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[Assistant] Things weren't gonna end well between them and that he was going to leave her for some reason. Oh, that's sad, cause she was beautiful. Gorgeous. Like dude, look up a picture of her. Cause I'm telling you, like, stun me. Yeah, she was really pretty. And Jack's a really handsome guy. Yeah. I immediately looked him up and I was like, okay. Yeah, that's okay, you can say that. I don't think he's bad. I know, I mean, I was like, is he bad? Your face was like, can I say that?


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[Assistant] No, the day after she secretly handed Ronald the envelope containing the $10,000, Christina showed up again.


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[Assistant] Now, Ronald left to run some errands, and when he came home around lunchtime,


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[Assistant] Excuse me, he came home around lunchtime and then he left again and then returned about an hour later. So it sounds like he was...


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[Assistant] Going off to work, came back for lunch, and then like ran a couple errands. But then he came back. And...


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[Assistant] No. We're talking like unconscious. For hours. Like he could not wake them up.


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[Assistant] Comes back and everything's good and then he is only gone for an hour and when he comes back the second time they're unconscious. The two of them? Yea. Huh.


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[Assistant] So Ronald spent the next several hours, instead of calling the police, trying to revive Jack and Christina.


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[Assistant] He was unsuccessful at getting either of them to come to. Like, he could tell that they were breathing, but they weren't waking up or responding.


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[Assistant] So on his way to the bathroom to get cold towels to, you know, see if maybe that would make them wake up.


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[Assistant] Quote, if Jack didn't marry her, she didn't want to live, and she couldn't be Mrs. Kettle, uh, she couldn't be Mrs. Kettle while no one else was going to be, if she couldn't be.


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[Assistant] Wow, this is escalating very quickly. Very quickly. So, fearing what their friends or family might think if they learned the truth of this situation,


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[Assistant] Ronald stuffed the letter in his pocket and spent the rest of the evening trying to bring them back from the brink of death, really. So to be, to be clear,


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[Assistant] They've been unconscious this whole time. Yeah.


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[Assistant] And he's just milling about trying to wake them up and then he finds this letter.


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[Assistant] And he reads it, and he's like, I don't know what her family's gonna think, or what his family will think, so I'm gonna hold onto this, but in the meantime, I gotta try to wake them up.


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[Assistant] So he spent nearly all night moving Jack and Christina's limbs for them to keep their blood moving and applying cold towels to them. Never calling an ambulance? Okay. No.


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[Assistant] The next morning they were both still unconscious, so Ronald called a local pharmacy to ask their advice.


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[Assistant] They've been unconscious since yesterday. Is anyone going through active brain death right now? Like, what is going on? Hope not. Like, he's just like, well, they're breathing, I guess, so... I-I'm... What? Couldn't tell ya. Why is this man calling someone?


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[Assistant] You'll find out later why he doesn't call out. Okay. At least I, er, there.


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[Assistant] There are explanations for why he doesn't call someone, I guess you could say. You don't find out definitively. I am confusion. I bet.


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[Assistant] Now Jack and Christina did finally regain consciousness by noon the next day, but they both remained very groggy and very violently ill for the remainder of the day.


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[Assistant] Later in his statement to the police, Ronald recalled that several times throughout the day,


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[Assistant] Jack was finally alert enough to understand what was going on. His immediate concern was Christina's reputation.


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[Assistant] And what he assumed would be her family's concern that she hadn't returned the previous evening. Cause remember, she doesn't live there. She was just hanging out for the day. And now she's been gone for like a whole day, a whole night and into noon the next day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now Ronald later said, quote, Jack seemed to think maybe if we sent a telegram saying that they were married, it would keep her people from worrying too much. This is so extra. Like what, the escalation that is happening here, it's like, what? Yeah.


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[Assistant] Yup. According to Ronald, the Telegram was only intended to buy them all some time until Christina regained her faculties.


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[Assistant] And could decide for herself what she wanted to do and, you know, explain things to her family.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, it would be awesome if she explained things to me as well, because I don't have any idea what the fuck is going on right now.


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[Assistant] She convinced Ronald to call her sister Helen and tell her...


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[Assistant] That she and Jack had gone up to his cottage, Ronald's cottage. Okay.


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[Assistant] Ronald felt that the telegram had been enough notice, but he was worried that Christina might become hysterical or try to self-harm.


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[Assistant] If he didn't do what she wanted, so he reluctantly agreed to make the call.


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[Assistant] Now by the next morning it had sunk in, it had started to sink in for the both of them, that in trying to avoid a scandalous situation,


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[Assistant] They had actually created a potentially larger problem for themselves by telling Christina's family that he, that she and Jack had gotten married. Yeaah.


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[Assistant] Ronald said he really, I suppose, intended to get married someday, but he said he wasn't rushing into anything unprepared.


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[Assistant] I mean that's smart. It is. And by all accounts, Jack cared really deeply for Christina, but when it came to the subject of marriage, he always seemed to have an excuse for not wanting to fully commit. Okay.


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[Assistant] But now, he had not only informed Christina's family of their supposed wedding,


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[Assistant] When your first thought is, let's just tell your parents we got married, that would give me the idea that you wanted to get married. Yeah.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean to the point that she didn't want anybody else to be Mrs. Kettlewell. Yeah, cause was that real? I didn't know if that was real or not, I didn't know what the...


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[Assistant] I think it all does, that's the perfect way to describe it. I think...


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[Assistant] Yes, but like you don't really know for sure because Christina ends up dying at some point and she's not around to confirm or deny. Alright, interesting.


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[Assistant] Ronald finally felt comfortable leaving them alone in the apartment while he ran out to run some errands. To be clear, Ronald has not asked them what the fuck happened.


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[Assistant] That he read the suicide note or what was intended to be a suicide note.


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[Assistant] We're dying together. I made him do this. I killed him. And then myself.


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[Assistant] And then when they woke up, he didn't think to say like, hey, uhm,


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[Assistant] About that, like, attempted murder, do you wanna talk about it? Like, do you wanna, should we?


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[Assistant] He might have, he didn't- Should we have a conversation? About like, if we want to all live together or not? Like, I'd be like, I would like to move out. Like, I don't want to live here anymore.


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[Assistant] Like, make her upset, so we're just gonna let this be what it is because now Jack wants to marry her, so like, okay.


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[Assistant] But, so he, what I don't agree with is that, you know, once they woke up from this failed murder-suicide attempt allegedly,


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[Assistant] He was just like, I have errands to run, are you guys good?


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[Assistant] Like, you just left the apartment? But I mean, hey, I guess he's not responsible for either of them? I don't know. But as Ronald was leaving, Christina asked him where he was going, and he told her he was on his way to the bank.


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[Assistant] And she immediately broke down crying. Oh. And when he was like, why are you like a, what's the problem? She explained that she had said that she deposited that money into his account a few days earlier.


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[Assistant] But she had in fact lied and never truly put the money in the $10,000 that she returned to him.


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[Assistant] She, she messed things up. So as the current ledger keeper at the local branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia, Christina had fraudulently


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[Assistant] Entered the deposit into Ronald's bank book as having been deposited, but then kept the money for herself.


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[Assistant] Oh damn. So he started pressing her for an explanation, like, why the fuck did you do that? Yeah. Because not only...


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[Assistant] And he was like, oh, do you mind running that to the bank for me since you work there, and can you take this too?


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[Assistant] But she just started crying hysterically and begging him not to tell anybody.


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[Assistant] So he dropped the matter a few minutes later when Jack came into the room because remember, Jack knows nothing about this whole money situation. Damn.


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[Assistant] After learning that Christina had once again manipulated him and taken his money,


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[Assistant] But given everything that had happened that last week of April, you know, the murder-suicide plot. The alleged, the alleged murder-suicide plot.


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[Assistant] He decided to wait for quote-unquote more favorable circumstances before raising the issue.


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[Assistant] This man has a lot of patience. Ronald is patient, potentially kind. He seems kind. Yea. I hope he is.


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[Assistant] Now by May 3rd, 1947, the tension in the drama had subsided.


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[Assistant] And somehow, things returned normal between Christina, Jack, and Ronald. That morning, May 3rd.


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[Assistant] Jack and Ronald had planned to leave for a weekend trip to go to Ronald's cottage in, uh, on the Severin River, I think it is.


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[Assistant] But first, Christina and Jack were gonna go get their marriage license in order to make everything official. Cause they were, they were doing it. But by the time they got everything together for the trip,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The licensing bureau had closed for the weekend, so they decided to wait until after the weekend, like go on Monday.


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[Assistant] And Ronald and Jack were gonna make their way to the cabin, but now Christina was coming along.


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[Assistant] So they had planned to go just the two of them, but then she ended up going. Oh, okay. Yeah.


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[Assistant] So the trio spent four days by the river, and during that time, Jack and Christina got along well and seemed to be having a good time. They had, you know, put that wildness behind them. Yeaah. And although he hadn't exactly planned on getting married,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jack told Ronald he was willing to make a go of things if she was.


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[Assistant] Wow. And for her part, Christina was elated with his decision to go ahead with the marriage. She was insisting that that was what she wanted all along.


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[Assistant] She asked Ronald if he would go to the parish priest, Father Markle, and explain the circumstances on their behalf.


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[Assistant] He agreed and a few hours later returned to the apartment with the news that the priest would like to see them immediately.


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[Assistant] But they were either, quote, interrupted or she got hysterical and I dropped it.


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[Assistant] Finally, on the morning of May 11th, he raised the issue again, now determined to get an answer.


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[Assistant] And after more than a little insistence, Christina claimed she had, quote,


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[Assistant] Given it back to those fellows that she had, er, that had been blackmailing her. But I thought the fellows that, okay.


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[Assistant] So they blackmailed her for money. She borrowed the money from Ronald.


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[Assistant] She gave it to the blackmailers. They gave it to her. They had a change of heart, gave it back to her. She gave it back to quote unquote, gave it back to Ronald, but actually took it. And then didn't actually just take it, she gave it back.


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[Assistant] To the blackmailer. Yeah. Okay, I got it. Yeah, you do. Yep. Good for you. Thank you. That was impressive, honestly. Thank you.


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[Assistant] Just making sure this all doesn't make sense. Lots of red yarn all over the fucking, uh. This is like, this, this is, I feel like I'm serpentining. You are. You are, I am, we all are. Yup. So she said she gave it back to them and he was like,


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[Assistant] The next morning, May 12th, Christina woke up early and left the apartment.


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[Assistant] Without saying a word to Ronald or Jack about where she was going, she literally just dipped.


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[Assistant] So Ronald stuck his head out the window and called after her, and he was like, hey, where are you going? And she was like, I'm going for a walk, I'll be back soon.


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[Assistant] After several hours had passed, both of them, you know, became concerned that Christina hadn't returned.


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[Assistant] And their landlady, Mrs. Barger, reluctantly informed them that, over the weekend, Christina had asked her


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[Assistant] To borrow a large sum of money from the landlady. Oh shit. Quote, to go to Hamilton, Ontario where some boyfriend of hers lived. Whaaat? Yes. Now, she comes back though.


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[Assistant] She, which like, she said she had a sort of favor, sort of favorable reception, but


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[Assistant] The family was disturbed by her behavior and the unexpected announcement that she was marrying Jack all of the sudden.


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[Assistant] It's unclear whether Christie and his family had actually met Ronald by this point, but she must have at least told them something about him.


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[Assistant] Because they quote, couldn't understand the relationship between he and Jack. They thought it was strange. What? Yeah.


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[Assistant] Christina's sister Helen said, when Jack and Christina got married we thought it was very strange that Barry went along on the honeymoon, uh, Ronald's Barry.


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[Assistant] That, uh, that's what made us wonder if Ronnie was also in love with Chris.


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[Assistant] Okay, you following? Yeah, absolutely I am. So later that evening when Jack, Christina and Ronald had joined some friends for dinner, like after she tells them about how everything went with her parents, they had some friends over for dinner.


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[Assistant] The group was surprised when their meal was interrupted by Christina's two sisters showing up unannounced to the apartment.


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[Assistant] Just moving on past that. It like sort of comes back later. Okay, I was just wondering. I was like, okay, so the landlord is like, hate to break it, but I gave her money so she could go see a boyfriend in Ontario and she comes home and is like, no, no, no, I saw my parents and they're like, okay. Yeah.


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[Assistant] Reports of this encounter vary widely depending on who's telling the tale, of course. But Ronald insisted he tried to talk to Christina's sister to find out what they were so upset about.


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[Assistant] But they quote, kept shouting something about giving Christina opium and trying to force her to marry Jack.


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[Assistant] So uhm, confused and rather frustrated by the situation.


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[Assistant] Ronald turned to Christina and was like, listen, make up your mind. Do you want to be with Jack or not? Like what's going on here?


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[Assistant] Uh, and Jack was like, yeah, like what's going on? He was equally confused. Now.


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[Assistant] In Helen's, her, the Christina's Sister Helen's version of events.


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[Assistant] Christina quote was nervous and she wouldn't listen to anyone. You couldn't get any sense out of her.


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[Assistant] But what both versions agree on is that Christina clearly stated she did want to marry Jack.


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[Assistant] And at that point they called a cab so that they could leave the tent situation.


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[Assistant] Tensions escalated as Helen and Sophie continued to accuse Ronald and Jack of drugging and manipulating their sister. When it was clear there was nothing more they could do,


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[Assistant] Helen left the barger apartment house and went to the police station to enlist the help of the authorities to stop the marriage.


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[Assistant] Meanwhile, continued escalating in her emotional accusations.


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[Assistant] Okay. So, given the fact that Jack Kettlewell never made a formal public statement about his marriage or the death of his wife. He didn't? No.


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[Assistant] Never. The only accounts of this altercation on record come from Ronald Berry, who gave his statement to the police, and Helen, the sister.


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[Assistant] Who told the story to a jury during the coroner's inquest and during subsequent interviews with press.


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[Assistant] So, uh, it's difficult to establish what exactly happened at the apartment that night, but it sounds like


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[Assistant] During her visit to her parents' house to inform them of the marriage.


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[Assistant] Christina may have given an inaccurate account of the suicide homicide attempt.


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[Assistant] Let's, let's talk about me marrying Jack. And they were like, yeah, that sucks. We're not cool with the fact that he is not Roman Catholic. And she was like, well, this is really going to blow your fucking top because he also drugged me with opioid.


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[Assistant] I'm confused, maybe I'm missing a giant part of this puzzle, but like, this- No, we all are.


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[Assistant] So uhm, we'll never really know which version of the events is true, but it seems like Christina was trying to hedge her bets, weaving a story that would


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[Assistant] Obsolve her of her responsibility for the murder-suicide attempt if her family found out about it without her compromising her impending marriage to Jack, but like,


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[Assistant] I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say if my child told me that their future husband drugged them unwillingly with opium. Yeah.


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[Assistant] That's gonna, that's gonna compromise the marriage in my, in my mind. I wonder- And in my heart.


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[Assistant] I wonder though if she said it was Ronald and not Jack. But she kinda, it seems like she was saying Jack and Ronald are like the villains of this story here. Yeaah.


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[Assistant] I don't know. It's very confusing. Damn. Okay, so that happened. Hedge those bets, I guess. But after satisfactorily, uh, explaining himself to the police, Ronald returned to the apartment because the police were like, yeah, I think this is all a big mess, but like, did you drug anybody with opium? And he was like, no way. The police were like, we don't know what's going on either. So he went back to the apartment where Christina and Jack had returned.


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[Assistant] Because they didn't want to risk further interference of her family. The ones you told that he drugged you with opium? Yep. Or Ronald, who knows.


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[Assistant] Friend to friend, can I just like, both of you, like, I don't think this is the time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jack and Christina were married before a wedding party that included of course, Ronald Berry. Of course. Uh, the landlady, Emma Barger. I'm obsessed with that. The couple's friends, the Thomases, and they used Emma Barger's wedding ring as proxy for the ring that Jack had yet to buy. And Christina was wearing a borrowed dress.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, in order, excuse me, in Ronald Berry's version of events, the three of them decided as a group that it would be best for Ronald to join them at the cabin on their honeymoon because, quote, they had so much stuff to take along.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Drew and I had a lot to bring on our honeymoon, like we each had a suitcase that we had to check and to carry out, like that was, that's four bags right there.


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[Assistant] It was just us. And you didn't need me to come with you? No, I love you so much, but like, I'm not inviting you, I'm not inviting my best friend, like, what? Yeah, I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So on the morning of May 16th, 1947, all three of them drove down to the cabin in a car that they borrowed from a friend. Okay, have fun you guys. Have the best time. The first few days of the trip were casual and uneventful, but on the morning of Sunday, May 18th,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ronald entered the kitchen to find Christina sitting at the table crying. And he was like, what's wrong? Like, why are you so upset?


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[Assistant] Christina said she, quote, didn't know whether Jack had married her because he loved her or on account of, you know, the murder-suicide attempt.


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[Assistant] She kind of forced this to happen, so it's like, and now she, I think it's hitting her that she kind of forced this whole situation and now she's like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I thought it, what's sad about it is she thought she was going, by getting what she wanted, it wouldn't matter how she got it. She got it. She got Jack. She got to marry him. But I think all of a sudden she woke up in the morning and it's like, okay.


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[Assistant] But it still bothers me, like I got what I wanted, but like now I'm really thinking about it, and I would rather have the love attached to this. Yeah.


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[Assistant] And have it be his decision, or like, or her decision at that point, like, get it girl. That like nobody pressured anybody into by. Yea, that like you two were just so in love that you wanted to get married. Yea. And not because something had pushed you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To having to do this, you know? Yes, yes. And it's just really sad that she...


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[Assistant] That she did come to that realization because that's a hard realization I imagine to hit. It's sad. Which is you got exactly what you wanted, but you still.


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[Assistant] Didn't get exactly what you wanted. It's like a careful what you wish for moment. Yeaah.


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[Assistant] But Ronald said he reassured her that Jack did indeed love her and she seemed to accept that fact. But there were several points throughout that day where Christina seemed to be just lost in her thoughts and Ronald became concerned that she might try to hurt herself or, you know, somebody else again. I mean, yeah, this is not, there's no way you're going to trick yourself into, into believing that everything is hunky dory. No, it's just simply not. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the following morning, Ronald left the couple alone and went out for a long walk. I think he was like, I need to like remove myself from the situation for a minute and things seem okay-ish right now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And when he returned, he found Christina at the table writing a letter, and Jack seemed like he was sleeping on the couch. Now, he tried to like talk to them, like he was like, oh hey, how are you guys?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Christina ignored him and Jack was deeply asleep, so rather than repeat himself, he just went to the couch to make Jack more comfortable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He said not wanting to intrude any further, he left again and told Christina that he was gonna go lay out in the sun for a bit and that he'd be back in a few hours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ronald took a closer look and realized that the blood was actually coming from Jack's head.


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[Assistant] What the fuck? So concerned he started cleaning his friend's head and face looking for a cut.


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[Assistant] He told police, I asked Christina what happened but she just looked up at me and didn't say a word.


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[Assistant] And when he turned to start back towards the cabin to, you know, figure out what Christina was doing.


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[Assistant] He saw smoke billowing from the exterior door leading to the kitchen.


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[Assistant] But by the time he made his way back into the front part of the cabin.


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[Assistant] He could barely see anything through all the smoke, but still he was yelling, making his way to the front room calling out for Christina.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, he'd only reached the shore where Jack sat when he looked back and saw that the cabin was now engulfed in flames. And remind you, this is his cabin. This is his home. Oh yea, this is his.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So he later claimed that he dragged Jack further from the house to a safer location, and then went in the direction of the woods calling out for Christina, but he didn't see her and he didn't hear her anywhere. So after about 30 minutes of searching for Christina,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ronald returned back to Jack's location and managed to flag down a passing boat. He explained to the men in the boat what had happened and that he still hadn't been able to find Christina anywhere.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, one of the men volunteered to stay behind and look for Christina.


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[Assistant] While the other men took Jack and Ronald to meet the nearest car to go get them to the hospital. So after checking Jack in at the hospital,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ronald went straight to the provincial police to report what had happened.


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[Assistant] And that was when he learned that Christina's body had been discovered near the shore of the river, about 200 yards from the cabin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What the fuck is going on? So she made it out of the house before the fire started. But she's dead. Holy shit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So authorities were able to locate Christina's body lying face down in a nine inch pool of water adjacent to the riverbank.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Still dressed in the floral print pajamas that she'd been wearing the night before.


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[Assistant] There were no burns on her body, no evidence to suggest that she had been in the fire.


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[Assistant] There were no signs of violence or indications of what had caused her death.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jack remained hospitalized where he claimed to have no memory of the fire or the events leading up to it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, given the wildly mysterious circumstances under- You need to make up a new word for mysterious. Truly. Under which Christina had died, authorities opened an investigation to determine whether or not she'd been murdered. What?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because this is all so bizarre, they're like, was she murdered? Yeah, like what happened here? This makes no fucking sense.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He confirmed there were no signs to indicate that Christina had been in a fire. There was no smoke in her lungs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She wasn't burned, nothing to indicate that she'd been in the fire.


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[Assistant] What? She drowned in a nine inch pool of water. With no smoke in her lungs, like she wasn't really affected by the fire. No, she got out in time. Somehow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And like, and right before that, according to Ronald, Jack has like a head injury. He found Jack lying unconscious with a head injury.


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[Assistant] And said it to Christina and was like, what happened to his head? And she just looked at him and didn't answer him. Like, what was happening here?


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[Assistant] All I can say, Lawson told reporters, that's the corner, is that Mrs. Kettlewell was definitely drowned.


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[Assistant] When the lab results came back, Lawson learned that there was codeine in Christina's stomach at the time of her death. Oh, okay.


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[Assistant] On its face, Christina's death and the circumstances leading up to it were...


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[Assistant] Why had she been so quick to marry Jack? Why have they done it so secretly? What the fuck was going on?


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[Assistant] Why was Ronald Berry always around? Why would a newlywed couple bring a third party with them on their honeymoon? And how does somebody ostensibly escape a roaring house fire without a scratch, only to drown in what was more or less a puddle of water? This is the most bizarre thing I think I have ever heard. Me as well.


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[Assistant] So those unanswered questions led investigators to suspect foul play.


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[Assistant] And what they learned next did little but make them more suspicious. Oh no. The statement given by Ronald to the police was sus, but it only got more so when he got to the subject of money.


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[Assistant] There was of course the $15,000 he claimed Christina had stolen from him over the course of the previous year and refused to return, but there was also the matter of insurance money.


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[Assistant] Between having bought the cottage the previous year and the fire,


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[Assistant] He had procured insurance on the home for $3,000. Now that wouldn't have been unusual in and of itself.


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[Assistant] But in his statement to the police, he mentioned that he had become quote-unquote financially embarrassed.


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[Assistant] Due to the large sums of money that he'd lent Christina, and he was unable to pay many of his bills as a result.


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[Assistant] So they were like, are you trying to cash in on the $3000 to like, make up for some of your bills? That feels like it would be. But it's like,


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[Assistant] And also, Ronald had sent to and received a telegram from an unknown person in the United States, which just added to the mysterious, uh, which just added to the mysterious facts of the Kettlewell case. And given all the talk of large sums of money,


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[Assistant] Led the investigators to wonder whether there was some kind of illegal business being operated by Ronald, Christina and Jack.


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[Assistant] In a statement given to the police, Ronald Berry flatly rejected the possibility that he had burned down his own cottage for insurance money.


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[Assistant] Investigators found his statement to be quote unquote fantastic. Like, like fantastic, like, whoa. Not like fantastic, like amazing.


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[Assistant] Like fantastic, like, a little hard to believe. Yes. Fantastic. Exactly. Yeah, I mean it's-


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, the thing is he's saying everything he, that you want to hear. Yeah. From somebody. But.


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[Assistant] They either doubted or at the very least were very suspicious of many of his claims.


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[Assistant] But just a few days later, Chief Inspector Albert Ward formally announced that there were no signs of foul play and no suspects, but emphasized that the case would remain open.


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[Assistant] Ronald talked to reporters after Ward's statement.


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[Assistant] He doubled down saying there was no foul play on that. I would stake my life.


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[Assistant] I mean, I, I'm not saying Ronald has anything to do with it, cause I, honestly nothing up to this point would lead me to believe that he would hurt her. No. But, but like,


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[Assistant] This play looks pretty foul. It's just wild. It just looks strange. Like what happened? I have no idea.


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[Assistant] And Ronnie's asking her like, hey, Jack's got a massive head injury and is bleeding all over the, the pillow and has been out for several hours. And she's just like, do you know what happened here? And she's just like, hmm.


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[Assistant] And then just a fire starts and he carries Jack out and she somehow makes her way out and then toots along.


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[Assistant] Two hundred yards or so and drowns in a tiny puddle. Nine inches of water. Yeah.


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[Assistant] I'm gonna have to think on this one so hard. Well, we're not done yet, Curly.


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[Assistant] So meanwhile, it is shocking. Meanwhile, reporters were attempting to get their own statements from Jack and Ronald with the latter.


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[Assistant] Having promised to make one in the days immediately following the fire.


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[Assistant] But the statement, however, was never given, and Ronald did seem to be avoiding the press at that point. So they turned to their next best contact, his brother Mario, Ronald's brother Mario. And Mario told the press, Ronnie has always been a secretive fellow.


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[Assistant] According to his brother, the family had always found his closeness with Jack somewhat unusual.


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[Assistant] Both worked for a box factory, and when one was discharged, the other quit. So he was like, they were just very close. Yeah.


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[Assistant] In his initial statement to the police, he insisted he remembered nothing from the morning of the fire until he came to in the hospital.


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[Assistant] I need to know. Like you gotta rack the deepest parts of your brain. I gotta know. But it seemed like he was in a dazed condition. Yeaah. Which I was like, did she give you codeine too?


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[Assistant] Well, that's what I'm wondering. I'm like, what, what's happening here? Cause also I'm still wondering what happened at the apartment.


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[Assistant] Oh yea, I mean everybody's wondering. I'll never, like never forget what happened at the apartment. I will not. So it's like, I'm still wondering what happened there, like what drug was used, what's going on over there, and now this happens and it seems like there's more drugging happening. Yep. Possibly, allegedly. Yep. And it's like, by whom I do not know. Nor me.


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[Assistant] Otherwise, there was nothing at the scene that could have explained Christina's death or the fire.


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[Assistant] Having ruled out the foul play and potential that the death was the result of drug trafficking, uh, drug trafficking operation between Canada and the US, they ruled that out.


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[Assistant] The only theory investigators were left with was that Christina had indeed taken her own life after setting fire to the cabin.


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[Assistant] In fact, among the only physical evidence in the investigation


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[Assistant] Uh, she allegedly had tried to end her life and Jax allegedly.


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[Assistant] This time, Christina stated that she did not believe Jack's proposal of marriage was genuine.


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[Assistant] And that he instead made it out of fear that she might harm herself if he didn't go through with it.


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[Assistant] She wrote, this will be the best way out as I cannot bear to see another girl have him.


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[Assistant] This is like heart wrenching. It is, it really is.


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[Assistant] So Ronald turned both suicide letters over to the investigators, which appeared to corroborate at least part of his story.


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[Assistant] Particularly his account of the murder-suicide attempt in April and Christina's behavior on the morning that she died.


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[Assistant] In the third suicide note written on the morning of the fire and addressed to, uh, Mrs. Thomas.


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[Assistant] Just going outside for a little while, like I'll be back and I can bring you something if you need it. Like it seems like he was there to be like just keeping everything. Keeping tabs on everything. Okay. Yeah, I think so too. Yeah.


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[Assistant] I especially think so when you find out details later.


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[Assistant] So nevertheless, the suicide notes didn't explain all the unanswered questions, so a coroner's inquest was scheduled. Thank goodness. I was like, someone get me in a coroner's inquest. Doesn't really do much, to be honest. Awesome.


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[Assistant] The primary motive for the coroner's, uh, inquest was to identify the circumstances of Christina's drowning. Sorry, I was just shifting there.


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[Assistant] And definitely, or definitive, definitively, I can never say that.


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[Assistant] Rule out foul play. But from the perspective of the public it was the mystery surrounding Ronald's involvement that more people wanted to learn about.


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[Assistant] This aspect of the case was significantly amplified by Christina's sister Helen, who was always heavily suspicious of Jack and Ronald, and especially now.


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[Assistant] At one point, just before the inquest began, Hope told reporters Ronald was


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[Assistant] The inquest began on June 19, 1947, with the jury hearing from several medical experts, including R.C. Wade, the doctor who treated Jack at the hospital.


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[Assistant] And the coroner himself, Smirl Lawson. Dr. Smirl Lawson. Wade explained to the jury that Jack had indeed been treated for a head wound.


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[Assistant] But when it came to his dazed and confused state Wade said, I suggest he was not ill. He was upset. He did not act like a normal individual.


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[Assistant] So like he was, he was upset because he had been drugged? And I don't think you've mentioned it, but


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[Assistant] They don't know what kind of head wound this is? No. Like what it's from?


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[Assistant] He was bleeding from his head. But according to Wade, he said Jack was more likely suffering from shock in the after effects of trauma.


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[Assistant] Very strange. So the second witness called was Helen, um, Christine's sister. Thank you.


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[Assistant] And her testimony would do little to exonerate Ronald or Jack.


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[Assistant] She told the jury that Christina was always a happy girl before Jack and Ronald came into her life.


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[Assistant] And that she had never, ever suffered any bouts of depression.


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[Assistant] But the real problem Helen claimed was Ronald Berry. She said anytime Jack went out with Chris, Christina, Berry was with them.


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[Assistant] And in fact, contrary to what anybody had heard, it wasn't Jack that their family objected to, but Ronald.


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[Assistant] According to Helen, Ronald Berry was a generally bad influence on Jack and her sister, and Helen said that


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[Assistant] Ronald had even convinced Christina to try drugs on at least two occasions. In this case,


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[Assistant] Helen was referring to the incident in which she confronted the trio at the barger apartment.


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[Assistant] And attempted, uh, to convince Christina not to marry Jack.


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[Assistant] She had no evidence to support her belief, but she claimed that Christina had been doped up when she agreed to marry Jack.


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[Assistant] There's so much happening. Everything is happening. Because like in the reality of the situation is that from like what you can tell from the whole story is that like that murder suicide thing happened. Uh huh. And that's where the marriage was born out of.


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[Assistant] So it's like, I think everybody was under an influence of many different kinds of stress.


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[Assistant] I think the problem here is like that marriage never should have happened. One I think, yes I think that and I think one of the other bigger problems is that


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[Assistant] Nobody really knew what Christina was going through. I think Christina was going through some kind of- She was like suffering alone it sounds like. It sounds like it big time. And it sounds like she had a lot of secrets maybe? Yeaah.


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[Assistant] But it sounds like it was, it got to be a little bit of an unhealthy.


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[Assistant] I'd rather you die than be with anyone else. It's like that's when it's crossed over into...


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[Assistant] A little bit unhealthy, and it's like love can make you do crazy things, it can make you feel unorthodox things, and it's like that's why you need somebody to talk to you about it, to kind of bring you out of that. It sounds like she didn't have


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[Assistant] That or didn't think she had that. Yeah, cause I honestly think she could have talked to Ronald. Ronald seems like a very understanding person. Sounds like there was people around her that would have talked to her. Exactly. But maybe she just didn't know it. And then what was the money?


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[Assistant] Well that's the other thing, I just can't wrap my brain around this money thing. Why did she need-


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[Assistant] That's a lot of money to need. Yeaah. And back, it's even more now. I think she was in some kind of trouble. She was in trouble.


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[Assistant] I don't know why. Whether it was being blackmailed by these men. It's possible, yea. Maybe she got roped up with the wrong people somehow. Yea, or it was something else completely that she was in trouble with. She was in trouble. She was in trouble. You don't need that much money when you're not in trouble. No. So like that's a, that's a huge part of this thing is like, what the fuck was going on? Uh huh. That nobody knew about.


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[Assistant] Yeah. And now I want to dedicate my entire life to figuring out what the fuck she was doing for this. Me too. Because I'm so invested. But I haven't found anything that gives you any kind of clue because we're about to get murkier.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The time Christina left the apartment and told Ronald she was going for a walk.


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[Assistant] She visited her boyfriend, Eddie Cura, whom the family preferred over Jack Cuddlewell. So the family did have a problem with Jack Cuddlewell.


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[Assistant] Like an obsessive love? Yeah. That she was willing to go through all that, but she's also dating another guy? And she not only told...


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[Assistant] Was he related to the trouble that she was in? That's the thing, like who the fuck is Eddie? Bring me Eddie. That's the thing.


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[Assistant] Bring me Eddie. And also, it's like, so she didn't go to her parents that night? She, I think she went to both places. Oh, she went to both places? It sounds like. Cause then the sisters came over all up in arms, and it's like, but did she even see you today? Did she even tell you? I think she went to see the boyfriend, and I think, or the previous boyfriend, and Anne told her parents that she was getting married. Was she going to see the previous boyfriend to


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[Assistant] Tell him that she was getting married? To break things off and be like, I'm actually getting married now? Right. Where's Eddie? Where's Eddie?


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[Assistant] I don't know. But according to Helen, the sister, Christina was quote unquote afraid of Ronnie and Jack.


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[Assistant] So, she said, she, like Helen said, she came to me and my sister Sophie.


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[Assistant] She asked for more money from this landlord, got the money, and then went to her sister and asked for a bus ticket.


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[Assistant] And it's weird that Ronnie was there, even though we did come up with a, this is what I mean, there's so many different explanations you can kind of explain away anything.


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[Assistant] I mean, this, this marriage is strange, and it's- I mean, yeaah, and it came to be in a very strange way. And it came to be in a strange way, and she keeps questioning it and worrying about it, and it, and I just, I'm not hearing anything about them.


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[Assistant] I don't know, this is just weird. Well it gets weirder. Oh lord.


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[Assistant] Sophie, the sister, said she bought her the ticket to go visit Eddie, and she went to go visit Eddie. And Helen continued the story and said, although Christina gave no explanation as to why she feared Ronnie and Jack,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She did say the men were at the apartment, quote unquote, fooling around with handwriting, and said, let's see you write your name. To Christina.


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[Assistant] Okay. So Christina went and told Helen, allegedly.


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[Assistant] Had quote, discovered Ronnie and Jack were a bunch of crooks.


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[Assistant] If she discovered that they were a bunch of crooks and she did indeed go to visit Eddie that afternoon, why did she go back to the house that very night? That's what I don't get. Or like the next night and then get married.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is what I'm not understanding. Unless she was kidnapped and like forced into it, but then the priest said that everybody was happy that night.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I don't know. So Helen's story fed into the prosecutor and the public's belief that Ronald was somehow responsible for Christina's death.


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[Assistant] But it was based purely on her own interpretation of events, that not only was unsupported by the facts of the case,


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[Assistant] But also contradicted direct- directly contradicted the testimony of others. For example, like I just said, Father Markle, the priest who performed the wedding ceremony, told the family,


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[Assistant] Told both the family and the jury at the inquest that quote,


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[Assistant] He had not observed anything unusual about Christina's appearance or her behavior on the day of the wedding.


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[Assistant] Both Jack and Christina were clear that they wanted to be married and entered into the marriage of their own free will. Okay. And remember that night!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She looked at her sisters and said, I want to marry Jack. And Helen was like, no, and went to the police and the police were like, we can't do anything.


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[Assistant] The murder-suicide allegedly thing? The alleged murder-suicide? Yeah. I don't know.


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[Assistant] Helen insisted Christina never experienced depression or mental illness and that she would have never taken her own life.


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[Assistant] However, Toronto handwriting expert Stephen Lutt


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[Assistant] Uh, testified that he examined the letter supposedly written by Christina.


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[Assistant] And determined, er, and confirmed that the handwriting was undoubtedly that of Christina. Which, it's a shaky, it's a shaky science question mark, but many times when someone takes their life. Yup.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dr. C.S. Tennant, a local psychiatrist, also testified as to the content of the letters, telling the jury he believed Christina, quote,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Demonstrate rather poor judgment, often had tantrums, and in their emotional outbursts, they may commit, uh, uh, acts which may be a crime, in which they would not ordinarily commit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And hadn't she been described before as having tantrums? Yes. So, whatever it is he's describing.


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[Assistant] Seems to apply. Seems like something she might be suffering from at least around something like that. Yes.


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[Assistant] Now, going into the coroner's inquest, Helen was confident that the proceedings would clear up the mystery surrounding Christina's death.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But within just a few days, the conflicting testimony from Helen and the other witnesses really only seemed to further confuse things. Ultimately, and somewhat ironically,


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[Assistant] It was testimony from Ronald Berry and Jack Kettlewell that would provide clarity around many of the more confusing matters. It's no time. Kind of.


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[Assistant] In his statement given to police shortly after his discharge from the hospital, Jack Kettlewell admitted that


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[Assistant] He had also been engaging in quote unquote unnatural sex relations, he says that because of the time, with Ronald Berry.


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[Assistant] And that the two had been quote unquote male lovers for many years. Okay.


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[Assistant] So when Hope confronted Jack with his statement during the inquest,


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[Assistant] Jack actually tried to walk back his admission telling the jury that he had been pressured into that com- that confession by the police, which


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe he was pressured into that confession or maybe he just wasn't willing to admit in front of an entire room full of people in the 40s that he was a gay man. The problem with his recantation


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[Assistant] Was that it had already been confirmed by Ronald Berry in his own statement to the police.


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[Assistant] Ronald Berry still tried to corroborate Jack's assertion, telling the jury that they had only engaged in sex a few times and it had been over a long time ago.


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[Assistant] This makes me really sad. It's really sad. That they're both like, they both clearly...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like each other. And it's like, and it's like they, and it's making me really sad that they're having to like...


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[Assistant] And it's like, it's okay, man. It's really sad. Like, but it's like the 40s and it's like, fuck. That's the thing. And still convinced of Ronald Berry's guilt. And that's the sad thing, I think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think Ronald Berry was always around because he loved Jack and he was worried about Jack's safety with Christina.


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[Assistant] That obviously he and Jack had been involved in some way. And I think he knew that this seems like, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like it's a bad idea. Yea, this marriage to Christina. Because this isn't for the kind of love that you are looking for. Exactly. And that's really sad. It is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's really sad too that everybody thinks that he has something to do with this woman's death. If he didn't, I still have no fucking idea one way or the other, but.


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[Assistant] It just doesn't feel like it. It doesn't totally. I wouldn't say like 100% I'm unconvinced, but I wouldn't say I'm 100% convinced. No. Oh no. At all. No.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, but that's the sad thing is that most people did suspect him.


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[Assistant] One of those people convinced of Ronald Berry's guilt was the, was hope there. And he rejected his attempts to shield Jack and pursued this angle as one of the driving forces in the case and actually asked Dr. Tennant, the psychologist, his opinion of the men's relationship. This is the forties, remember?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] According to Tennant, quote, the case of homosexual is a case of arrested development. Many matured slowly but they did mature, he said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Others told him that women nauseated them, so we cannot tell what the girl found out or experienced emotionally.


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[Assistant] That is some 40's ass backward shit. Absolutely. And that was said with his whole chest. His entire chest. Like that was said right out in public being like I am a doctor and this is true. And at the same time was he saying we cannot tell what the girl found out or experienced emotionally because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did she find out? That's the thing. That they were together and that's what she was so upset about? Did she discover this? And that's what had, you know, triggered this entire thing? Potentially? But then you wonder too, cause in her notes,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She says another girl. Does she say that to save Jack? Or does she say that because she believes it? Who knows?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Possibly, and this is just a question, have used that to her advantage and outed him. Because this was a time where, you know, you could do that and people could have, suffer serious consequences.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So did she? Yeaah. That's what makes me think she didn't know. Yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know? Yea, that's the thing. I don't think really, I don't think anybody really knew Christina.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At this point anyways. Now after several days of testimony the coroner's inquest came to a close on June 25th, 1947.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When the jury returned an open verdict, meaning that while they didn't believe Christina had died as a result of murder,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the suspicious fact that Chi was found drowned in nine inches of water.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That fire, the stress of a fire, that's an adrenaline rush. You get an adrenaline crash with coding in your stomach, you fall down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, but it just doesn't explain anything else. The jack of it all. The head wound and all that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And what, where did his head wound come from? I don't know about the head wound. The head wound was strange. And why was he just laying on the, on the couch? He was laying on the couch. That's what I mean, like why was he just laying on the couch? Did he, did he like stumble and fall after ingesting some kind of codeine, whether or not she drugged him or he took it? I have no idea. And then she took some too, like, oh. And what was the reason for that? If it did happen. The only thing,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That I can think of, and this is again alleged and just a thought, a theory.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did, was she upset? Because remember, she was upset that morning saying to Ronald, like he, I don't know if he married me because he wanted to or because, you know, the alleged murder-suicide.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did she get to a point of like deep, deep sadness again?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And realized that he didn't love her and maybe he was going to leave and she ingested some kind of coding herself and gave him some and somehow he stumbled and hit his head and then climbed up onto the couch and fell asleep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean maybe. I don't know. That's a possibility, absolutely. The head wound of it all is the part that kind of is strange to me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But without any suspect leads or even evidence of a crime, the police declined to pursue the case as a murder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, obviously the coroner's inquest was intended to provide answers for many of the lingering questions in the case of Christina's death and to determine whether foul play was involved.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And although many felt like those lingering questions were never answered or an explanation was provided,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's more likely that they just didn't like or couldn't accept the explanations they were given.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This was a time where mental illness was a very taboo subject and was very poorly understood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And as for the suspicious behavior of Ronald Berry,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was more or less explained in his statements to the police and the jury.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As a closeted gay man his entire life was ruled by secrecy and ambiguity in order to protect his privacy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For example, in hindsight, his attempts to revive his friends after the first suicide attempt rather than call a doctor or a hospital seem suspicious because it implies that he's trying to do something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But instead, according to his own statements, what he was really concerned about was protecting his relationship with Jack and not wanting to put Christina in a scandalous situation should the truth about her actions come to light. That's true. Now, what confirms this even further for me


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is that three years after Christina died, Jack remarried and had a son.


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[Assistant] Uh, but he did, uh, separate from his wife in 1969, in 1969, excuse me, and he never remarried. And when he died in 1998,


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[Assistant] He left his military pension to Ronald Berry. Wow. So they absolutely were in love at some point. I just got like chills from that. I know, I know. I did too.


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[Assistant] Wow. Jack's family never knew about Christina or Ronald and they only learned about the case after his death when his daughter-in-law discovered something about it in an old newspaper.


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[Assistant] Alone in the way of not having a romantic partner is what I mean, cause obviously he had like family and a son and everybody, but. But like never really, it seems like never really like.


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[Assistant] And what happened to Ronald? Ronald stayed in, I think it's Mumaco.


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[Assistant] About ten, uh, for about ten years after the inquest. But in 1956, he left Canada for New York, uh, for New York and dropped out of sight. He left his Pekingese dog, Ling, for Jack's then two-year-old son, Richard.


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[Assistant] So Jack leaves his military pension for Ronald. Yep. And Ronald leaves his, like, beloved dog for Jack's two year old son. Yep.


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[Assistant] Like I'm sorry. Like they were in such love. That's a love story. That is such a love story. The most tragic love story. And you feel bad because...


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[Assistant] But it truly is one of the most confusing and just unclear tragic cases I've ever heard of. And the fact that it's still unsolved is just like, what?


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[Assistant] I'm, I truly think that might be the most bizarre story I've ever heard. Right? I don't think I've heard anything that...


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[Assistant] Shocking and confusing. In forever.


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[Assistant] Like I'm, my brain will not stop just like trying to piece these things together. Cannot compute. Wow.


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[Assistant] But yeaah, that is the tragic death of Christina Kettlewell.


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[Assistant] And the tragic and mysterious death of Christina Kettlewell. And with all of that, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that someone out there someday doesn't solve this because wow, I really need answers. I'm gonna solve this, man. You got this. Keep it that weird.


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[Assistant] Oh my god, it's morbid again. Oh my god. How have you guys been? How have you been? Good? Tell us right now. Bad?


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[Assistant] Big ol' flurries this weekend. And I'm actually pretty excited. It didn't snow at all last year.


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[Assistant] A little pancake party. A little pancake party. I like that. Watch a documentary or like a movie. Just like cozy.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. I have like a couple more years before I have to do that. And even after that a couple more years.


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[Assistant] I think they advise against that. You're good for a little while. Yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of nice. I have like six years at least. Well, no, probably like, I don't know, maybe like four or five. Yeah. I don't know. Once they hit two, you're doomed. So I got like five years, hopefully anyways.


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[Assistant] Uhm, my sole focus for this hour is really, really tragic true crime case. Oh, what a lovely truth, sole focus.


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[Assistant] Yeah, that's my job right now. That's my job. That's my job. That's your job. Yeah, that's our job. So yeah, uhm, I have a story about like a love rectangle.


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[Assistant] Two of the parts of the rectangle square did not know what was going on and it's a cheating scandal. It's awful. And it's terrible. It's got like,


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[Assistant] Preachers in there being bad. Oh my. It's wild, okay. You, the, the, the affairs that your case is.


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[Assistant] Assign Tom the task of establishing a new congregation in Emporia, Kansas.


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[Assistant] With the church elders praising Thomas, one of the best spiritual leaders they ever had, quote unquote.


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[Assistant] Like I know that's a real thing and I know like there's like town elders and shit. There's town elders? I think so, in some towns. That's cool. I feel.


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[Assistant] I was wondering. No. From the outside, Tom and Sandy's marriage, of course, looked strong. That doesn't bode well for reality. No, no. It was the type of relationship that their friends and family admired and actually aspired to. But like I'm always saying,


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[Assistant] Behind closed doors, things between the couple were not how they appeared to be to everybody on the outside.


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[Assistant] Tom's work at the church was keeping him busier than he'd ever been before, and obviously Sandy's responsibilities at work, school, and home left her really little time to pay attention at Tom.


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[Assistant] And she likewise confided to friends that she was worried that he didn't love her anymore. Oh jeez. So it's like they were both just really steering away from each other at this point in time. Yeah, growing apart. Yeah, definitely.


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[Assistant] Outside of the church, Tom's greatest passion was for sports, and he wasted no time getting involved in local athletics, which...


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[Assistant] Totally cool to have a hobby, but if you feel like your wife has no time for you, and you're trying to make time for each other, why go out and join all these sports teams? That's like away from each other. Yeaah. Cause he joined, uh, the Optimist Club basketball team, and then he became the first baseman for the church softball team. So it's like, you didn't even get one hobby, you got two.


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[Assistant] But anyways, it was through sports that he met Martin Anderson and his wife Lorna. Martin and Lorna Anderson had moved to Emporia.


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[Assistant] From, uh, Hutchinson, Kansas in the mid-1970s. And just like Tom and Sandy, they also had several young children between two and eight years old.


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[Assistant] Martin Anderson managed the laboratory at Newman Hospital and he also had a love of sports. So that's how him and Tom kind of got along and struck up a casual friendship.


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[Assistant] They didn't know it when they first met, but the couples had a lot more in common than just sports. Like Tom and Sandy by 1982,


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[Assistant] The cracks in Martin and Lorna's marriage had started to show, unfortunately.


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[Assistant] I think that's how the friend that she asked felt, like woah, this really escalated, I know you guys were like growing apart or whatever, but. I always wonder. What kind of friend do you think you have?


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[Assistant] It's like when two serial killers find each other, I'm like, how'd that conversation start? It's true.


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[Assistant] Yeah, cause her friend was like, I don't actually know anybody that would kill anybody, specifically not your husband. Uhm, also, what? She's like, weird, weird conversation we just had. Like, this was kind of alarming, but.


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[Assistant] That same year Lorna had her attorney actually prepare divorce papers, which you know, maybe you should have gone there first. A little backwards. But later she claimed that Martin talked her out of the divorce. So. Okay. Messy, messy, messy everywhere.


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[Assistant] She was delicate, vulnerable. She doted on her husband and children. She was always quote, quick to smile and quick to cry. That's how people described her. Okay.


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[Assistant] But under the surface, however, she was deeply unhappy in her marriage, as we know, and, uh, also as we know, desperately looking for a way out. Oh, this is upsetting. Privately, she told friends that Martin was abusive toward her, and sometimes toward the children. Oh no. I don't know how true that is, personally.


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[Assistant] Uh, it was that desperation though that eventually led her to accept a part-time job as Tom Byrd's secretary at Faith Lutheran, just a few weeks after their first meeting.


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[Assistant] It sounded at first like maybe she was kind of trying to like beef up some personal funds and try to become more independent to prepare to get out of her marriage. That's the...


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[Assistant] But within a month or two, friends and church members were noticing some things, and specifically they were noticing


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[Assistant] Kind of an intimacy between Tom and Lorna that was, you know, usually absent in friendly relationships, friendly platonic relationships. Into people who are married to other people. Yeaah.


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[Assistant] Due to the counseling he was giving his secretary and nothing more. Uh oh. Which is like, remember that other case that I did, the Don Hackney murder? Yes. And that all had to do with counseling? Yep. Not good. That's always the excuse. Now, in no time at all, Tom became Lorna's primary confidant.


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[Assistant] He was a shoulder to cry on every time things weren't going well at home and within a few months of starting the job, the relationship became sexual.


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[Assistant] Looking back she said, he told me that I was not what he needed in a wife, but that he could make me into what he needed. Sweet!


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[Assistant] Oh boy. Yeah, sad. But as Tom and Lorna's relationship grew, so did the suspicion and the rumors about them spreading around the church. According to journalist Scott Kraft, witnesses described an electricity between the two and said they had pet names for each other. Guys, you should try to hide this a little better. Like you're having an actual affair.


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[Assistant] To try to avoid being found out, they started meeting in nearby towns or renting motel rooms in the country, uh, in the country.


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[Assistant] One night in January, before her affair with Tom had actually begun though, she went out for drinks with one of her friends and actually her supervisor, Jan Meade. When the conversation turned to guys, relationships, all that.


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[Assistant] Lorna stunned Jan when she told her about her crumbling marriage.


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[Assistant] And admitted that she had cheated on her husband more than once in the past. And again, that was before she even started sleeping with Tom.


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[Assistant] Yeah, with that second confession, it was most likely less of a surprise when just a few months later,


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[Assistant] Now, she told Jan, Tom and I are seeing each other and this is the, uh, this is one chance that we have to be alone and I enjoy working there.


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[Assistant] Just a few months later she would tell Jan, I know this sounds really awful, but I just wish something would happen to Marty and Tom's wife so we could be together for the rest of our lives.


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[Assistant] Know that you want that. Be final in your terms. Like, you're not gonna be able to talk me out of this. I want a divorce.


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[Assistant] Hell, even say I'm cheating on you, I want a divorce. Yeah, and it's like, that's the thing. And it's like...


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[Assistant] You know, an allegedly abusive relationship. It's important to at least consider in that situation. It is a consideration. Very good point.


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[Assistant] But Lorna wasn't the only one trying to escape a crumbling marriage, as we know. Tom and Sandy's relationship was also falling apart, which was pushing Tom closer to Lorna.


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[Assistant] Like the other members of the church. Sandy just recognized it for what it was. And Tom wouldn't outright admit to the affair, but he didn't exactly shy away from his unhappiness in the marriage and constantly complained like we know.


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[Assistant] That's Sandy's work and education left her little time for him.


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[Assistant] The thing was, Tom had always envisioned a marriage where his wife would be content just being a pastor's wife. Yeah, that seemed like it to me. That's not Sandy.


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[Assistant] And I have to imagine that part of him knew that, getting into the marriage. He had to have known that. You must have known that she had all these aspirations, or maybe I'm just assuming. And it won't, I mean she's already doing this stuff, like you know she's a


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[Assistant] And I feel like that's what happens a lot in marriages that like, that like we cover when we hear this. It's like, well, I always wanted this. And it's like, but that's not what you sought out. And it's like, and you should be upfront about that.


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[Assistant] Let someone know. But I wonder if it was when he started.


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[Assistant] Having an affair with Lorna that he realized what he wanted. I wonder if that's really what it was.


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[Assistant] And what he wanted, he often complained to Lorna, was someone who quote, considered being a pastor's wife a full time job. Interesting.


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[Assistant] So the more time he spent away from home, the more Sandy began to worry about the marriage. Eventually, the worry started actually affecting her health and well-being. She was losing weight, she was having trouble sleeping, and like I said, this was when on more than one occasion she was telling friends, I'm afraid he doesn't love me anymore. Which is truly gut-wrenching.


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[Assistant] Later, Sandy's friend Angie Dusing would say that Sandy, quote, was hurting a lot over her husband's relationship with his secretary.


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[Assistant] According to Angie, whenever the subject of marriage came up


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[Assistant] But by summertime, Sandy's attitude towards her husband's not-so-subtle infidelity had changed. Her mother Jane explained to reporters that


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[Assistant] Sandy felt like her life was good in the eyes of God and that it was up to Tom to make sure that his was.


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[Assistant] And in early June, she ended up getting a promotion at Emporia State University. So that meant she was going to begin teaching additional classes in the fall, which to her was a welcome distraction from the increasingly dysfunctional marriage.


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[Assistant] But unfortunately, she would not live long enough to embrace or experience that career advancement.


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[Assistant] Despite their spouse's best attempts to address the problems in their respective marriages, neither Tom or Lorna seemed particularly interested in the marriages anymore.


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[Assistant] But the other thing was, and this is according to later witness testimony, and this is a quote,


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[Assistant] But at the end, if they had just divorced their respective spouses, Tom and Lorna would have likely found themselves with a net deficit. He would end up paying alimony and a lot of child support with three children, and she would be responsible for four small children with little more than alimony to support them.


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[Assistant] So instead, together they devised a wicked scheme where they would kill Sandy and stage the scene to look like an accident.


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[Assistant] Get the money from her life insurance and with that money hire somebody to kill your husband. Wow. And they came up with that together evidently.


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[Assistant] Darryl Carter and asked him to meet her at the church, saying that she had something important to discuss with him.


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[Assistant] He went to the church a few days later, completely unaware of what Lorna actually wanted to talk to him about.


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[Assistant] And when he arrived, Lorna introduced him to Tom, who was also there to meet Daryl Carter.


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[Assistant] They explained that they were in love and wanted to be together, but that couldn't happen as long as they remained married to other people.


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[Assistant] Uh, initially, Daryl Carter was like, absolutely not. I don't want anything to do with murder. And also, why don't you just get divorced from your spouses if you want to be together? Same question everybody's having. They're like, guys, there's an easier way.


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[Assistant] But Tom explained that he loved Lorna and was going along with the plan in order to help her get out of an abusive marriage. He told Carter


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[Assistant] Lorna didn't want a divorce because Martin Anderson had a large insurance policy and she wanted the money.


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[Assistant] And Daryl Carter explained, uh, that he wasn't a killer and he had never engaged in anything like what they had planned. To which Tom replied, haven't either. I'm a man of God and I'm going to kill Martin Anderson.


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[Assistant] Wow. But that he was still a man of God. Yeah, obviously. Isn't it like a commandment, like thou shall not kill? I feel like that's a pretty, uh, solid one. I think that's a big one. I think that's one that's like...


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[Assistant] So it's rather unclear why Daryl Carter didn't just walk away from this conspiracy then and there, but instead of doing the rational thing, he stuck around to hear their plans. As Lorna and Tom saw, there were two viable ways to successfully achieve their ends.


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[Assistant] In the first plan, they would get Martin drunk or drug him and then put him in his car and take him to a remote location in the country and push the car over an embankment, making it appear like a drunk driving accident.


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[Assistant] If they went with this scenario, Daryl Carter's role would be to pick Tom up at the accident site and drive him back to the house, leaving Lorna at home all night with an alibi.


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[Assistant] The second option involves saving a ro- uh, staging, excuse me, a robbery at the home where Martin stayed each month during his army reserve duty and shooting him to death, making it appear like a robbery gone wrong. And actually, if they went with the second option, they wouldn't actually need Daryl's help.


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[Assistant] So Daryl was like, okay, a lot to unpack here. I was just going to say that's a lot to consider. He's like, upsetting that I know you. Yeah. So he left the church completely stunned after telling both of them that he was going to need some time to think about this before getting back to them.


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[Assistant] A few days later when they still hadn't heard from him, Tom actually ended up paying a visit to the construction site where Daryl was working and was like, did you make up your mind, dude?


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[Assistant] But Daryl told Tom that he still needed more time to think about it. And a short time later, he called Lorna.


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[Assistant] And told her that he couldn't help them with their plan and assumed that without his involvement, they would drop the whole idea. I was like, ow.


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[Assistant] And Sandy ran inside to grab a bottle of pink champagne for herself and a bottle of whiskey for Tom. And she told the babysitter that they'd be back in about an hour.


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[Assistant] According to Tom, they then went back to his office at the church where they had a couple drinks.


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[Assistant] And then parted ways when Sandy left to go to her office at the university with plans to return a short time later.


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[Assistant] To pick up Tom after he had gone over his sermon for the next morning.


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[Assistant] So Tom claims that he went out for a jog to think about his sermon and returned to the church expecting to find Sandy waiting because she was supposed to pick him up, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. After a little while longer,


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[Assistant] He got concerned and walked around town for a little while looking for Sandy.


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[Assistant] Before finally returning to home to relieve the babysitter without Sandy.


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[Assistant] He found Sandy's body lying face down in the river, just in front of her overturned car.


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[Assistant] Based on the scene, it looked like Sandy had missed the two 90 degree S-curves leading to the bridge.


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[Assistant] And then went through the railing and over the embankment to the river below, obviously causing fatal injuries in the process.


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[Assistant] But while the scene appeared to be that of an accident, almost from the moment he arrived, something about it didn't feel right to the officer.


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[Assistant] There were no skid marks anywhere on the road leading up to the point where the car went over the bridge. That would stick out. So that's strange. And while she might have missed the original curve sending her in the direction of the railing, surely she would have tried to stop the vehicle at some point before it went over the edge. You would think. Right? The lack of skid marks on the road were not the only problem.


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[Assistant] There was other evidence that directly contradicted what had ostensibly happened on Rocky Ford Bridge. Officer Rule found Sandy's watch under the bridge.


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[Assistant] Far away from the car and the body, with no obvious explanation as to how it had gotten there.


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[Assistant] But before he could investigate any further, additional officers and emergency workers arrived on scene and they started trampling on any evidence as they removed the car and Sandy's body.


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[Assistant] Awesome. And he's not like a homicide officer, he just happened to be the officer that stumbled upon this. Oh jeez. So that's not even like his expertise.


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[Assistant] Why is this like a weird running idea? Isn't it?


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[Assistant] I love that, like, that job, it's like, it affords you, like, immunity. Couldn't possibly.


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[Assistant] So the coroner essentially agreed with the sheriff that Sandra Bird's death was the result of a tragic accident and nothing more.


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[Assistant] But the most likely cause of death was a transacted kidney.


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[Assistant] Despite some other, uh, excuse me, some of the evidence contradicting the coroner's findings, like Sandy only having a small trace of alcohol in her blood,


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[Assistant] No one contested the findings, and the cause of death was officially logged an accident.


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[Assistant] Breachers' wives don't use their breaks. No, of course not. Like what?


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[Assistant] So when Officer Scott Cronk delivered the news to Tom Byrd that morning, he was surprised by the preacher's reaction and he started to feel a little bit like Officer John Rule was feeling.


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[Assistant] Tom responded to the officer asking, what was she doing out there? We never go out there. Where is it? What?


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[Assistant] First of all, so many questions. Second of all, strange questions. Strange questions and you're really going like right off the bat being like, she's never gone there, we never go there. I've never seen that road. What is it? What's a road? What is a road? Who's a car? A vehicle? What? Huh?


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[Assistant] Uh, before even knowing where that location was, by the way. That's tough. Because he said


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[Assistant] We, we never go there. Where is it? You don't know where it is, but you also know that you've never gone there. I just know that we have never been there. You don't even know where it is. Like what? What?


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[Assistant] But that wasn't the only thing that seemed off. In Tom's version of events, when Sandy didn't arrive to pick him up, he ran around town looking for her.


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[Assistant] It seemed a bit strange, at least to this officer and a few others, that he wouldn't just call the babysitter first to find out if Sandy had just gone home and maybe forgot to pick him up. Immediately he assumed the worst. Obviously. Why?


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[Assistant] Like, rule suspicions, officer rule there. Officer Kronk put his own curiosities out of his head, not wanting to assume a religious leader capable of anything nefarious, because you know, that never happens. No, you cannot consider that, ever.


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[Assistant] So although he had acknowledged the coroner's determination that Sandy's death was accidental, Officer John Rule just couldn't shake the feeling that everyone had either gotten something wrong or was just simply ignoring the obvious. Yeaah. He recalled,


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[Assistant] He was convinced that he had come upon the scene of a homicide that night and he wasn't ready to let it go. So he quietly continued to pursue the case on his own. Oh, John Rule. I know. John Rules. Yeah, exactly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] While the coroner and rural superiors were unwilling to hear his theories, he was by no means alone in his suspicions. Kansas Bureau of Investigations, aka the KBI, agent J. Vernon Humphrey said,


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[Assistant] Of course not. You know that this is happening, but nobody wants to talk about it. That's even more sus. Yea, where there's smoke, there's fire. Friends and family might not have wanted to speculate on whether Tom was having an affair, but that didn't mean that they didn't want to talk about Sandy altogether. They did.


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[Assistant] Rule spoke to those who knew her best, and what emerged from those conversations was


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[Assistant] A portrait of a woman that Ruhl described as very, very diligent, very intelligent.


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[Assistant] Sandy. And he also learned that, among other things, she was a stickler for safety and always wore her seatbelt. I could, you know what that makes sense.


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[Assistant] So the fact that Sandy always wore her seatbelt was yet another thing about the scene that didn't make sense. When Ruel initially made his way down to the crash site, he discovered Sandy's body face down in the creek, suggesting that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She had been forcibly ejected from the car when it went over the rail.


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[Assistant] After it had been removed from the site, Rule learned that the driver's seat had been adjusted much farther back.


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[Assistant] In September, Lorna placed another call to Daryl Carter, who again declined to help them.


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[Assistant] But neither the couple or Danny ever heard back from the contact in Mississippi.


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[Assistant] Lorna and Martin, along with their four children, drove out to Fort Riley to pick up a new uniform for Martin's Army Reserve position.


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[Assistant] So she pulled off the road and ran into an adjacent field to vomit.


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[Assistant] Yes. What the fuck is about to happen is something terrible.


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[Assistant] So, she claimed that she felt sick, she pulled over and ran into an adjacent field to vomit.


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[Assistant] She said as she walked back to the car, she realized she had dropped her keys, so she asked Martin to come help her find them.


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[Assistant] And as they searched in the ditch near the car, a man quote,


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[Assistant] Cloaked in a black ski mask seemed to come from nowhere and demanded that Martin hand over his wallet.


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[Assistant] According to a statement given to the press by Tom Byrd a few days after the killing,


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[Assistant] So Tom Byrd gave a statement about Martin's murder. Which he was not present at. Uh, yes. Allegedly. Yep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He said, the man went berserk, shooting. He shot Marty a number of times. He grabbed Lorna and pulled her down, then took Marty's wallet. Then a car was coming by so he threw her in the ditch, jumped on top of her and told her not to scream. Then he got scared and ran. She didn't see where he went.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After the attack, a passing driver stopped to help Lorna and flagged down a school bus transporting a local high school football team to a game nearby. This is like so small town.


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[Assistant] In their own statement to the press, Junction City undersheriff John DiPiercio


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[Assistant] But he said they don't have a suspect, they don't have a weapon, and most importantly, they have no sensible motive for the murder of Anderson.


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[Assistant] That would be my first thing. I'd be like, there's all these rumors about her having an affair everybody. Exactly. Check into it at least. Don't you worry. Okay, good. So the undersheriff might not have had any suspects or motive, but authorities in and around Emporia were starting to think that they might have some insight into who would want to kill Martin Anderson and why.


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[Assistant] After hearing the surprisingly detailed yet also suspiciously vague statement that, again, Tom Bird question mark.


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[Assistant] The editor of the Emporia Gazette, Ray Call, told another editor, if you believe that, I'd like to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.


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[Assistant] That's interesting. Interesting. Mhm. Wow. But yea, like I said, Jayvern and Humphrey was like, there's a weird fucking connection between the two of these quote unquote widow and widowers.


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[Assistant] So, he called his colleagues in nearby, I think it's Geary County.


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[Assistant] But Lorna had also recently taken out a policy on her husband not long before he was murdered. Ah.


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[Assistant] Weird. Strange. So crazy. Yeaah. So, after just a few days of investigation, detectives traced the $5,000 to Danny Carter.


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[Assistant] Danny told police that he indeed received the money from Lorna Anderson as a payout for the murder of her husband.


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[Assistant] But he said the man to whom he sent the money had never contacted them to arrange the hit.


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[Assistant] But still the Carter brothers were charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Damn.


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[Assistant] On November 18th while they were being held in jail, Darryl contacted their lawyer and told him pretty much flat out,


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[Assistant] That Reverend Tom Bird was absolutely involved in the deaths of both Sandy and Marty.


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[Assistant] Danny Carter told police about his role in the crime, specifically noting that while he did act as a go-between for Lorna and the hitman that was supposed to be hired, he never committed an act of violence. And he also explained that as far as he knew, the person to whom he sent the money had never followed through. So if Martin Anderson was murdered, and he was,


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[Assistant] It wasn't by anybody that Danny Carter knew. Interesting. Cause he was like the guy in Mississippi never answered. So, so I don't know what happened here. So I'm not sure. The intention was there, we did not do it. Right. Based on what Danny Carter told them, the detectives were still missing a lot of pieces to the puzzle and actually at this point really only knew one thing for certain.


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[Assistant] Lorna Anderson had conspired with the Carter brothers in an attempt to have her husband murdered. Wow.