True Crime with Kendall Rae - Kayak Killer: Is Angelika Graswald Guilty or Not?!

Episode Date: October 19, 2023

Angelika Graswald was out kayaking with her fiancé Vincent Viafore when his boat flipped and he was submerged in freezing cold water. In a recorded 911 call, you can hear Angelika's panic, but her later behavior seemed... off. Archive episode disclaimer: This is an older archive episode, so the production quality is going to sound different compared to newer episodes. And since this is an older recording, it’s possible that certain updates may not be included. Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Tio Tires, Discount Group, Reads Live Up! Toyo Tires provide traction, safety and comfort from Toyos Observe Winter Tires to the Celsius and Open Country Lines of All Weather Tires. Toyo has a cold weather solution for you. Toyo Tires, Making Tires for Your Road. Find your nearest Toyo dealer by visiting tirediscountercrugroup.ca slash locations. Tirediscountergroup.ca Hey everyone, it's Kendall Ray. I just wanted to jump in here with an editor's note. This is actually an older archive episode, so the production quality is going to sound a bit different from my newer episodes. And since this isn't older recording, it's possible that certain updates may not be included. Now onto the episode.

Hello everyone, welcome back to my channel. This one is very very interesting and really different than any other case I've done before. And it's gonna be one of those ones that you guys are going to have very mixed opinions on. It's something that I haven't even fully made an opinion on completely, and it's just very, very widely debated whether this person is innocent or guilty. So today we're talking about Angelica and Vince. Angelica was 37 years old,

and she was originally from Latvia in Europe. She came to the US in 2000 to work as a Nyanne. However, she had only planned on staying for a little while while she was working for this family. She ended up not leaving and she actually found love here in America with a man named Vince Vee of four. 46 years old and was from Pukipsi, New York. The two started dating in September of 2013. We both love to give her. We two started dating in September of 2013. We both loved the river. We both loved being on water. Vince's mother, Mary Ann, says Vince loved a good time.

He's the guy who was the life of the party. He had these dance moves that everybody would get around him and cheer him on. What an awesome guy. And when it came to their relationship, it was very much free spirited. They didn't have kids tying them down. They both didn't have commitments.

They were all about having fun and living in the moment. And she specifically said that this is something she really liked about Vince. He liked living on the edge. He was willing to take risks, to be really active, and to basically be living it up. And she moved in with him like right after they started to date, like a couple weeks.

And then only five months into their relationship, they got engaged. We were gonna go to my country and get married on the Baltic Sea. On the beach. Yeah. Why there? Why not?

And things were going pretty well for them. They were still doing a lot of stuff together enjoying their time. And the two of them were really active. They were still doing a lot of stuff together, enjoying their time. And the two of them were really active. They did a bunch of outdoorsy things. And on April 19th of 2015, they decided to go kayaking in the Hudson River. It was a little cold, but it was,

it didn't look dangerous or anything. According to the local news, a storm was brewing. Clons of be increasing later this afternoon, into tonight, and then showers developed before dawn. They had a plan to kayak from Plum Point to Bannerman's Island, where they would take pictures because Bannerman's Island's a really cool island with this kind of like abandoned castle on it.

By 415, they had successfully made it to Bannerman's Island and they were able to take some awesome pictures of the sunset. And then at 715, as the sun began to set, the weather got really bad. Did you normally wear a life jacket when you would go kayaking? No. Normally, you didn't.

No. He just insisted that I wore it that day. But he himself didn't wear a life jacket. He didn't have one. So this went out that day with no life jacket, no wet suit, no skirt to keep the waves out of his kayak. We'll get back to your podcast after this break. Actually, wouldn't it be great if this was your break?

Right here in the podcast you love? You can connect your brand to your target audience with the help of Roger Sports and Media. As one of Canada's biggest podcast networks, we can help you explore advertising options within this podcast and so many others. It's a chance to showcase your brand to listeners who are passionate about the content they're hearing.

Learn more at rogersportsandmedia.com. It was really cold that day and honestly these types of kayaks are not even good for rivers. As the storm was brewing above them, it got really, really choppy in the water and hard for them to paddle. And then unfortunately, as they were trying to get back, Vince's kayak flipped over, he fell out and he went into 48 degree water freezing dude. And your body goes into like shock when you go into that type of water. It's really, really, really cold. According to experts, after only the first five minutes of him being in the water,

he would start to lose gross motor control, which would make him lose the ability to grab onto the side of the cahill or to hang onto it. And he would just become weak and fall. He was not wearing a life jacket or a wet suit. They were not prepared for this at all. And these specific cikes were not made for rivers. They were really for lake or ponds. So according to Angelica, Vince called out

to her to call 911. And this was the last thing she would hear him say before he slipped off of his kayak in drown. And here is that 911 call. Now we exactly what happened. We are kayaking my hands and lips over. He's in the water right now. I just give a life test on.

He has something that he's holding on to. But he can't bear that. I don't see any of those. I am Jolika. I don't see any of those lines. All right, Angelica. Angelica, can you hear me? Angelica, are you so with me? Okay, Angelica, can you hear me? Angelica. And can you hear me?

Hi, can you hear me now? I can hear you. I don't see you. Did he have a light jacket on? He had a little. Like a floating thing. It wasn't exactly had something to hold. It was something that's helped him float. I don't see him.

Oh my God. Can you make your way over towards the Corbal Yacht Club, where you see on the lights? Yes, yes, start paddling over towards that way, okay? I'm just keeping it open, don't hang up on me, okay? Okay, okay. Angelika then fell into water too. And rescuers luckily got there in time to save her, but by the time they got there,

they couldn't find Vince's kayak or his body. Just straight gun. Shortly after this, she also posted a video of herself doing cartwheels onto her Facebook and also saying karaoke live at an event and looked completely happy. As time went on, actually 10 days later in April 29. Angelika decided to bring flowers to the area where he was drowned.

Interestingly enough, a detective joined her to the island and he claims that Angelika then confessed to him that she killed Vince, that she wanted him to go down. She even said that she pulled the drain plug on his kayak and that she also removed the ring that holds the paddles together. Now, Angelika claims that she did not say this. She said they completely made this up. However, she was arrested that day. She was taken into custody at the Orange County, New York, jail and was interrogated for the next 11 hours. Now, if you don't know much about interrogation or crime, there are so, so, so many instances

of interrogation abuse, manipulating people, using people not being ethical about the entire interrogation process, and there have been tons of false confessions. I've definitely talked about it in my videos before. Although Angelika's behavior in this interrogation room, I'm not gonna lie, is fucking bizarre. Time is when she's alone in the interrogation room, I'm not gonna lie, is fucking bizarre. Time is when she's alone in the interrogation room, unaware there's a camera rolling, Angelica loosens up with yoga, even a little hopscotch.

It's super odd, but if you are in a room for 11 hours, you probably get bored and need to move around, especially her maybe she thought it would help with stress that she was dealing with. So it definitely doesn't prove that she did anything. Right away in her interrogation, she said that she never told anyone that she was dealing with. So it definitely doesn't prove that she did anything. Right away in her interrogation, she said that she never told anyone that she purposely killed Vince. That was just straight up not true. She said that the detective made the whole thing up

and that she would have done anything to save Vince. You watched him drown. I know it's difficult. I know. I didn't just watch him drown. I tried to do something about it. Not as you want to say. Yeah.

If he did not save, hold on one more. I would've f***ed, titled the f*** out of myself and got him somehow. How long before you guys went on your kind trip, did you take that right? Do you think that? I didn't take it.

Why would she confess to a detective if she was just gonna go in and say she didn't do it? It just doesn't make a lot of sense. Now one thing about her that you gotta know is that Angelika is just kind of weird. She's just kind of off and just because people are weird doesn't make them criminals. So she does have a lot of strange behavior. However, you do have to remember, this isn't right after her husband died. It's 10 days, which is still weird.

We'll get back to your podcast after this break. Actually, wouldn't it be great if this was your break? Right here in the podcast you love? You can connect your brand to your target audience with the help of Roger Sports and Media. As one of Canada's biggest podcast networks, we can help you explore advertising options within this podcast and so many others. It's a chance to showcase your brand to listeners

who are passionate about the content they're hearing. Learn more at rogersportsimedia.com. One thing that's really interesting is that she told investigators that Vince had added her to his life insurance policy six months earlier. That definitely gives us a motive, especially with how fast their marriage moved along. However, the evidence from the actual scene doesn't really make a lot of sense. As the interrogation went on, she started to claim that her relationship with Vince wasn't very good. She said that he was very demanding of her

and expected her to perform many sexual behaviors and favors to which she was not comfortable doing. And that is definitely abusive, if that's true. We always want to start seeing that in the future. Yeah, we want to see if we can afford everything. And I'm ready. Angelika says Vince was threatening to call off the wedding. They don't say anything.

I'm sure it's the wish that he did not want to marry him. Yeah, of course. Who could probably tell me that he would have been the one? During her interrogation, after hours and hours and hours of being interrogated, she claims that she just told them what she thought they wanted to hear, which is the most frustrating thing in any case is when someone confesses something or says something and then later says they didn't mean it or they were forced to say it or they just wanted

to get out of there. But she started talking about how when Vince drowned, she felt a sense of freedom and euphoria. When you watched him in the water with a party, you were saying, my worries are gone away now. I'm free. And we're all. Before it? Before it that he was going to be gone.

He felt that way. What are your feelings and emotions knowing that this is about to happen? That when you're going? Wait. Living in two hearts. And I'm in a few things. What's a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being.

I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being.

I'm a human being. I'm gonna go inside. No feelings for me, I'm gonna be in the deep. So when they were interrogating her, they said over and over again, why did you kill Vince? Why did you kill Vince? And which is a technique? If you say it enough times, people start to think, oh my God, maybe I actually did kill this person and they start saying stupid things.

There's all types of interrogation techniques that are just completely unethical. However, she continuously said that she did not purposely drown him or do anything to make him drown. The only thing that she said was that when it happened, she decided to just let it happen and couldn't have saved him, obviously. She's definitely not strong enough to save him out of that, but was kind of relieved. Like, if anything, it seemed like she was in an abusive relationship possibly, and it was more just convenient that he died. So Angelika finally said this. You killed any, right?

No, I'm asking you the question. I want to hear it. I want you to tell me the truth. I am telling you the truth. What is the answer to that question? I didn't want him. Angelika, what is the true answer to that question? All right.

You need to be a f***ing statement. What is it? I want to kill dead and not who's gone and I'm killed. So again, she never admits to purposely killing him or planning this, but she admits to being happy that he's gone and that she did want him gone. So this really leaves investigators with a very interesting situation, but let's look at the evidence from the crime. Since investigators didn't find his body, they started to form a theory that maybe she killed him in a different type of way and just made it seem like he

drowned, like just got rid of his body. When investigating, they had found that one of Vincen's guns was missing from his house, so they started to think maybe she shot him off the kayak and he fell in and drowned. However, in May, the police were actually securing the Hudson River for a graduation ceremony when there were reports that there was a body in it. They obviously went and found this body and determined that it was events. His body didn't even go that far from where he fell in. It only traveled about a mile south from the original spot.

Vince's body had no bullet holes or any other signs of any other type of death other than drowning and it was confirmed that Vince drowned. However, soon after this, a grand jury officially indicted Angelica for this crime and accused her of second-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder. And the theory was that she purposely removed his drain plug on the kayak, which I'll have to tell you is at the top of the kayak So it's actually very hard to get it to fill with water. The problem with this theory is that when they tested this dumped tons of water as in Wave water into the side of the boat, which makes sense because there was a storm that day and the boat fills with water very easily from the simulation of waves, however, when they tried to pour these waves

onto the drain plug on the top, barely any water got in the kayak. So basically, they have realized now that removing a drain plug cannot sink a kayak and it doesn't even make sense. It definitely wouldn't be a logical way to kill someone. Like, you're gonna kill someone, plan their death. You'd probably wanna do it a little more securely than just removing a drain plug that may or may not work. And also you're putting

yourself at risk to be out there in this storm, so it just doesn't make a lot of sense for a murder. At Missing Drain plug is certainly not the cause of his death. So in the time that Angelica was waiting for her trial, she spent two years in prison. And this trial ended up not even happening. Then they found evidence that Vince knew that the drain plug was open. They found images of his car on the day that they were driving out there where he had secured his kayak to his car by using a drain plug that was unscrewed. So chances are, he knew that it was taken off.

There was also other pictures of Vince with his kayak where the drain plug wasn't on it. So it seemed like something he just kind of did. So to me, it seems like there is definitely not enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to accuse this person of murder. I mean, this murder doesn't even make sense. It seems like a freak accident. They should not have been on the Hudson River in Badweather on shitty kayaks that are not even made for the river. It seems like it was just an accident. And it really seems to me that Angel Leica

has been painted so negatively because her behavior was so weird. But the reason I believe her behavior was so weird is because he, they had a bad relationship. That he was abusive of her, that, you know, he was in all these weird sexual things and forcing her to do things she wasn't comfortable with. And when he did drown, she was like, I'm just gonna, okay, you know, I can't do anything to save him.

And this is kind of gonna be good for me in a weird way. And I know that doesn't sound like a good thing to think about people, but like, maybe that's what she meant. And I think all of that time in the interrogation room, she just wanted to leave. So she was willing to tell them, yes, I am not that sad that he's dead basically. But I mean, I could be wrong and there are so, so many people, because the media painted her extremely negatively from the beginning. And I've seen start up lies. I just watched a YouTube video here about this case where it was just straight lying. So I really like to look at these cases unbiased.

And to me, I just personally feel like there's not nearly enough evidence that she did this. But basically, she was given the chance to either plead guilty and be out of jail in six weeks for good or go to trial and possibly get life in prison. So she decided to plead guilty and the plea was different too.

It was not agreeing to murder him or to planning murder. It was agreeing that she could have contributed to it or didn't do enough to help. Judge laid into Angelica grass wall before sentencing her to four years in prison, but with the time she's already served, she could be out before the end of the year.

Grass wall was charged with intentional murder and when she surprised the court to the lesser charge of negligent homicide. It holds criminally liable, but it is not a satisfying conclusion for family and friends of via four who wanted a harsher

punishment. Vincent's mother Mary Ann via four had this to say about grasswild and the sentence. My son was a good man and everybody loved him. And we miss him very much. I don't ever want to

see her again if I don't have to. Angelique was out of prison tonight after serving just over two and a half years behind bars. The afore's outraged

family says it's not right. Four years for taking someone's life. No way. And now she has a felony on her record, which she decided was better than going to jail, possibly going to jail for the rest of her life. No way. And now she has a felony on her record, which she decided was better than

going to jail, possibly going to jail for the rest of her life. She spent a total of two years and seven months behind bars when she could have been out and she could be completely innocent. She has to report to a parole officer for 16 months and she could also possibly get deported back to La Via. Four years for taking someone's life. No way. Smile if you want. It's OK. You can smile.

Walk with me. Outside New York's Bedford Hills Correctional Facility Freedom and the media are waiting. We're not going to take any questions. Her release, sparking headlines. Although for now, Angelika lets her attorney Rich Portale do the talking. She's grateful for this day.

She's grateful to be able to breathe in the fresh air. But because she played it to involuntary homicide, there is still chance that she could claim half of Vince's life insurance money. And so his parents are fighting back on that.

There's lots of debate on whether or not she should get that. I really want to know your guys just thoughts on this. I am not saying that she didn't murder him because I am not completely sure however I really don't think so. But I am saying that I'm 100% sure there was not enough evidence to convict this girl of murder to go to prison the rest of her life. The whole thing is super super odd. Angelika is now free. She's enjoying life out of prison. Driving away from prison, she reconnects with her younger sister. While she was locked up, she became an aunt.

Babies. Androlyca enjoys her first taste of freedom with friends. How does it taste? Definitely better than jailhood. But I mean this story is not over and yeah it's very very interesting. That is going to be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendal Ray.

I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there. you