Sword and Scale - Episode 246

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

The Robinson family seemingly had it all in a small town in upstate South Carolina. They had a lovely house, burgeoning careers, and 5 wonderful kids. But when a tragedy struck the family in January of 2021 the whole world was confronted with what happens behind closed doors. The lives of Ariel, Austin, and their children would never be the same again.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5895676/advertisement

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised I think Austin has one of the scariest type of anger issues because he holds everything in and he doesn't let it out And then when it does come out is too much And then when it does come out, it's too much. Okay, I promise after this we're done with child murder, I swear I've had enough. I don't even know why we've done so many this year. It just happened. Whatever, this is season 10 episode 246 on Sword and Scale show that reveals that the worst

monsters are real. So, we are fully aware of all of the site problems, all of the app problems. It's about 5 years old now. We're working on it. We've been working on it now for a while, but technology is hard. So, please bear with us. Thank you so much for sticking with us as plus members. If you haven't joined yet, you could still join. It's still five bucks a month because of our technology problems. Go over to Sword and Scale.com slash plus that's where you get it. Life is a struggle. Anyone not born with a silver spoon in their mouth is profoundly aware of that fact. Trials and tribulations are ever present in today's society.

We can either adapt and overcome life's obstacles, or wallow and self-pity and complain and bitch and moan on Twitter about how life is unfair. These people have so much more than I do. You have to push yourself though to achieve your dreams because sitting there and complaining isn't gonna do you any good. You have to, how do they say, uh, hustle a little bit. But it's important not to let the grind wear you down either. You can easily lose sight of your dreams because

you get bogged down by the day to day. And all of us have day to day nonsense we have to deal with. And let's just say that you are one of those lucky ones. And through some grace of God or game of chance, you happen to actually achieve those dreams. You get everything you've ever wanted. Well, those dreams are rarely easy to achieve, but they're always easy to lose. And take it from me. One mistake will cost you everything you've ever worked for and ever wanted. Hello? Hi. Hi! Is this Erica? This is she. This is Erica.

She asked us to keep her last name confidential. Okay. Wow. Well, holy crap. This doesn't happen very often, but. Oh my goodness. Yeah. It was.

When I first saw the news, when we was about to eat, we're last year. I could not believe it. I couldn't believe it. And Ari was a good friend. She was a comedian. I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. And she lived in Greenville, South Carolina,

which is about two hours away. And we met through a mutual friend. She was also a comedian, and we just, you know, you just clicked with some people, that's what happened with Ari. Okay, so... Yeah, here, here. Let's just back up for a second,

kind of explain how we got in contact because this is a an unusual thing to happen here. On certain scale. Like me calling you out of the blue. You reaching out to me on social media because you have something to say. If you could just sum that up a little bit. Well, I just saw those people are losing their mind because he came back to social media. And I did absolutely ridiculous. So I did learn, let the man be. He's just doing his thing.

And I was just happy to see you back, trolling people. But listen, my job is to provide entertainment. So if I can do that in any way, whatsoever, even if it's just to make a massive myself on social media, then that's what I'm gonna do, because that's, of course. Yes, I'm the only.

But okay, so you reached out after that, and you're like, hey, by the way. I sent you that article about Ari, by it was just like, you're mistaken because I was sending it to a friend of mine who whose name was right underneath yours and I just clicked yours by mistake. This is an interesting case, one that we probably wouldn't have covered except for the unusual way we found out about it.

Erica sent us an article about this case by mistake. In January of 2021 in the city of Simpsonville, South Carolina, tucked into the state's upcountry, a tragedy struck in a quiet neighborhood of split-level housing on the west side of town. Sorry, I'm okay now, but when was the location of the emergency? You're able to murder to your daughter? It's a response that she's throwing a lot of water in this. We're talking about, see if you can already get out. What address is that? I don't get you over to EMS, don't I? Jerry Austin Robinson called 911 at 2.15 p.m. on January 15, 2021.

For his soon to be daughter, three-year-old Victoria, affectionately known as Torrey. He and his wife, Ariel Robinson, already began to attempt CPR on the little girl. They claimed she drank too much water and began to choke. I learned for Austin to come upstairs. He came in the room when she was on her stool. And he looked at me and he was like, is she breathing? And I said, I think I hear her trying to breathe. I hear something in her lungs though.

It sounds like she's got fluid in her lungs. And so, they said, should I call 911? I said, yeah yeah call 911 because I don't know I don't know what to do. Okay, I'm asking fire what's the address of your emergency? How many exactly are you? I've heard your daughter talking on water right now. Your three-year-old daughter is what? Talking on water right now. We need to have a meeting. Okay, I think we can help on the way.

Okay. It's hard to tell because they talk over each other, but Austin said little Tori was not conscious. She had choked on water and become unresponsive. 911 would talk them through laying her flat on the floor and performing CPR. You've heard all this stuff before. The Simpsonville Fire Department would arrive four minutes later and take over. About five minutes after that, EMS arrived. Not only was Tori unresponsive, but she also didn't have a pulse. Jerry and Ariel sat on their bed in the room

across the hall and quietly stared in disbelief. They just listened to the ruckus of the many paramedics trying to save Tori's life. Tori had only been alive for a short time, Cory had only been alive for a short time, but had already been with three families. She and her older brothers were in South Carolina's foster care system. Her biological parents were good parents. They just weren't good together. We were a toxic couple. We always co-parented well when we were apart. It was if we got together, that was the problem.

He was the best dad. And that's not anything that anybody can say that we weren't good parents. We just made bad decisions. Tori's biomom Casey tried to do everything they asked to get her kids back. What all did you do to get to that point where you were trying so hard to prove that you wanted it?

I did. From the very beginning, I made it very clear that I would do anything. DSS told me. From at the beginning, they were very content with how fast I was doing. I had to do parenting classes. I did the in-home parenting. I did it at the dream center. I did both because I missed a class on one and they sent me to another. I did two because I missed a class on one and they said, between others, I did two, I did classes. And I did 26 weeks of battered women's classes. I did the two times a week for 12 weeks at the Phoenix Center while pregnant. And I didn't have a vehicle.

So I had to find rods. So it was a difficult thing. I asked for help multiple times. It was just one thing after another, after another. My living situation got bounced around back and forth. They, I've asked for help for that and there's just roadblock, after roadblock, after a lot. And every time I get so close and I did, I completed all of the things that they asked me to do. But every time I got close to me,

it was something else, something else. And then by the end of it, it was, I didn't have the, one of the five minute toward things that you have to have afforded the DSS. KC jumped through hoops to get her kids back but fell short on one thing. Her own place to live.

DSS made me feel that it was better for them that they had, and Victoria was with a loving foster family. And I thought in my heart that that's where they were going and that, you know, or someone like that, a family like that. I thought that's what the system was for. And so I thought, well, you know, if they can have better, happier, lodging, become better, you know, burdens of themselves, then I guess that's okay.

And DSS, I trusted them. Casey was young and only wanted the best for her children. So when the DDS told her she couldn't have her kids back, she wasn't fit. They convinced her the children would be better off, better provided for if she gave them up for adoption. Tori and her brothers lived for 10 months with the Huggins family.

When she entered a room, all eyes were on her because she demanded it and she was cutie. She was funny. She was sassy. Definitely had some sassy. But after that short stint in foster care, Tory and her two brothers got some good news. A family was willing to adopt them. Here's Erica again. For Ariel, she's got two biological sons and she always wanted to have a daughter. And she, you know, she tried, she told me that she had tried IVF and it didn't take. So she decided to go through other means to find that piece of family that she felt was missing.

She had two biological boys of her own with her husband and Ari decided to adopt. And she was very excited back in the fall of 2019 because they had called her to tell her that there was a newborn adoption that they had her on the list for and this woman was ecstatic. Unfortunately, that adoption fell through for whatever reason.

She tried again a few months later to see if she could get a foster child or find a little girl that she could get a foster child or Find a little girl that she you know she could call her own and the agency calls her Told her that there was a little girl that they could foster she came from Broken home when they contacted Ariel and told her that you know, they was a little girl That had two little brothers. She her that, you know, they was a little girl that had two little brothers.

She said, well, you know what, I'll adopt all three of them because I can't. What kind of person would I be if I were to separate this little girl from her, from her brothers? After always wanting a daughter of her own, Ariel, who everyone calls Ari, got her wish fulfilled. She in Austin would adopt three more children who everyone calls Ari, got her wish fulfilled.

She in Austin would adopt three more children to make them a family of seven. The robinsons were soon to be Tory and her brothers forever home, with the adoptions set to be final in just five days, after the call to 9-1-1. Now, she was lying lifeless on the floor, in an effort to regain a pulse of paramedic administered six doses of epinephrine directly into her femur. But that did nothing. As they continued to urge Tori's heart to beat a noticed odd bruising on her abdomen and legs. The fire department immediately notified police. When the police arrived and asked how Tori got the bruises,

Ari explained that she pushed really hard on her stomach during her attempts at the Heimlich maneuver and CPR. Ariel told us that she did the bruising right then and there prior to a 911 being called to try to do the Heimlich and was pushing on her stomach. And that, so I could ask, what about the legs, how did they get so purple? Ari explained that her older brother had anger issues and was violent, mostly taking his anger out on young Tori.

With so many families in such a short amount of time, it's hard to pinpoint where behavior is learned, but Ari was blaming the behavioral issues on the previous foster parents. She just she had the best the best personality and I'm not just saying that because I was her mom, but You could not be a man at that girl just by the way. She looked and how sweet she was. She was sweet as could possibly be. Officers looked at the bruises and then looked at pictures of Tories' two older brothers and knew something just wasn't adding up. When I looked at the little boys, um, Jaden being the bigger one and how small he was to

myself, I thought I said, you know, I don't care if you gave that kid a ball bat. He's not gonna be able to do this much damage to that little girl. Torrey's older brothers were barely so. One was six, the other was seven, but far too small to inflict the amount or the severity of bruising the officer's witness on Tori. When officers asked Ari what led up to Tori's condition, Austin stood quietly nearby and let Ari do the talking. She explained

that after a pancake breakfast and half a popsicle for a mid-morning snack, Tori went to watch TV. Then she began asking for more and more cups of water. For more than she usually drank. When Ari went to check on her, she noticed her stomach had become hard, and Tori was complaining of it hurting, and that she was cold. Ari wrapped her in a heated blanket before she went limp. When Tori's breathing became labored and she began to make a gurgling sound, Ari tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver because she thought she was choking. When she realized that wasn't working, she laid Tori on her back and pushed on her stomach. Eventually Tori expelled the water and the rest of the contents of her stomach, but still

wasn't breathing any better. That's when Ari told Austin to call 911. After finally getting a faint pulse from Tori, she was rushed to the hospital for further treatment. The police and DSS would start investigating her mysterious injuries. The police were suspicious and rightfully so. Little kids don't drink water until they pass out.

It's just not a thing. The bruising seemed like the more obvious reason for the little girl's condition. The bruises seemed recent and Ari and Austin were the only ones home with little Tori that day. Just until they got to the bottom of her injuries, the rest of the Robinson children would be removed from the home. Ari's two biological children were placed with her father, and Tori's brothers were put with yet another foster family. Tori though, wouldn't be so lucky. Later that evening, they would get word that Tory had passed away. A A call to 911 sent a slew of emergency personnel to the Robinson's home. A distress call for a child choking on water led to the discovery of far worse injuries.

Three-year-old Tori was covered from the waist down with dark bruises. As word of the potential crime was disseminated through the community, everyone found it was hard to imagine such a thing could happen in Simpsonville. Name the safest city in South Carolina since 2017, especially because Ari was a recent local celebrity. How did you meet Ariel Robinson?

Am I pronouncing that correctly? Yes, I met Ariel at a comedy show. It was back in 2018 that I met her. She was headlining a show at a local brewery and I met her and I talked her after the show. We clicked and we started a friendship through Facebook and it was a great time. Wonderful personality. Had a lot to say, said a lot of things that made you also think not not part of the show just some personal conversation. That's how I met her.

Hey, sorry, I'm not a tourboy, I got an A-R on the live y'all. And they all always call it. No, we want to see a star, we want to see a star. That's the way you know. And I'm okay, but I love the Tarry, uh, you know what I'm talking about. Ari was an up and coming stand-up comedian. Who Erica was introduced to by a mutual friend. We just kept in contact through Facebook, mostly.

I really couldn't travel much to her city, but we kept on contact contact through Facebook, call each other, you know, maybe every two or three weeks. The chance of meeting blossomed into a true friendship, both online and off. Because it was just a girl doll. It's like, OK, we can do it. So we go to the panel, we'll get it in the doll,

and she'll one doll, she just hand-pulled these stomach-on-stretched doll. They'll be pissed off. So they say, don't worry, I'll just go with the go-and-down over time.'t worry, I'm going to go get bail over time. If not, we have surgery to make a flat in the end. You want me to have less surgery on my dough. So this doll, you get a tummy tilt.

Meanwhile, I'm still walking for her. I just have to look. I don't like that. I don't like that. That's not how that works. When I would go out and see her and show at different places, she would come over here often to my city as well and I would make sure that we would have dinner before or dinner after we make sure to spend time together.

But before she was a comedian, Ari was the farthest thing from it. And knowing kids today, she was likely the butt of the joke. She used to be a teacher. I want to say it was middle school. She used to be an English teacher on top of that. And she was beloved by her students. And you couldn't find anybody who would say a bad thing about her. And then she quit teaching because she was going to pursue comedy full-time. She was doing very well, she was getting booked around the country, and she had quite a following. She was doing really well with herself, and then she got the spot on Food Network with worse cooks of America. Food Network's worst cooks in America is like a cooking game show where 12-16 unskilled

contestants compete to cook a three-course meal for three food critics. Sounds like a fun show actually. I'd probably watch it. As you can imagine though most of the dishes were inedible. Out of 11,000 people I was 1 of 14. Then I had to not only be everybody on my team, I had to be the best person on the rampant team who would be everybody on their team. Yes I am put in Mayo in a glove. And she was getting calls for shows after appearing on worst cooks of America because she won. She won, she won that show.

She won that show. She won $25,000 and cook said something else. I never cried one time on the show. I was just a president because I think I was so nervous that if I, if I release too much, I'm a release too much. I'm the winner of Worse Cooks in America. Is?

Harry! Oh my God! But now I truly am not the worst cook in America. And she said she did it all for her kids. But now I truly am not the worst cook in America. And she said she did it all for her kids. I wanted to win this money so much for them to give them a better life. They are loving my new cooking skills.

Like every day my kids start requesting new stuff and I'm like, hey wait a minute, I'm not a waitress now. I don't got a whole pantry in here to go cook for y'all. Like this is a restaurant. I just know that the Lord had his hands on me and he had a purpose for me to go on there He knew we were going through this adoption We really could use the money and he just let everything work out for our good. Ari took a gamble quitting her teaching career to pursue one in comedy

But it seemed to be paying off and just in the nick of time What she got the spot on worst cooks in America. She was about to lose her house seemed to be paying off and just in the nick of time. When she got the spot on worst cooks in America, she was about to lose her house. The windfall of cash saved their home and set them up to adopt the daughter she always wanted. working that I have to come over and you know see that you're not too crazy to adopt. The other way to just come over I'll tell my husband that we should have locked up a little bit canches because she made them to hang away they have to go. She gets there to lay. They upstairs, I'm screaming out here. So, I don't stand, how is it screaming while you can say, popularly, you like it?

Five in the morning is in my face. So I turn around, and up there, shout like a little girl, shout like a little girl. Time at the ground, and she's looking at me inside. We all can do it. It's a game,. I push it in. We got her.

Did you know anything about her husband or boyfriend? All I knew about her husband was what she would tell me how he was very supportive of her and everything that she did. She would always say about him that he was great, he was understanding. When she told him that she wanted to go full-time comedian, he said that he would back her up. What did he do for a living? I can't remember what he did. When Ari quit teaching to pursue comedy, her husband, Dostin, supported her. He said he would back her up. The reason

Erica couldn't remember what he did was that he didn't really do anything. He dropped out of high school in the 12th grade and never got his GED. Now at 34, he worked odd jobs like at a chicken processing facility. But mostly he just managed Ari's comedy career from chicken processing to entertainment manager sounds like a pretty legit career path. The day after Tori's death, the Simpsonville PD served a search warrant at the Robinson Residence. It was a normal family home other than the number of Wi-Fi cameras, which was weird.

There was at least one camera in every room. Some rooms had two cameras, but when asked if they recorded, the police were told they were live view only. Ari told officers her adoption lawyer advised her not to talk to the cops without counsel, but she had nothing to hide, so she said she would answer any questions they had. That should give you a clue as to the intelligence and narcissism of this person. She said that the day before the incident, Tori had thrown up on the way to church, which wasn't concerning because Tori often threw up after eating or drinking too quickly.

After church, she seemed to find. She took a bath and went to bed like normal. She reiterated the day of the incident started like most days with a pancake breakfast. Afterward, Tori drank an unusual amount of water before complaining of not feeling well. This time, however, she admitted Tori was not choking, but rather acting like she wanted to throw up when Ari decided to perform the Heimlich. After running through all the events again, Ari sat down at her computer and began to work.

When asked what she was doing, she said she was working on her next comedy skit and invited the officer to check her out online. So just to reiterate for a second, less than 24 hours after Tory was pronounced dead, Ari was working on jokes and promoting herself. Four days later, and promoting herself. Four days later, the police would serve two arrest warrants for Ari and Austin. They were out there heavy and it was more than one car, more than two cars. Every day there was more cars. As the news of little Tories' death spread, those that knew the Robinson's were surprised. Well, I told you something was going on up there

with all the forensics, but I didn't expect this. I definitely said something, mom, something happened. It's sad, because that was a beautiful little girl. Oh, gosh, she was beautiful. It was shocking because no one that knew Ari and Austin would ever expect a child in their care to die. It's not her character. If you see her, she's such a bubbly person.

She's making you laugh. Even if she's upset, she's gonna make you laugh. Her family is amazing. They just kind of know. It just kind of strikes me and surprised. She's always wanted to blend in family and a huge family. She loves kids. To be on the outside looking in, we don't know the full story, of course.

I'm hoping we can get the full story, but I just rest in peace, that beautiful baby girl. By all accounts, the Robinson's were your typical family, albeit a large family. Ari was funny, and they were both polite. She was a former teacher, and now spent her life trying to make others laugh, while Austin took care of the kids. The whole idea that they abused a child was entirely out of character. Tori's former foster family only felt sadness and disbelief.

She just had so much trouble from... Yeah, and she's going to be missed by many, many, many people. I still can't believe that it's true. I just feel like maybe we'll all wake up and it'll be a bad dream. At the time of their arrest, the police didn't know what exactly happened to Tori. They only knew that she was dead and it didn't happen because of drinking too much water. Either Ari or Austin or both were responsible. Tori's biological family didn't need to know who or why to know that her death should never have happened.

I can't imagine what she would have done to make the myself upset. Tori is not the first child and she hasn't been the last one. They've been death since then, within this system. But we're doing our best to stop that, and we're doing in Victoria's honor. Our family is very staunch in our belief that we don't think the DSS system needs to be dismantled. It is there for a reason, and there are children that need to be saved, but there are some gaps, there are some cracks,

and this tragedy happened because of those gaps and those cracks, and that's the part that we want to see fixed. We're 50,000 strong here and saying that this should not have happened, and here's the things that we have seen within the system that are followed, and we would like to work with you to make sure that this doesn't happen again. There is no room for error in this system. This is the system that cannot fail.

They got nearly 50,000 signatures to petition the state to create Victoria's Law that would revise the DSS procedure for accepting new foster families. They want the screening process to be more thorough by conducting psychological evaluations of perspective foster parents. Everyone was wondering how this could have happened, and soon it would all be revealed. The day they were both arrested, Austin wasn't actually at home. He was on his first day at a new job that his neighbor had found for him. So after Ari was arrested, Austin was contacted and told to come home.

When he arrived 20 minutes later, he too was arrested. He immediately declined to speak without an attorney. Once at the station for booking he made two utterances. First, he asked if he had to be in a cell with his wife. When the officer said no, but the cell was directly next to hers, he made a second utterance. He said, he didn't want to be anywhere near her. Two weeks later, Austin's attorney reached out to the police and said he was ready to make a statement. Austin told a completely different story, of course. Police responded to 515 cell wood circle within Griebel County and found three-year-old Victoria Rose Smith unresponsive and badly injured.

Co-offended aerial Robinson told first responders that they thought Tori was drinking too much water, but firefighters saw unexplained excessive bruising all of her Tori's body. Deep, purple bruising on her abdomen, bruising on her ear, bruising down her back and up and down both of her legs. She told the police that the night before Tor Toria thrown up on the way to church. Ariel Robinson said after church, they ate pizza at home and Toria seemed fine. They went to bed with no issues, she said. The next morning on January 14th, 2021, Ariel said, Toria woke up, ate pancakes while she and this defendant were hung alone with the child, and the other four children were at school.

Ariel Robinson said Tori kept asking for water and the defendant filled up her cup five or six times. She also said Tori said her stomach hurt and that she was cold. She gave her a heated blanket and was holding Tori when Ariel Robinson said the child went limp. when Ariel Robinson said the child went limp. Ariel Robinson then said she tried to perform the highlight maneuver because she thought the child was choking. While police were on the scene, this dependent maintained Ariel Robinson's account what happened to Tori. Ari's story set off a lot of red flags in the minds of the police.

They couldn't believe she was that oblivious to the real reason Torrey was dying on the floor, and it wasn't from drinking too much water, by the way. Several days later, they were both arrested. After the arrest, Austin Robinson's attorney contacted the state and stated that his client wished to make a statement. No promises were given to this defendant, and the phone call was on this defendant's accord.

The defendant came in voluntarily and met with police to tell what had really happened to Tori. Austin felt ashamed and guilty about Tori's death and wanted to come clean. So he volunteered the truth to the police rather than use it as a bargaining chip, or lesser charges. He said he had not physically ever hurt Tori, but that his wife would spank and beat

her. Austin Robinson said Ariel Robinson hit Tori with different things, including a belt, paddle, flip-flop, hand, or whatever. He said Tori got the worst of it for some reason when Ariel would become angry over eating habits, such as Tori taking too long. Austin became emotional when he told the police that Ari's reasoning for spanking the three year old was to make her tough. He went on to say she often felt bad after the spankings and would put ice packs on the

little girl's bruises. He told police how Ariel had become angry the night before Tori's death because she threw up on herself on the way to church. Austin explained that Ari was first annoyed at the three-year-old, not being able to buckle herself into her car seat. When Austin reached back to help her, it pissed off Ari even more. On the way to church, Tori was eating some food and Ari was pressuring the little girl to finish by the time they got there.

To avoid punishment, she shoved the food in her face, gagged and vomited on herself. While Ari tried to find replacement clothes for a little Tori, a task that took her to a big box store only to realize she didn't have her credit card, Austin took the rest of the kids into the church. When they finally joined them, after borrowing some clothes from her sister, everything seemed fine. But that evening, while Austin was giving Tori a bath, he noticed big bruises on her back that weren't there before. He believed Ari hit Tori when she was changing her clothes in the parking lot. The next morning, this defendant said it all started when Ariel was fussing at

Tory for not eating her pancakes fast enough, and that Ariel had quit Tory on a timer. All she ever told me was that the little girl was a handful, and that the girls didn't get her trouble eating, but that she would, that she would, you know, she'd be able to take care of it just little by little, and she was having very, she wish she would be really patient with, at least her, as patient as she'd be able to take care of it just little by little and she was having very she wish it would be really patient with a patient as she could be. She did say that her parents were strict bringing her up but that it was good for her. Austin explained that Tori ate fine when it was just him and her. This upset Ari. So when Tori took too long to eat,

Ari would give her three chances. She would set a timer on her phone for two minutes. When the timer ended, that was the first warning. She then would reset the timer for one minute. When that timer ended, that was the second warning. Then, she would set a timer for 30 seconds. When that timer was up, if the food wasn't gone, Tory would get a spanking.

And what were you doing outside the house? I was putting up theroom or yard work, basically just taking them, I just let my van get told off and out of stuff. I was trying to get that fixed, but other than that, I was just trying to pick up like stuff in the back yards and a four yard and it was different at that time.

When you were outside the house that morning, what did you hear? I heard it, Tori, screaming and crying. What was Tori screaming and crying about? Oh, surprise. He just getting first at the bottom of the room, getting a woman for night in her food. And I'm sorry.

You said a whooping? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Had you ever heard this before? Yes, ma'am. Can you speak a little louder? Yes, ma'am. So, you were outside.

You heard this whooping happening. Yes, ma'am. So, you were outside, you heard this whooping happening. That's my... Why did you not walk inside? Austin was non-confrontational. Even the neighbor said that Ari was the leader of the house and that Austin was more passive. He said Ari would get physical with him as well and showed them a scar on his shoulder where she had stabbed him.

By the time I did walk in there, it was as if nothing was going on, except she was seemingly okay at the time. Okay, that morning when Tory woke up was she fine? Yes, me. All right, so at some point do you walk inside to see what's going on with this whooping that's happening to Tori? This one. And when you walked inside, what if anything did you see? I saw the bruise.

You saw the bruise. Who was in the house when you came inside and saw the bruising on Tori? The area was. Can you speak up? The area was. And can you tell the poor, what if anything was Ariel holding at that time? It was a bell. And what if anything was Tori doing at that time?

Seems crying. What was Tori wearing? Nothing. Nothing. So you saw the bruising? Yes, yes. Well, what did you say if anything to Ariel Robinson when you walked in? I just told her that it only went too far.

That we ain't going too far this time. Should have stopped it. Austin carried on doing his daily chores while his wife berated the little girl. Finally, when he realized the whooping was lasting a lot longer than normal, he went to investigate. He found Ari standing over little Tori holding a belt and yelling in her face. You're done? You're done? You don't get to tell me when you're done. It was then he noticed more bruises on the little girl who was only wearing a diaper. Ari's response to his comments about going too far this time was, now look, you got your dad upset.

Like before, Ari snapped out of her rage and suddenly felt sympathy for her soon to be daughter. They decided to try and give her an epsom salt bath to soothe her bruises, while Austin went to buy children's Tylenol. She was already complaining about her stomach hurting. I see, my son has tried to walk up the steps with Aaron, let me go give her a bath, and talk to her about the steps, but she failed,

and she tried to water us in the way. towards how much it was, but she fell. And she tried water us in the way. Why did she fall? From the wind. I'm sorry, what? It's a meeting. So she walks upstairs after falling. What happened then? I let it go get time.

I'll try to soak her in the bathroom. When he returned, Ari had Tori out of the bath and wrapped in an electric blanket. When Ari held the little girl, she involuntarily defecated twice. After that, little Tori did ask for a lot of water and drank more than normal, but nothing was making her stomach feel any better.

Ari asked her if she felt like she needed to throw up and she said yes. Then Tori vomited and the trash can. That was when she went limp and Ari tried the Heimlich maneuver before giving up and just pressing on her stomach really hard to expel more water. Then Austin finally called 911, but only after asking Ari if he should. We are thankful that he has cooperated with prosecution and is working with them to make sure that Ariel is held responsible to the fullest extent of South Carolina law allows for this case. But we just wish he had done something sooner. He also admitted that Ari deleted all the footage from the

cameras and even the app itself. When they checked Ari's phone to confirm some of his claims, they were unable to recover the account for the cameras, but they did notice something else. Ari's timer was set to 30 seconds. Of course, his admission made him responsible for Tori's death also, but it was just Austin's word against Ari's at this point. All of the facts would have to be sorted out in trial. Meanwhile, Tori's biological family wanted her body so they could finally put her to rest. Nobody in my family's holding up well.

The emotions in this family are very raw. If something was taken from you and then hurt the way that it was hurt, and all you want to do is lay their shoulder wrist, I mean, what would you, if it was your family, what would you do? That's what I want to say. If it was somebody that mattered to you, what you want the right to bury your family, the way that I want to bury my daughter.

Let us give her a proper funeral, and say goodbye just one last time. We love you. And we're so sorry this happened to you. But I promise you, we are not resting until it's right. Kasey, Tori's biological mother, didn't stop there with her efforts in this case. She went on to speak at Ari's bond hearing in a victim impact statement. Victoria Rose was taken by this earth. My family and I have been devastated by her passing. And it's because of this that we just think we're a place that you did not want for the defendant. Thank you so much for being here, ma'am, and I'm just so sorry for your loss and my condolences

to you and the family. Thank you. After that teary eyed statement Aries defense lawyer tried to convince the judge that Aries deserved release on bond. Imagine that. the U.S.A. She's a graduate from Landry University with a degree in communications. She also holds a master's degree in education from the Clemson University. She was a middle school teacher from 2016 to 2019 here in the U.S.A. She had been the children's director at her church for seven years. She I was a director at her church for seven years. She was an assistant coach, was an assistant coach for Amstaya Middle School, basketball team.

She volunteered as a coach at the YMCA, as Simpsonville for a couple of years. She was until recently on the PTA board of the Amstaya Elementary School, that elementary school here in Brimble County. She volunteered at career fairs, career building workshops at two different schools in Amville County. She volunteered in career affairs, career building workshops at two different schools in the state.

We got her to essentially been to the handling of all of the community in her entire life. One of us runs and has no prior criminal history. Alvin Bain, her father's a retired only officer, her mother's share and so retired substitute teacher. We got her sister, Salisia, whose present as a pharmacist, which currently works at the Veterinary College here,

listening to our state, and has an entire life. And you know, they're here, just as supportive of Miss Robinson. Even with all the good she did in life, the death of Tori overshadowed at all. Based on the seriousness of the charges and the egregious nature of the allegations in this case, Mr. Boughton, I respectfully did not bond. All right, thank you. Ari, attending the bond hearing via Zoom, collapsed on the table and defeat

on hearing via Zoom, collapsed on the table in defeat when she heard that she wasn't getting out before trial. Austin, however, would be released on House arrest. Now I have a loamy, and it's changed the way I think about my food waste. Loamy transforms my garbage into gold at the push of a button. Lomi is a countertop electric composter that turns food scraps to dirt in under four hours. For our listeners, Lomi wants you to turn your food waste into dirt with this special offer. Use code Monsters to save $50 at Lomi.com slash monsters.

Now I love composting. Plus, it's made cooking at home even more fun. There's no rotting food in my garbage, and smelling up the kitchen. Thanks to Lomi, I only have to take the trash out once a week, and it's a hassle-free, mess-free experience. No more leaking bags. I turn my waste into nutrient-rich dirt that I can feed to my plants, lawn, or garden. That means it's not going to landfills and producing methane.

I get to help the environment and make my life easier. All my food scraps, plant clippings, and even those nasty leftovers I left in the back of the fridge, forgot about, go right back into my garden, helping me grow more nutritious food right in my backyard. Now I love growing tomatoes and peppers and herbs and all kinds of stuff. You can see it on my Instagram. But even if you're not a gardener, you can get a nice green lush lawn by fertilizing it regularly. And Lomi helps you do it. Whether you want to start making a positive environmental impact or you just want a beautiful garden, or you just a technor like me that loves to see a device do something amazing and

save the earth, Lomi is perfect for you. Head to lomi.com slash monsters and use the promo code monsters to get $50 off your lomi. That's $50 off when you head to lomni.com slash monsters and use promo code monsters at checkout. Thank you, Lomi, for sponsoring this episode. The tragic death of 3-year-old Tori led to a troubling look into the home of the Robinson's. According to Austin Ari, was a tyrannical mother to their soon-to-be adopted little girl that exacted punishment quickly and fiercely. A child was dead far too soon, a family shattered, and a husband and wife pitted against each other.

Austin would be charged with aiding and abetting homicide by child abuse. Even with the threat of 10 to 20 years in prison, Austin further asserted he was telling the truth about Ari by pleading guilty and for going a jury trial. But at Ari's trial, they would both take the stand and point the finger at each other. The evidence in this case is that the substance of the charge is that aerial Robinson is charged with causing the death of the child of under the age of 11 by child abuse, or neglect under circumstances that it's in extreme

in difference to human life. And you will hear the devastating series of events that go from a Tory tribe to eat some pancakes to a child eaten to a home. The trial dissected every aspect of Ari's claim of what actually happened. They found a witness at church that overheard Ari talking to Tori in the bathroom. I heard Ariel say, oh, you're cold, you're cold, girls that make themselves throw up deserve to be cold. I just remember thinking, oh no, I'm you know, I wonder why she's talking during that kind of tone. Oh, I didn't say

that it's that, those are Zach Wars, no. They also found surveillance footage at the church. It showed Ari, hurrying, Tori out of the bathroom and into the parking lot. As soon as they passed the threshold of the door, Ari jerked the near-new toddler by her arm. She grabbed the little girl and carried her to the car, not like a child, but sideways across both of her arms. The most important thing noticed in the video is the lack of bruises on little Tori and the bruises were a child's body that was inflicted repetitively by blood force trauma, which is the worst I've seen. It was determined that all of the bruises were made at the same time.

There was no previous incident with her older brothers. This fact is further supported by interviews done with the Robinson children who confirmed their mother would use a belt to discipline them. So this is what we think of as a traditional bruise of the skin. This is a severe de-injury that's tearing tissue from tissue and allowing blood to collect within the tissues underneath the skin. Little Tori's cause of death was internal bleeding. Her legs were beaten so badly that the skin separated from the muscle and blood pooled.

The trapped blood couldn't make its way back to her heart. What's the last thing you were called towards saying to you? She was laying on the bed before she got picked back up. And she told me she loved me. And I said said I love you too. I said I promise for this will happen again. She said okay and I said I love you. She said I love you too. She had a cute Westown love too. And that was the last thing she said to me. Austin expressed remorse and deep sadness. Austin expressed remorse and deep sadness. He regretted the reason he didn't call 911 sooner. I was scared. I was just trying to protect her.

A day four of the trial, Ari took the stand in her own defense. How did it make you feel like I have a little girl in the house? It made me feel really good, it made me feel um a lot more girly because I'm torn. What kind of child is this torn? I'm sorry. Sorry. Oh, Tori was perfect. She was perfect. Oh, she didn't have a lot of regret issues.

Really easy to get along with. Did you spoil your parents? Yeah, especially for Tori. It was easy because she was the baby girl. I was a baby in my family, so I always play favorites with the baby anyways. And it was just really easy because she was a girl, not only girl, so yeah. We had a good relationship. She wasn't my mini me.

She would talk like me. I like me. She wanted to go everywhere I went. She wanted to do everything I did. She placed all the blame squarely on Austin's shoulders. A guilty woman blaming a man for her own actions. That's new.

I would agree with that. No. Is he who you or Austin correct? I would say so. I think Austin has one of the scariest type of anger issues because he holds everything in and he doesn't let it out. And then when it does come out, it's too much because he bottles it up. But a social media post for Father's Day by Aure would contradict that claim.

This is a little Father's Day post you did for Austin, correct? Correct. There's another daddy-dark duo in the world who love each other more than these two right here. The post went on to say that the kids needed discipline. And I know that will never come from you. Having Father's Day, they let me munch us. The whole trial boiled down to one thing. Who do you believe, Austin, or Ariel? I think we can probably admit that the evidence dictates that one of these two people committed this crime. Less than an hour and a half later, the jury returned the verdict.

The state of South Carolina versus Erinal S. Robinson asked the charge of homicide by child abuse, meet the jury, unanimously, unanimously find the defendant guilty of homicide by child abuse. Almost immediately, after the judge delivered Ari Settens. I think medical testimony in this case was incredibly heartbreaking and for folks who deal in the emergency room and who serve us in that way and folks who deal with children in the most critical of situations for them to say that this was substantially worse than anything that he had seen. I think that has to put something into perspective for you. I can say that in my 13, 14 years of being a judge, I've never seen anything like this. I've never seen anything like this. Not even approaching it. And what compounds it is that I understand what your attorney is

saying. Perhaps you snapped at that moment. But then why? Then why? Let this child suffer and not get her medical attention that she desperately needed as she lay dying in her own bedroom. Based upon all that, the sentence of the court cannot be anything that life in prison. Thank you. Tori's biological family who attended the trial were overjoyed by the outcome. We were just here as representation for Victoria and then, you know, that she was loved. At least when I thank everyone from the police, the first responders, the nurses, the doctors, the Christy, the inter- team, the jury, everyone. Thank you guys so much. But they still had anger in their hearts.

They thought Ari got what she deserved, and were thankful that Austin did the right thing. He just did it too late. Honestly, I'd like to see him get his maximum as well, 20 years. You know, and I mean, he is just as responsible. He could have stopped it. He didn't.

You said that you knew that she'd been beaten on that your wife had been doing this for the safety of your own kids. If anything, why didn't you stop that because it could have turned from my child? So your child very quickly, I just feel like as a parent, you should have said something. During Austin's sentencing, he addressed the court in an attempt to be treated with mercy. In that day, it goes by where I don't steal a name by October. There's nothing I wouldn't do to go back in church days, even though I know I can't. I love it there, and I still do.

I wish I would have held things differently in heart sooner, but I was terrified, scared. I didn't think that things were that bad to, that they weren't too much to, and I have to move with that, and move with that every day of my life. So, our family, I'm sure, I'm sorry for all this. And I hope you'll pray that one day, y'all can forgive me. Austin begged for the sake of his own children, for the judge to consider sentencing him to 10 to 20 years, but leaving him on house arrest.

It was no use though. The judge cited all the opportunities that he had to help, to call 911, to do anything, but he didn't. He was aware of ongoing abuse and he did nothing. In the end, and probably rightfully so, he was sentenced to the maximum of 20 years in prison. These little boys, Tories, brothers, biological brothers, you know, they're back in the system and God knows what kind of family they're going to be put with. And my son's wherever they are, I just love you guys so much and I hope that it will, I hope you're going to feel me with you because I just just think about you guys all the time. And then aerial children, her biological children are also in the system now because both of

her parents, both of their parents are in jail, they're in prison. The death of Tori led to two families being torn apart. Ari's kids will never see their mother outside of prison walls, and they will likely be in their thirties when Austin is released at the age of 54. Even after the trial was all said and done, those that knew the robin sense, that knew Ari, were still in disbelief. I'm torn because part of me wants her to get the help that she needs, but the other part is just like, to hug, damn, I hope you fucking burn and hell for the forever. It's the whole mixed bag of emotions and feelings and thoughts.

I'm really trying to contain my anger because... Erica tried to contain it, but did succumb to the anger. It's bullshit like why the fuck do you want to have a baby if this is what the fuck you're going to do to it? What the fuck is wrong with you? Why? Why are you fucking doing it? Why would you fucking do this?

Why? And I'm pissed off at the husband too because you know what? Be a goddamn man and stand up for that baby and go save her Because he could have intervened and what do you do? He stayed out of it like he had no part of it Like what the fuck? I do know that She's gonna get she's gonna get She's gonna get hers in prison because you know, they don't take well to child molesters and child and child killers. So I know she's gonna get hers and

I hope, I hope she gets good. I really do. Ari seemed to have it all. She was an educated and successful teacher before quitting to follow her dream. Only to be successful at that, as well. She won a nationally televised cooking show and was awarded $25,000, not to mention the boost in reputation and publicity. She desperately wanted a little girl and was given one by the state. She got everything that she wanted but couldn't hold on to it. Maybe she harbored a deep anger behind her comedic facade or maybe seven kids were just

too much to handle and she snapped. We'll never know. All we know for sure is that Ari focused her anger almost entirely on little innocent Tori. Go take it off on something else. Babies are innocent. Just leave the babies alone. Hey, man. The Food Network removed the entire 20th season of worst cooks in America after the truth about Ari came out. The biological family of Tori is still trying to make Victoria's law a reality. Appreciate it.

Thank you so much. It was great to talk to you and it's great to see you back on social media. Really? Oh God, stop it. I'm horrible on social media, but thank you. Thank you very much. I don't know what else there is to say about stories like this. I know we've covered a few of them, and they almost start to sound like the same story

retold over and over again. There's clearly a problem here in America, with child abuse, and the voices of these innocent children go mostly silent until it's too late. So if you suspect child abuse anywhere in your social circle, please call the Child Help abuse hotline at 1-800-4-A child or 1-800-422-4453. You can also go to childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24-7 in more than 170 languages. The stories we tell go out there to hundreds of thousands of people, but unless you act,

then it's all for naught. So please remember, children are innocent, and they need our help. So if you know of something going wrong, in someone's home, if you suspect a child is being hurt, please speak up. Well, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate you here. If you haven't already, check out Certain Scale Nightmares. It's available on Apple podcasts and Spotify and every other podcast player out there. Speaking of podcast players, we're going to go back and work on our own.

There's going to be a brand new app, brand new website coming. At the very beginning of next year, it's gonna take a little while. But thank you for sticking with us. We love you guys. We appreciate you. If you wanna hop on board, while it's still $5 due to our technology issues, go to sorenscale.com slash plus

and you will get grandfathered in, as I've said many times before. That's the only place to do it. Sorenscale.com slash plus, you'll get grandfathered in to the audio podcast for $5 forever, but we got a lot more coming soon. We'll tell you about that later.