Let’s Chat about all the Crimecon happenings from Nashville!!
It is solvable. It was solvable two weeks after it happened. March twenty fifth, two thousand and four, Cross Plains, Tennessee their last day question Mark. Jennifer Just, twenty one, stands in the kitchen of her boyfriend Joey Benton's family home, where she and her two year old daughter, Adriana Wicks have been living. She has the only phone in the home in her hand and is on a call with her father. Jennifer expresses how the night before, she and her boyfriend's parents, Joe and Cindy Benton, have been involved in a very heated argument. In fact, it was so heated that Jennifer was still rattled from the night before. She moves the receiver down to talk to a muffled female voice coming from behind her. She then says goodbye to her father and hangs up the phone. And what happens next, Well, that's what we're here to find out, isn't it. Jennifer and Adriana Wicks have not been seen or heard from since March twenty fifth, two thousand and four. I'm a true crime investigated podcaster living in the same town where the Wicks girl went missing. Hi I'm Jules, and I've teamed up with Jennifer's sister Casey Robinson to ask some big questions from our little hush town that we've been too afraid to ask each other over the last twenty years. Where are Jennifer and Adriana Wicks? Small towns talk and guess what we're listening? Missing in Hushtown is coming twenty twenty four. Wherever you get your podcasts. The entire first season will drop in August. We'll see you then. Welcome to Primetime Crime. I'm your host, Kylie. Let's talk right now in true crime, and then together we are going to work on warming up some cold cases. Let's go Welcome to the Dead Podcast. I'm your host Desi, and on this podcast, I discuss all things spooky and weird, from ghosts, demons, religion, to folklore, urban legends, true crime, and all things paranormal, with some horror movie reviews sprinkled in. So join me on this ride. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Primetime Crime. It's Kylie. We are going to go ahead and jump into right now and your crime. We have some big things to talk about. If you are a unsolved case follower like I am. Anytime there is a break in an unsolved case, it is big, big news, So we are going to talk about that. To start things off today, they have made an arrest in the murder of Rachel Morin. Finally, Rachel was murdered back in August of twenty twenty three while she was on the MA and PA jogging trail in Maryland. She was viciously attacked and murdered. And they initially had a semi lead in this case because there was DNA evidence that was able to tie it back to a home invasion and assault that had occurred earlier in the year, but they didn't have the identity of this person. They had no idea who this person was. They had surveillance video of this person. They came out with a composite sketch of this person earlier this year, and on Rachel's birthday, they got a tip that led them to who the killer actually was. And his name is Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez. He came to this country illegally in January of twenty twenty three. This is after he murdered a girl in El Salvador. He came here and he then assaulted a mother and her nine year old daughter. That was the assault that happened. I believe it was in California, and then he made his way into Maryland and ended up murdering Rachel. Where he's been on the in between, God only knows they that have probably been in his path and the things he's done, because like I said, this is a vicious, vile person. I'm not surprised that Rachel was in his first murder victim. The fact that he killed somebody in El Salvador not shocked. And I don't know if we're gonna find any other cold cases that potentially could be linked to this individual. I really don't know. But regardless of that, they got the tip, they were able to positively identify him and they arrested him in Oklahoma. So he's been traveling kind of everywhere, and like I said, God knows what has been happening in his path because he is a dangerous, dangerous human. So I am so happy that an arrest has been made, he is off the streets. He is hopefully going to be brought back to Maryland so he can be brought up on charges of mur for Rachel's case, and I will continue to keep you guys updated on that one as more starts to come out. But regardless, anytime a cold case gets answered, we celebrate. So we are going to celebrate that in Rachel's case. Circling back to a story that I brought you on the last right now, in True Crime, Amber Portwood's fiance Gary Waite has officially been found. After I recorded that portion of the episode, there was a spotting of him on some surveillance video inside of a Horizon store in Oklahoma City, so that was a confirmed sighting and now they have come out and said that he has been found safe. No other information is being provided, but I want answers. I want to know, like where he went. He obviously left without his phone, so him being in a Verizon store makes me think, okay, he was trying to disappear off the grid and then went and got a new cell phone, which is really interesting. I just need to know more. That's just the kind of person I am. I want more info. However, I am really glad that he is safe and hopefully he is well, and I'm sure potentially maybe we'll see it all play out on the new season of Teen Mom. I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait and see, but if anything does come out, I will continue to keep you guys updated. Moving on, there is a little bit of semi breaking news in the Crystal Rogers case. They have officially named their potentially could have a site that her remains were located, and it is a dig site that's located near Cox Creek in Nelson County. This is in Kentucky. There was a document that was unsealed on Friday and it says that Steven Lawson had told detectives in November of twenty twenty three that he saw his son, Joseph Lawson, and another man who is named Jeremy Thompson digging and burning at the site in Cox Creek with a skid steer, which is a type of excavating equipment. They were allegedly burning large amounts of wood in a hole at the request of David Thompson. And this all happened within five days of Crystal rogers disappearance. So this case is so complex and convoluted, there is a lot to it. I'll be honest, I am not the one that knows a crap ton about it, but one of my friends, Anna knows a lot about this case. We've talked about her coming on the pod to give us all of the info on it. Like I said, I know a little bit about it, but I don't know the ins and outs. However, they have arrested a few different people for their involvement in this, but they don't have any remains yet, so hopefully this will lead them to some remains. Any people that are responsible will be held response in a court of law and Crystal and her family can finally see justice. But as always, I will keep you guys updated if anything new happens to come out in regards to Crystal Rogers, her case, or anything having to do with any of the suspects in the case. Last thing I quickly want to talk about is there is a hearing in Brian Cooberger's whole thing coming up on June twenty seventh of this year, and it is going to be open and live streamed, so I will be sure to keep you guys updated on that. It says counsel shall be prepared to address scheduling dates, including a briefing schedule and oral argument dates for pre trial motions, including motions to suppress and any motions challenging the death penalty, expert disclosure deadlines, a trial setting deadlines for prefiling materials such as proposed jury instructions, duror questions, witness lists and exhibit lists, and sentencing disclosure deadline. So that is going to be going on in what about ten days, so I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on that. And with all of that, we are going to go ahead and get started with today's episode. I decided to do my little crime Con recap for this week's episode because I desperately needed just to kind of talk and get out all of my thoughts and feelings about crime Con, talk about all of the different things. So we will go ahead and get started with that, and I hope you guys enjoy the episode. Okay, guys, the episode you have been waiting for. At least one of you has been waiting for my Crime Con twenty twenty four recap. I'm doing this episode today instead of a unsolved case because I honestly do not have the brain capacity to do an unsolved episode at the moment. Crime Con for me is an extremely amazing, emotional, draining, crazy experience all wrapped up into one followed by being sick, followed by getting back to work after two weeks. I am emotionally exhausted, and I need to honor that and not overdo it. Hence why this bonus episode is going to be not a bonus episode and just a regular old happy Monday episode. So that is what we're doing. And I am going to talk all about my Crime Con twenty twenty four experience, which was fabulous and fantastic. I'm going to tell you about all of the different things, all the sessions that I went to, all the things I learned, all the people I met, and it's going to be fantastic. I really have been trying to sit in it and kind of think about all of my thoughts and all the different things, and how I wish that I could split myself into fourteen people over the weekend so I could do all of the different things. Like I said, an amazing experience, but very very emotional, and when you're an mpath you literally soak up all the emotion of people around you, and it is a draining weekend, but in the best way, if that makes any amount of sense. So I'm going to kind of go in order in regards to like everything, all the different sessions the happening is at crime Con. So crime Con runs from Friday to Sunday, and it is jam packed. You think that you start at nine o'clock on a Saturday morning and you literally go until eight pm on a Saturday night because you're literally going to all of these different sessions and doing all of the things. It is way more exhausting than it sounds. And until you've been, I really can't tell you how exhausting it is. When you go, you're gonna know. So let's start Thursday. So I typically will plan to get into wherever it is a day before, so it officially starts Friday. I want to get there a day in advance so I can get my bag, check in. If there's a kickoff party, I want to go to the kickoff party. I need to orient myself to the area so I know where I'm going. I am like a planner type a to a tee. So it was in Nashville this year and it was at the oper Land Gaylord oper Land, I'm probably butchering that, which is a freaking massive hotel, like super super huge hotel. I was overwhelmed immediately just when I went into the lobby trying to find my way. I get lost wherever I go typically on a normal basis, so going to a new place, I am overwhelmed and I get lost so so easily, So immediately I'm lost when I go to this hotel, but I eventually, of course find my way. My cousin is with me. I am also meeting some of my podcasting gals for the first time, so that's super, super exciting. So we get in Thursday. It's in the evening at this point. Check in is not until four, so by the time we get to the hotel, it's easily six o'clock and we check in, we go to the room. I am angry because have we met, and I so desperately need to eat, so we get our badges. I kind of like look and see where the different places are, the different rooms, the meet and greet area, and then I am nursing a headache, so I have to go get some food. So I go get some food. And at this point I'm like exhausted, like it's already setting in, the exhaustion, the travel, all of it's setting in. But the kickoff party is at nine, so your girl has to get her life together. So the other girls that I've met through podcasting are going to the kickoff party. So I quickly and when I say, I got ready in like ten minutes. Because they were waiting and Uber was going to pick us up, I had no time to get ready, so I quickly got ready, put on my cowboy get up, and then we ubered to the kickoff party, which was at this cute little like bar restaurant that was super fun. They had like a line dancing area set up and a live band and everybody was just there mixing, mingling, talking and it was a great time. We got to see Chris Hansen, we got a picture with him, We chatted with some other podcasters that were there and just chatted with each other because we're obviously meeting in real life for the first time. So fantastic time. Got back to the hotel, crashed out by like two am because I was freaking toast, and then the next day Crime con Adventure start at noon, so it is a little bit of a later start, but you definitely need it because I needed that like little chill time in the morning to orient myself, get my life together, figure out what sessions I wanted to do that day. Who I was gonna go see kind of plan everything out. It is so overwhelming. So the first session I went to was Scamanda, A Look Inside the Cancer con Now, if you guys haven't listened to this Scamanda podcast, I highly, highly highly recommend it. So this is the overview of what the podcast Scamanda is about. Scamanda is a twenty twenty three podcast series from Lyons Gates Sound that tells the true story of Amanda Riley, a woman from San Jose, California, who faked having Hodgkins lymphoma for seven years. The podcast is hosted by award winning journalist Charlie Webster and follows Amanda as she starts some about her cancer journey, inspiring her community and followers around the world. However, investigative producer Nancy receives an anonymous tip to look into Amanda's blog, which leads her to uncover Amanda's secret. So, Nancy Moscatello, who is like literally my human idol, I am obsessed with her, she receives this tip and it's basically like, Hey, there's this girl, Amanda, she allegedly has cancer and she is doing this blog and she is getting donations from all over the world from church. It's like this ongoing thing, and I think you should look into it now. It's really scary, of course, to take on a story like this, because there isn't entirely huge chance that Amanda really could have cancer. And it's really scary to call someone on their shit when they're claiming that they're a cancer patient and they have pictures and all these different blog posts and all these different things. It is so overwhelming. But essentially they did uncover that Amanda was faking having cancer. She was scamming people out of a crap crap ton of money, and there was also some things going on where her stepdaughter was involved, and Amanda was trying to get the step daughter taken away from her mother, and it just ended up being this whole thing. They also her and her husband also had another child, so there was definitely a lot going on in this home, like crazy things happening behind closed doors that I cannot even imagine. Because Amanda was pulling the scam in front of everyone and on social media on the internet, it is insane. So Nancy starts digging into things and it all ends up coming out that this is a scam. Amanda goes to prison and get the This is probably the best part. Amanda has been in and out of the prison hospital because she has some type of illness and they just can't figure out what it is. So they want Amanda to get out because they need to be able to dig into this little further and figure out what this illness is. This girl is still scamming people from prison with the same shit that she's been scamming people for for like seven years prior with all this cancer stuff. She will never stop. She is a menace to society. She is a terror, and she deserves to stay exactly where she is. In my opinion, she is not a good person and anyone that falls for her crap is crazy. And I think it's such a major slap in the face to people patience, Families that really deal with a cancer diagnosis and have to try to navigate that, navigate treatment, navigate finances, navigate not being able to work, and having to figure out how to adapt to a new norm And this lady literally is scamming people out of all of this money, getting donations for her and her family while she is perfectly fine. So in your head, you really think what kind of person would fake having cancer? It actually happens a lot more than you would think. I can't even imagine being in the mindset to fake having an illness like that. But Amanda Riley is a human terror and I hope she stays in prison for a very, very long time. So that was that session. It was a fantastic way to start the day, all right. Next session that I went to was Future of Forensics with David and Kristin Middleman from Athram. They are semi local to me, their labs in the Woodlands and they are doing fantastic, freaking amazing things using advances in DNA technology genealogy. It is so interesting to hear of all of the different cases that they have helped solve, and they are still currently solving. They have had so many in just the last couple of weeks that they have solved. If you are on Facebook, you guys need to follow their solved page. It's DNA Solves Advocates and it's amazing how much they are helping in all of these different cases, not just with identifying unidentified victims, helping close cases in regards to homicide victims, but they're also identifying people that are suspects in a lot of these cases and finally apprehending them after all of this time. So it is amazing the work that they are doing, and they're going to continue to do. I've brought them up many times on this podcast. They help solve the Carla Walker case and give Carla's family the piece and the answers that they needed. They were able to try and convict Glenn mccurly on her murder, and it, honestly, for these families that have had decades of injustice, something like this is huge. They are literally changing people's lives. If you are not familiar with them, I do suggest you look them up like the Facebook page, like I said, DNA Soft's advocates, and follow the work that they're doing because they are doing amazing, amazing things. So the next hour I went to a session with Chris Hansen. It was called Sextortion the Hidden Epidemic. Now this session is so important and I feel like not a lot of people are talking about it because it's kind of a new, up and coming thing. But this session was about something that is called sextortion, and it featured two families, both of their sons ended up commit suicide after they became victims of sextortion. So a lot of people have no idea what sextortion is. It's often going to be teenage boys who are targeted, and they are targeted by people who are in other countries. They are often males who are targeting these teenagers, but they are playing a part, so they are online. They are catfishing as young attractive women over Instagram. This isn't like some weird third party dark web app. It is freaking Instagram that these people are using to prey upon your children, and they will start a conversation. Of course, teenage boys are going to be interested in teenage girls. They start having a conversation. The teenage girl will then send photos of herself, likely you know, naked ish photos, and then in return, they of course want pictures of the teenage boy. The teenage boy sends these photos to these con artists and they use these photos now as blackmail and bribery to get money from the teenage boys. So they basically say, if you don't pay me x amount of money by this time, I'm going to send this photo to all of your contacts. Your life is going to be over. Your parents are going to hate you, no one will want to be your friend. And to a teenage child, that literally destroys their life, and they hound and they taunt and they harass non stop. And these two boys, there are so many that this happens too, but these two boys, in particular, their families were there. They discussed kind of what happened, what happened leading up to all of this, how they had no idea that was going on, and that they literally saw no other way out but to commit suicide. They were told buy these con artists, by these people that are sitting on a computer in another country, you should just kill yourself. There's no other way out for you. This is what you have to do. If you don't pay me the money, you should just kill yourself. And that is horrific that these people are getting away with it, and it's happening on Instagram, like this is happening on Instagram, and that Instagram social media meta, whatever the heck you want to call it, isn't cracking down on this kind of stuff. Because I know if I go on Instagram or I go on Facebook and I comment on someone's post about there being a spider and I say you should burn the house down. I'm in Facebook jail for a damn week. But these predators are literally on these apps protect to be other people harassing our children and getting away with it because there is no online security. And if you don't think it's going to happen or it could happen to your child, you are insanely wrong. And that is why Chris Hansen is doing what he's doing and trying to bring awareness to this. That's why these parents are talking about this because it is a real thing. And these two boys who committed suicide because of sex stortion were two of the most normal teenagers that you could find, active in school, active in sports, nice, normal family to parent household, nothing that you would ever think would lead them to commit suicide. But they were targeted online through an app like Instagram. Not like Instagram. We're targeted through Instagram and ended up losing their lives because these horrific people exist and social media is doing nothing to stop it. One of the dads said that if this happened to Mark Zuckerberg's is that his name? If that happened to his son, you know that shit would be hit in the fan and it's so true when you really think about it. So two parents out there, whether you have male or female children, protect them, talk to them, let them know that these people are out there and they very easily could be targeted. It could happen to anybody, and awareness is key. Having these conversations early with your kids is key. We have to keep them safe online because we have an internet full of predators that our kids are given access to, and these predators have access to our kids on social media. We have to be hyper hyper vigilant, have these tough convers stations and if you're interested in learning more about what is happening here. Chris Hansen has a streaming network called True Blue tru Blu. He has a whole episode about sextortion. He talks to one of the families that was present at crime Con to share about their story. They have turned the death of their son into a foundation called Do It for James. They go on talks to different schools and share about their experience. So they are doing their best to try to educate the masses. And that's really what we need to do as a society, so everyone is on the same page and we can combat this so thank you for coming to my sextortion Ted talk. It's just as dangerous as the child predators that Chris Hansen takes down, if not more dangerous, because these people are actually making people commit suicide because they feel like there's no other way out. So please please please educate your children on this. Okay, Following that, I went to a session with Candace DeLong, who is like the best former FBI criminal profiler, one of the first women to work in the FBI. She's fantastic. So her session was surviving a serial killer Scott versus Wild Bill, and this was so interesting. So there's a serial killer who has the nickname wild Bill. His name is William Dathan Hlbert. He goes by William Adolpho Cortes, and he is from North Carolina but is currently serving forty seven years for the killing of five Americans in Panama. And basically what he did is he carried out all these different crimes and murders and then tried to frame this guy named Scott, who was just trying to enjoy his early retirement, living with his family in Panama, living his best life. He tried to frame this guy for murder and it just became this whole jacked up, messed up thing. So the whole session was basically about that. And there is going to be a podcast coming out this summer called Natural Selection Scott Versus Wild Bill. Candice DeLong is involved in that. It is a wild story. Highly suggests you guys check that out because it shows you how easy it is to get caught up in a scheme where someone is literally framing you for the murders that they committed. And this guy very charismatic. He opens a bar in Boca Ratone and he's welcoming all the locals and in the meantime, his bodies buried beneath the bar. Like this guy gives zero FS and he's a serial killer and he almost got away with it because he framed this other guy for the murders. Wild story. So be sure to check that podcast out. Honestly, anything with Candict along I will one hundred percent obsess over and listen to. So check it out. Okay, next session, let me look and see. I went to till Death do' his part with Nancy Grace. Now I was running on empty at this point in time. I listened to about thirty minutes of Nancy, and then I think we left to go get some dinner and go get some rest because we were going to have a late night, so we went and did that, and then at eight o'clock we went to a separate ticketed event with John Douglas, who is a legendary FBI pro filer. He is very exclusive, he's never been a crime con before. Getting to attend one of his sessions was like super bucket list for me, so the fact that I got to do it, it was amazing. It was like three hours, two hours, three hours. I can't even recall. It went till eleven o'clock. I think it started at nine and went to eleven. And I literally could have sat there and listened to John Douglas talk until like five am. If he would have kept going, I would have stayed there. I was exhausted and I had nothing left in the tank. But it was so good listening to him talk about the different types of serial killers and their emos and how they will attack their victims and just kind of what they do. It is so intriguing to me. And he is so knowledgeable. He has so many famous cases that he's he is literally sat with some of the creepiest, craziest serial killers, and he just has all of this information. Literally, if you ever get a chance to see him, I would highly suggest you go see him. I am so glad I did not miss out on the opportunity to go listen to him learn from him, and I was just so overwhelmed with information in the best way. So that was the end of Friday. Okay, So Saturday started off with Crime Concurd with Susan Constantine. She is honestly one of my favorite speakers. She is so intelligent. So the whole premise of the session was to talk about how lawyers will typically pick a jury. She is so knowledgeable. She is a jury consultant, she is a body language expert. She knows her shit. So she was talking about some of the previous clients she's had and the way that she had to really work to make them presentable in court because that kind of stuff matters, and it really does, and it was so cool. So she is talking to us about all of this, and then at one point she says, there is probably five or six of you that have a jury summons under your chair, So if you have one, you have to come up on stage I was so hoping that I had one, but I did not. The chair next to me did not. I was super bummed. But anyways, these six it's all women. Of course, it's crime con. It's like ninety eight percent women. These six women get on stage and they are asked to say a little about themselves, what they do for their job, and you know, what they do in their free time, YadA, YadA, YadA, so on and so forth. And the case that they are going to be sat on potentially is the Karen retrial. We have not talked about the Karen retrial on this podcast, but I do want to take some time at some point to talk about it. It's messy, it's all over the place, it's a hot mess. Well most of them hadn't heard of it, which I guess if you're going to be picked for a jury, it's a good thing if you don't know the case. But it's so interesting to kind of hear some of their answers to different things and kind of understand why a jury would pick somebody over someone else and why they would dismiss one person over another. It was so cool, so interesting. It was an interactive session. We love to see it so that was really fun session. I love listening to her speak. Last time she was at Crime Con, it was in Vegas, and she spoke about body language and how you can obviously use the way that somebody presents themselves their body language to kind of tell if they're being truthful or not so so interesting. I again could have listened to her talk all day long, all right. Next session was John Ramsey and Paula Woodward. I heard them speak in Vegas back in twenty twenty two, and we are still in the exact same spot. Boulder Police Department in Denver has refused to take the DNA evidence that they have in the John and A Ramsey case and send it out for further DNA testing. They are saying the technology isn't advanced enough. And all of these other labs all around the country, such as AUTHORAM, are saying it is advanced, we can test it, but they refuse to release it. So it is constantly a battle trying to get this DNA tested, and Paula Woodward is really trying to help propel it forward. John Ramsey of course is trying to help propel it forward, trying to get this DNA tested once and for all, because that is the smoking gun. So what is Boulder PD hiding? That is my question. What are they hiding? And I've talked about it on this podcast before, especially probably on my Crime Con twenty twenty two recap episode all of the evidence quote unquote evidence in the John Vane Ramsey case that if you haven't studied this case in depth thoroughly, you think you know a lot about what evidence they have in this case, you do not know half of it because you were told by the media certain things like we all were back in the day of the evidence that they had and all of that stuff. If you do your research on your own, don't follow the media. Do your research. You will see that they have evidence that proves that some and outside of the family committed this crime. I will die on that hill, and that is all I am going to say about that. All right, next session, I did not do because I was standing in line for what felt like fourteen hours to meet the one, the only John Walsh. Now I have to give a shout out to Stephanie because I at first I had told the crew my mission this weekend, if I do nothing else, is to meet John Walsh. So I am taking it very seriously. I am planning to be in line for John Walsh asap, as early as possible. So we met up the girls that I met up because we were our podcasting shirts. We met up to do a little photo sash. I wanted to shoot a reel, so we did that, and then I decided I was going to go ahead and sign up for Crime Gone twenty twenty five, which is in Denver. So I did that, and as soon as I finished that, I was getting ready to go do this little putt putt golf thing to like win Crime Con something or another, and Stephanie called me and said, you might want to get down to the meet and greet area. There's already about thirty people in line for John Walsh. I completely abandoned ship with the putt putt. I like completely laughed, like didn't even care. I rushed down there. I had a piece so super bad, and I knew I was going to be in line for the rest of time. So I did that. I went, I found the John Walsh line. I got in line, and I felt really good about it because I was like thirtieth in line, thank god. So I'm feeling really good. I'm in line. It's like two hours, two and a half hours. They come out and say, John Walsh is not going to be signing autographs. He's only going to be taking pictures, so we can get through as much as the line as possible. Well, John Walsh's literally the best human to ever walk the face of the earth, and he signed every single thing that people brought up to him because people do not know how to follow rules. So with that, there's also this platinum VIP line and those people can literally just walk up and get right in line because they pay a heck of a lot more than I pay in order to do like these advanced meet and greets where you can just walk right up. So with that, the VIP meet and greet line ended up being super super long, and with fifteen minutes to spare my anxiety through the roof that I wasn't going to meet John Walsh, I got to meet John Walsh and it was everything and more that I ever wanted in life. Because I have been watching him since I can remember, probably gosh, I don't even know, since I could talk. I was watching John Walsh on TV on America's Most Wanted, and he has done such amazing things in his life. He has made such a difference for so many people. He's so many bad people, gotten them off the streets. He's done so much for missing children, created so many resources for parents that have missing kids, because when his son Adam was taken, he realized there's no resources, the law enforcement is not prepared to try to find a missing child. There's so many things that have fallen through the cracks that we need to figure out. And he took it upon himself to do that, and he's amazing. I would wait in line all over again to meet him because it was the best moment of life and I will never, ever ever regret doing it. I was exhausted afterwards because I stood on a hard concrete floor for almost three hours to meet John Walsh, but it was freaking worth it all right. Next up was dinner because I was beat and needed to replenish. And then the last session I went to for the day was Josh Makowitz Dateline Developments. Now everyone knows my story from last year when I met Josh in the lobby or whatever, not the lobby, but in the Orlando Hotel, and I told him about like me being Keith's biggest fan. And then he brought it up during a session with Keith on FaceTime that he had met me and I wasn't there, and it was a whole thing. So I saw Josh in the hallway this year before his session and I said, I know, you probably don't remember this, but it was a really significant moment in my life. I went on to tell him about last year, and I don't think he remembered at first, but pretty quickly into the story he was like, oh, yeah, I remember that, and then he asked where I was and I said, well, I was meeting Michael Bodden. He was like, oh, well he's dead too, so it's a good thing you met him. And I'm like, Michael Bodden is not dead. He is here, like currently here, Like don't wish that on him. And he was like, oh yeah, it's Cyril Weck too, who's dead. So anyways, I said, I promise that tomorrow I'm gonna be at your session or I don't know, was it, Yeah, this was Friday, I guess that I talked to Josh. So I said I promised tomorrow I'm gonna be at your session. And then in my head I'm like well what I said. I don't know what I would have done, truly if I had actually been in the room when you did that, because I probably would have had like a panic attack and not known what to do. So I said out, I'll be at your talk tomorrow. I promise I'll be there. So I feel like I have like an inside joke with Josh minkoits from dateline. We're pretty you know, pretty cool, pretty here. So then I'm thinking, oh my god, please don't call me out. So I said that. I was like, please don't call me out tomorrow because I won't know what to do. And Nate Eaton was literally standing right there because I think they were about to do like an interview, and Nate was like, you know, he's going to call you out just because you said that. So I had to go to Josh's session just in the off chance that he were to say something. But Josh is a good human and he did not call me out, although if he had, I would have been prepared to hoot and holler and show myself and prove that I actually was a good person. And going to Josh's session so his session is fun. He always just talks about randomness and we love to see it, we truly do. So that was amazing. But by the end of that I was so exhausted, and I think my body was trying to tell me, girl, you were about to get sick. And sure, freaking enough, I woke up Sunday morning and I had a sore throat, felt like I was getting sick, and I knew, like I knew my body was trying to tell me something. I knew it. I knew it, I knew it. And yeah, Sunday, I woke up, had a sore throat, didn't really feel bad, but also like, eh, I had a sore throat. Right, So I started off with on Sunday the Making of a Wrongful Conviction, which was presented by doctor Nicky Jackson, Matt Murphy, and then the wrongfully convicted Timmy Donaldson. You know, I'm a big proponent of wrongful convictions and spreading awareness about them, so I had to go to the session to learn about what happened with Timmy and his story. It was very powerful, it was emotional. It was amazing to see that Timmy made it out on the other side. And actually the other night when I was watching TV, his story came up on the ID Channel, and doctor Nicki Jackson was on there as well, because she worked very closely with him and still works very closely with him in his post exoneration. So again, I love a good wrongful conviction gone good, and I love a good happy ending story like in Timmy's case. So next up was serial Killer's Apprentice with my girl, doctor Catherine Ramsland. Now last year in Orlando, literally wrote in an elevator with Katherine Ramsland took everything in my soul not to fangirl over her, but I remained cool, calm, and collected because I knew I would get my chance one day to meet her properly. Her session was so interesting because she obviously does a lot of serial killer research and she's written multiple books, and she really was talking about in this particular one, there's serial Killer's Apprentice. So she talked about serial killer from Houston named Dean Coral, and he basically murdered a lot, a lot a lot of young boys. But what he did is he recruited this teenager and other teenagers to help him recruit these young boys so he could therefore murder and molust and torture them and it was horrible stuff. He ended up actually being killed by one of the people that he recruited, so it became a whole thing. But Catherine really talked about what kind of person gets recruited into something like that, and how a serial killer often will use someone like that to kind of help them in their plan to in Dean's case, murder a bunch of little boys. So that was really interesting. And then after her session, I dipped out a little early because I wanted to get the book autographed so I and meet her obviously, so I went and stood in line for that. Luckily, that line was nothing like the John Walsh line. Thank you Jesus. I was like fifteenth in line, and I was able to meet her and get the book signed and all was well. So I got out of that a little early, and I ended up going into a session with Mark Arragos where he was talking. The title of it was from Peterson to Menendez, so my cousin was in the session. I got to hear like the last maybe fifteen minutes of it. Of course, like nobody likes Mark Erragos because he is a defense attorney, and even though I feel like crime con in general is pretty accepting and all, there's still a lot of like, really, I don't want to say this in a rude way, but people that think they're right about everything and have no other room to hear anyone's opinions, Like I am open to hearing everyone's opinions about everything because I want to know how other people think about things, like I'll argue with you to the end of time, but I also want to know what you think. So some people are not like that. That I guess is what makes the world go round. But anyways, after the session was over, my cousin drops this bomb on me, and I'm so mad that I missed it. That Dori this session, Mark Arragos, when he first came out, he said that he was going to be expecting a call that he was going to have to take, and it ended up being Lyle Menendez. On it was like, just it was just a phone call. No, I was going to say FaceTime, but it wasn't FaceTime. It ended up being Lyle Menendez. And the way my jaw hit the floor when I realized that I missed a call from Lyle Menendez, I was shook to my core one hundred percent. Now I will argue all day long that I think the Menanda's brothers were very much abused. I think Jose is a menace to society, and I think that they did us a favor. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on that, and that is okay. Different opinions are fine. But Lyle basically was talking about how he is doing different things in the prison to help cultivate, reducing recidivism and preparing the inmates if they were to get out for life on the outside. So that is really what he is focusing on, which we love to hear. But I was super sad that I missed that because I would have loved, loved to have been in the room when that happened, because I'm sure there was an audible gasp when he called and was on the phone. Some people think that they should be free, some people don't. Opinions will differ, but I am pro team menandas out of prison. But that is just my opinion. Please don't come for me, okay. Last session of the day, last session of Crime con so devastating. Who killed Tracy Sue Walker by a gentleman named Brandon Elkins. This session was so good. I think it was a great way to end crime Con because it was about this gal young girl named Tracy Sue Walker who was found murdered and for a long time had no identity on her and eventually, through advancing DNA technology, they were able to finally identify her as Tracy Sue Walker. They're still, however, looking for her killer and trying to find out what happened because she was found in a place where she was not from. It was a really interesting case and the person who presented it, Brandon Elkins, he worked the case initially when it first happened, and then he worked it for a long time, and then he stopped working it, and then it ended up falling back into his lap, just almost like it was meant to be his case and he was meant to have a hand in solving what happened to Tracy Suewalker. So be looking for that episode coming soon because I am going to do a story on Tracy Suewalker because I think it is so interesting to kind of piece together how they came up with who she was eventually, because like I said, for a long time she was unidentified and she was a Jane Doe. That was crime con like I said, a super like, emotional, heavy, busy, great type of weekend. I got to mix and mingle with some people on Creator's Row, which I always love meeting my podcasting gals that I have met in the last year and a year and a halfish maybe we're not at half a shit year. In a few months that I've been in the true crime podcasting community, I met all of my girls squad. They are all amazing humans. Rachel and Heather from Like Mother, Like Murder. They are fantastic. They are passionate and I love them and I love their podcast and you should too. I met Stephanie from Wicked ever After. You can find her on YouTube, another amazing creator. I met Jen and I also I'm at Sam So. Jen and Sam had a podcast together called Stay at Home Detectives and then they kind of have put that to the side, and Jen and Sam have both been working on a podcast called The Unseen Truth. Season two just launched. I highly recommend you go listen. They also have a nonprofit called Chores of Strength really help the victims' families, and they are both amazing, amazing humans and I loved meeting them. And Jen is also co hosting starting second season of True Crime and Headlines with Jewels, who I also got to meet. Jewels was one of my first like probably like quote unquote friends in the podcasting community because we met and connected over Kayalana's story. And I definitely feel like that she came into my life for a reason because we're supposed to do something in regards to Kailana's story, which we we'll be doing next year with Rachel and Heather as well. So Jewels and Jen have True Crime and Headlines they are starting season two. Jewels also has a podcast coming out in August called Missing in a Hushtown where she is going to be discussing the disappearance of Jennifer and Adriana Wicks. Jennifer and her daughter went missing in two thousand and four, and she has partnered up with Jennifer's sister to help really tell the story of Jennifer and Adriana and get the story out there. And it is amazing to see what all is going on right now with this case, and I cannot wait for the podcast to come out and get to really dive in depth into all of it. I am so freaking excited about it, So please go give all of those girls a follow Missing in Hushtown, like Mother, like Murder, True Crime in Headlines, the Unseen Truth, Shores of Strength, Wicked ever After. Hopefully I'm not missing any because my brain is definitely going quickly. But all of those girls are amazing and they are all fantastic humans, and I love them so much and I'm so glad I got to meet them. I also got to reconnect with Gigi from Pretty Lies and Alibis. I have said she is my podcast idol, and I stand by it. She is the nicest human on the planet, and she really is passionate about what she does and she does it for the right reasons, which is why I think I like her and I connect with her, and I just have always loved her podcast. Her parents also wear a crime con and they are the sweetest as well, very supportive of her, and I was so glad that she had her own table this year, Like she is just the dang best, So also go support her because we love her. Also, we got to mix and mingle a little bit with the true crime garage guys, which when I met them in twenty twenty one, when I first went to crime Con, I had no idea who they were, but my friend Natasha really liked them and wanted to meet them and get a picture with them. So I met them and got a picture with them. Had no idea who they are, but they're also doing amazing things in the true crime community and they do it in a really respectable good way and they're great, so we love them. They are good podcasters, they do it the right way, and they are always at crime Con and always there to mix and mingle with their fans, which we love. Honestly. My biggest regret about crime Con is I did not spend enough time in podcast row because I was so overwhelmed by everything. I don't know. I don't know what the answer is other than me splitting myself into fourteen people over the weekend, but I don't feel like I have enough time to do everything I want to do, and it does get really, really crowded, so and I'm not a crowd person. I don't like crowds. The crowds really bother me now and it's so hard sometimes to go in a podcast role because it is so crowded. But there were so many that I didn't get to see that I wanted to see Heather Ashley from Big Mature Crime. She's the best. Leah Dees from Least of These I met her last year along with Heather and we talked about Kaylana. They're both amazing, amazing. I would have loved to have seen Derek and Stephanie last year from Crime Weekly. They had the longest line last year and I almost waited in it, but I didn't, And this year, like I didn't even get to that point, Like I was so overwhelmed the entire weekend. I didn't even see their table, but I know that they were there obviously, but I would have loved to have seen them. There was so many people there that I literally could just sit and talk with for hours because I'm fascinated by them. And again in Creator's Row podcast Row is what I call it, but it's Creator's Row technically, there's also a lot of family members of missing persons or victims, and they're there to of course tell their family member's story and advocate and try to get the word out. I think next year, and if you go to Crime Con with me next year, I want you to hold me to it that I spend a significant amount of time on Creator's Row because I just feel like I run out of time, and I don't want to run out of time. I don't I want to be able to split myself up into all of these different kylies so I can run around to Creator's Row to session one to session two. Like I said, I'm overwhelmed the entire weekend and I can hardly stand it. So that was crime Con this year. I flew home day from Nashville, felt pretty good, felt okay on Tuesday. By Wednesday, I was full fledged sick and did not go to work Thursday or Friday. I was supposed to work go back to work on Thursday, and my extra long vacation turned into a not so fun vacation because I was sick Friday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Got my life together finally because I got antibiotics and was able to go back to work this past Monday. And I am exhausted, exhausted, which is why I say I have no brain power to do anything other than record my crime Con experience because I have no brain power. So thank you guys for listening to me ramble about crime Con for almost fifty minutes. I didn't think it was going to be the song of an episode, but your girl has a lot to say. And next year Crime Con is in Denver, and I am so excited. It's in September of twenty twenty five, which is incredibly way too long from now for me to handle. But I know time is gonna fly, so it's fine, and it'll give me a chance to get my life together and figure out how I'm going to clone myself into multiple people for the weekend. So I hope to see you at crime Con next year. If you've never been, I highly suggest you give it a try, because you will have a fantastic, great weekend. You will meet some amazing inspirational people. Oh another thing I didn't talk about. They have this wall, this big board. They've had it the last two years and it's for anyone. They can put anything up there in regards to an unsolved case, unsolved murder, missing person, whatever the case may be. I brought Ali Lowitzer's missing person's flyer to put up. And I also brought a an unsolved homicide of a friend of mine's uncle who is named Tyrone Jack. He was killed in East Palo Alto, California in the nineties and his murder is unsolved and there's not hardly any information on it. I have tried to get information on it. They will not release it to me because it is a quote unquote open investigation, even though I know they're not doing any investigating into it because it is a cold case from nineteen ninety three. So I brought that up. Put that up. You never know who's going to see something, if it's going to spark something in them, the least you can do is try. And of course I brought Ally's because her case is one that is near and dear to me, and I want so desperately for her family to have resolution in her case and her story. And I noticed someone else had put up a flyer and there was a couple of little sticky notes that said, you know where is Ali Lowitzer, Texas. So I was really happy to see the exposure that Ali is getting, and not just locally, it was really cool to see it on a bigger stage, on a bigger level. So I wanted to share that. I think the board that Crime con does is amazing because it really gives people a platform to share their missing loved ones or murdered loved ones, to try to figure out what happened in these cases. And I think that's so important, and that's what crime con is about. It's about advocacy. It's about being there for each other and trying to help solve these cases. And that's what's important at the end of the day. So thank you guys so much for listening to my now fifty two minutes of crime con rambles. I super appreciate it, and I promise next week I will be back with a new unsolved case. It has been a hot minute since I've done it, and I am looking forward to getting back to it. Thank you for bearing with me, and I hope you guys have a fantastic week ahead. I will see you Friday for part eight of Dan markel Summer Series twenty twenty four. Have a great week and I will see you then bye. 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