once so they said they will seek the death penalty uh hudson they said is not a suspect at all good for there's a bunch of evidence that gets let in um they said that they asked her to come to the police station.

She didn't refuse. So any evidence after that, they're going to let in. She tried to get all of that thrown out because she tried to say they arrested her at her house but didn't read her rights at her house when they arrested her. And she said, you weren't under arrest. You were asked to come. And you said, yes, that's a voluntary thing. asked to come and you said yes that's a voluntary thing so in the trial here in his opening the defense attorney says because now they they have she's out of her fucking mind they say she did it they have to because there's dna back and forth everywhere so but they're saying that it was it

was just uh she blacked out in a moment of passion so second degree murder not first degree she's blacking out everybody's blacking out there's a problem in illinois nobody can keep consciousness when they when they do go black they never just sit there catatonically they're always murdering someone in the middle of this it's wild people are in danger with these blackouts yeah do they ever have blackouts or they just make a sandwich? Or do they just wake up and they're eating a turkey sandwich and they're like, how did I get this turkey? Wake up and the whole house is clean?

Yeah. I normally put Swiss. This says provolone. I must have blacked out. Wake up, their laundry's done. Landscape is all redone. Wow. I was glad I did that.

Best blackout ever. so this is what the attorney barry specter said quote irene hit her and hit her and she hit her but it was not chris's face she saw when she hit her it was tom and it was steve that's her ex-husband and her boyfriend sort of tom tudyk is our tutage is the guy she's talking about here. They were in the middle of divorcing at the time of the killing. Wow. That's what he says. So Hudson, Steve, takes the stand here.

Yeah. And he says that he never beat. Because she tries to say, Irene says that Steve beat her up. So he says, I never beat her up. He said, I did throw things not not at her, but around the room. During heated arguments. Whereas she stood up and yelled, you lie! From the defense table.

In court. In court. Oh, Jesus. Seems like a person who can't control their actions, which is what murderers do. And then said, you're lying. And then her lawyer was like, chill out, chill out. And she goes, you're lying and then her lawyer was like chill out chill out and she goes you're lying you're lying steve they sat her down so the hudson also tells told the investigators that months before the death she threatened to kill kristin if he didn't break

up with her and um the defense though uh said that hud Hudson made up the threat to deflect any suspicion from him and to steer police away from, quote, what was really going on. Oh, what's that? They don't tell you that, obviously. No one who ever says what's really going on has they never have details for that. Yeah. Whether it's any form of life where people say that shit. So police, they also they brought in all the physical evidence, like we said. He said that she lost it during a garbage disposal accident.

She testifies in court to that. Wow. The prosecutor said that that was outlandish and ridiculous and told the jury that. The defense said she shouldn't be convicted because it wasn't premeditated. She had to go there. Right. They said she just went there to drop off clothes and a fight broke out. And this is what happened.

And she just happened to win a lot. And then took eight grand. A lot. And then was like, well, I mean, she won't need this money while I'm here. And she also says her husband physically abused her as well, which has nothing to do with Kristen. By the way, it's nothing at all to do with Kristen, by the way. It's nothing at all to do with Kristen. So that's pretty interesting.

Tom Tudodge, that's her ex-husband, testified that he struck his former wife twice, once accidentally. So that's once then. But one time he said, why are you hitting me, Tom? Knock it off. Well, Tom has more problems than that.

We'll talk about it. He also said Irene lost her faith and became extremely depressed in February of 2000 when her grandmother died. And it never lifted here. So then the defense was, it was just a lady fight. Come on. Things happen. Things happen. She needs Jesus and her grandma back.

That's it. A defense attorney said, I suggest to you what happened was all out of proportion and unreasonable. If you find that to be true, you will find her guilty of second degree murder. Wow. You are begging. Get a hold of that logic. Yeah. I mean, seriously, reel that kite in for a minute here.

Yeah. reel that kite in for a minute here yeah if you think what happened was pretty fucking ridiculous and over the top then obviously she's guilty of a lesser offense that is bonkers um the prosecutor said irene went there that day intending to kill kristin she was intending to get her out of the way so she could have steve hudson pretty simple uh verdict took less than three hours to find her guilty of murder in the first degree oh boy absolutely uh she now they the death penalty is off the table though they took that off the table um she faces 20 to 60 years in prison though okay and the sentencing is you ma'am may fuck off 45 years in prison for you. Good. Solid.

Yeah. And it's a hard 45, by the way. Oh, fuck. It's under the truth in sentencing guidelines. Every day of it. She's got to do all of that shit. That's a lot. Tons of people showed up, by the way.

The state's attorney said, I've never seen that kind of support in the hundreds of murder trials I've been a part of. Kristen's family. Yeah. They were like, all right, let's do it. It's Patty part two. Let's gather up. This is the second murder of a young girl in our family. Yep.

They said we had her sister said we had to stand up for Chrissy. So she, by the way, Irene in prison. She goes to the Northwestern Prison Education Program. Oh, and there's a little there's a little like profile on her in their little program. Irene in prison, she goes to the Northwestern Prison Education Program. Oh. And there's a little profile on her in their little program. And it said, what's your favorite field of study? And she said, English and psychology for Irene. And they said, describe yourself in three words.

Violent, blonde, and missing nails. Oh, that's four words. Sorry. Yeah. Complete fucking twat. She said athletic, funny, lovable. Really? Athletic.

I beat a woman to death. I wouldn't pick any of those. Wow, that is fucking crazy. They asked why you decided to apply to this she said i'm very excited to take this journey and begin this notable experience with npep northwestern university offers a high quality education and i intend to do my very best to succeed in it then there's a thing called two roads the truth and sentencing issue it's a like a piece here it's the first of a two-part series that looks at an honest chronicle of the stories and service of incarcerated men and women in the Illinois Department of Corrections. And here is what she wrote here.

This is from Irene. Yeah. The truth in sentencing has taken such a toll on me and my family that it's broken us. To be hit with a whatever the judge wants to put on you. Hit with. How dare you use those words. Hit with. Whatever the judge wants to put on you. Hit with. How dare you use those words. Hit with. Whatever the judge wants to put on you.

Within legal sentencing parameters, that's called. Yeah. It's exactly right. You didn't fucking jaywalk and he said 28 years in prison. And serve every day of it. Every day of it. And then be hit by a 100% truth in sentencing is a death sentence for me and my family and friends. By the time I leave prison, I'll be in my 70s.

Are you giving me a sob story? Yeah, I mean, you used hit with and to death. To death. You hit somebody to death, you asshole. You know what you could have gotten? A death sentence. That's what you could have gotten. So, what the fuck are you talking about? I'll be in my 70s and will have

lost my parents, my older brother, my two older sisters. How do you know they'll be dead? Your older sisters could be alive. Why are you killing your family now? Killing them off. Yeah. By 85, they'll all be dead. And no one left to go home to, leaving me out on the streets.

Okay. Yeah. And I basically have received a death sentence that mentally the rest of what's left of my family can't remain in Canon door. The probability of me dying in prison is very high because of my age and my sentence and also my medical issues. I was given 45 years at 100 percent every day with no priors whatsoever without the judge taking into consideration my non-existent criminal history i don't care that i'm innocent that matters if you get caught like with drugs or something that's oh he has no criminal not when you murder somebody you're convicted of first degree murder all the rest of it seems very silly in comparison, right? Truly. My family is devastated and is basically waiting to bury me.

I bet the other family is very devastated as well, who actually did bury their daughter. They didn't have to wait. They put her right in the fucking ground now. Because of the time given with truth and sentencing, I've done 23 years and have 22 years left to do. And I'm 53 years old with many medical problems. Please, I have absolutely no violent history.. And I'm 53 years old with many medical problems. Please. I have absolutely no violent history. This is my first and only offense.

This is a double whammy. The amount of time of 45 years at 100%. Then in bold letters, please help me with two exclamation points. No. So I'm good with you right where you are. This is in Logan Correctional Center. She is in. Her projected parole date is 9-15-2045.

That's so far away. Her projected discharge date from parole would be 9-17-2048. It's a bit. Now, her ex-husband, very very quickly with the last few minutes tom to dodge okay he has several arrests according to the prosecutors here oh yeah um none was he had some that were some a weapon at one point um he fired 40 rounds from a nine millimeter handgun into the air the ground and at trees on his property because he was mad. Oh, no, this was during the 4th of July he did this.

He just bucked off a bunch of shots with a 9mm. He was convicted of unlawful use of a weapon and sentenced to two years probation. Attorneys obviously accused him of abusing his wife who was in prison, which abuse of your husband doesn't mean you can kill a lady. That's not, you can kill him and we can talk about whether that's mitigating, but not the other way. So he was convicted of disorderly conduct in 2005 in Florida, of course,

and he was convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol as well. Today, though, he's arrested for something a little worse. He was originally from Poland, actually. Really? Yeah, he's only lived in the area for, he lived in the Chicago area for 25 years, though. He's an ATM installer, and he's taking depression medication. And on May 16, 2006, he has a bit of a bad day here.

He worked for a guy named Gary Poder. I believe it's Poder. Yeah before at poter construction and development okay one morning there's a witness here christopher haas may 16 2006 he heard here's a noise from gary's office and goes in to investigate he saw tom's left hand on gary's neck, and Gary coated in blood from the neck down. Oh, boy. The victim yelled for Chris to get this guy off of me, so this Christopher Haas grabbed Tom from behind and pulled him away. The victim takes two more steps and falls down. Then Christopher Haas struggles with him.

More coworkers come in and try to take so do them take this guy down another employee calls 9-1-1 and they take him into custody he apparently had just stabbed the fuck out of his boss with one of the kitchen knives from the office kitchen he wow for what uh well this is amazing he had a performance evaluation the day before. Yeah, those are stressful. Well, I guess another guy, Toby Sandier, he said that he had a conversation about the performance review with Tom and said that he had to take a pay cut and lose his title of chief estimator. Okay. And they said they had a, yep. And the next morning, though, this guy said he talked to tom

and everything was normal and then about 45 minutes after he started working he heard a commotion and he heard people going help help help he came in the room and they're restraining tom there's fucking blood everywhere he's like what the fuck um so they said yeah i guess the day before he uh he was in there for 30 minutes, had the meeting and everything like that. And it's insane. He cut his salary from $62,000 a year to $42,000 a year. That's a big cut. A third.

A third. He was going around telling everybody, how the fuck am I supposed to pay my mortgage now? It's I can't pay my bills and blah, blah, blah. He said in the office the day before, I can't believe Gary cut my fucking pay. And how am I going to be able to pay my fucking mortgage now? That son of a bitch. And, you know, all that sort of thing. So he cut his throat.

So he cut his throat, stabbed the fuck out of him. So when police arrived there, they took him into custody. He did not resist. They read him his Miranda rights, but he didn't acknowledge or respond to them. He just took them. They collected evidence, including the knife, the blood, countertops, there's blood on the floor, walls, desktop, countertops,

ceiling, everywhere. They collected a knife that was broken in two parts. He stabbed him until it broke. At the station, they inventory his clothing and took pictures of him while in the interview room, he lunges toward a detective's revolver. He tries to get a detective's gun in the interrogation room. That's why a lot of police departments, including on the wire, when they go in the room, they take their gun off, put it in their desk drawer.

Because you don't want to be in a fucking tiny room with somebody with a gun. That's why there's no guns in prison, because you don't want to be in a fucking tiny room with somebody with a gun that's why there's no guns in prison because you don't want to be in a room with someone in a gun right they may be desperate you don't know what they're what they're going through and he as he was being restrained he was screaming i want to die i want to kill myself oh boy so yeah they remove him from there they were, the cops learn about his performance evaluation and everything else. Um, he was slow in responding. They talked to him for about two and a half hours. Um,

he, they said he was responsive when they offered him fodder, water, food, and cigarettes. He started to be more friendly. Yeah. He said he didn't know what happened and he repeatedly asked what happened and

said that he did something bad yeah yep he said he was angry about his his performance evaluation he took two pills that morning and the last thing he remembered he arrived at work and he also said that this is a lot about his ex-wife's spirits what she's back irene's back that's why we're talking about this. He said that her anger was in him and that she provoked him to do things he would normally not do. So she can remotely access him and his emotions from prison. This is amazing. That is a bad bitch right there. I'll tell you what.

She's really terrible. This is a better Stephen King book than any stephen king book she hasn't been around in six years and he's like she still controls my emotions and makes me stab people wow what an asshole so uh they also said that he admitted his intention was to hurt the victim and that he was mad at the victim for reducing his salary he said that he grabbed a knife from the office kitchen hit it in his his sleeve, walked to the office, stabbed the victim in the chest, and then he put his head down and said, I fucked up. That's an understatement, sir, I would say. He said that the police said they checked around for medication but couldn't find any.

but couldn't find any. They went to his home to look for medication, but no one was home, and they never ordered a toxicology report because they weren't sure if he was telling the truth or not. So his defense is that he has a history of alcohol abuse and has reported derogatory auditory hallucinations, memory problems, physical symptoms, including muscle twitching, and said that he would faint at his workplace because of stress and he has fainting spells and that his wife's spirits are forcing him. That's why you lost a third of your pay, sir.

That's normal. You fainted. Fuck off. You're fainting. He's saying from a medical condition, though. If you faint from a medical condition, that's different. He said that he tried medications, but the side effects made him, quote, feel weird and different. He began to hear voices telling him to kill himself and had violent nightmares about his ex-wife.

Oh, my. He's unstable. He blamed this on Ambien, which he said to the cops was twice as powerful as LSD. Yeah, if you try to stay awake through that shit. I've done LSD. Ambien is shit compared to LSD. LSD is fantastic. LSD you do while you're awake.

It's not, you're meant to. Ambien, you take it, lay the fuck down. Lay down, relax. You'll go to sleep. No, he said it gives him LSD nightmares. You're not supposed to take it and then do your day. Nope. He said LSD nightmares, though. Okay.

Yeah, that's what. No, he said he was taking Welbutrin that morning, not Ambien. Okay. Welbutrin did this. Which he also said that affected him and made him all fucking crazy, which there's multiple people that have a Welbutrin thing. There's Welbutrin rage. Yeah.

He said he had no memory at all of what happened, and he just knows he woke up in a psychiatric ward, and that's all that happened there. Yeah, that's it. Goddamn Ambien and Wellbutrin, man. During the trial, he is convicted. They try to say he's a hardworking man who's just consider's just consider his his uh mitigating factors and the judge says i am considering in that the mitigating factors and i will give you a sentence range right

in the middle he said it's appropriate and he was sentenced to you sir may fuck off 40 years for the murder and a consecutive term of five years for attempting to disarm a peace officer the boss did die the boss died oh he's the guy dropped and died right there so he got the exact same amount of time irene got how about that exactly he appeals and says that you know he was on medication and all that and they say you can keep on fucking officer cop's gun man that is arlington heights and three murders for one for the price of one. That's an express right there, baby. Wow.

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