drove to Gardner Road, hoping to catch a glimpse of Rachel. There was no sign of her car, nor any indication she'd ever made it to the meeting spot. Detectives then drove over to Rachel's boyfriend's home, asking if he'd seen any sign of her. He had it, and that's when investigators knew that no matter what, this wasn't good. Either Rachel had run away and made off with the $13,000 they'd given her, or worse, the dealers had found out about the sting. It would be two more days before Rachel was finally found, but unfortunately for everyone involved, she lost her life. Rachel was found dumped in a gully and tangled up in vines in Perry, Florida, about an hour away from Tallahassee. She'd been hit with five rounds, then dumped like yesterday's garbage. A deep and extensive investigation into her disappearance was carried out, and that's when police learned that Rachel had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, sort of. As it would turn out, the dealers had made plans to rob Rachel that evening, taking the $13,000 and selling her aspirin, rather than the substances she'd actually shown up for. But at some point during the meeting, things went awry. One thing led to another, and the dealers ended up grabbing Rachel's purse and searching it, and that's when they found the wire. The dealers did what dealers do best, and tied up any loose ends, meaning Rachel lost her life right then and there. But the story isn't so simple. After news of Rachel's demise made it into the local media, the entire state of Florida was up in arms. How could a local police officer send an untrained young woman into the middle of a sting operation of this proportion? The biggest sting in the department's history was no place for a newly acquired informant to be. As it would turn out, just three years prior in 2005, the Department of Justice had issued a very clear and specific set of guidelines for how confidential informants were supposed to be treated and used. The Tallahassee Police Department failed to follow these guidelines, placing Rachel in harm's way without so much as a second thought. Rachel had no formal training and was remarkably unprepared for what she was thrown into, but that's not all.  But the thing is, many people have begun to question whether or not this actually happened. Now, have I been able to find any evidence to point one way or the other? But many people feel as though Rachel was treated as little more than a disposable pawn in a much larger game of chess. Some people have speculated that Officer Pender never gave any warning to Rachel, nor did he tell her to stand down and return home. He claims that Rachel either hung up before hearing his command, heard the command and didn't heed his warning, or that their call was disconnected and his commands didn't go through. Either way, after locating Rachel's body on May 9, officers immediately closed in on the two dealers and they were both charged and convicted for ending Rachel's life. They were each sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. In the ensuing investigation into the Tallahassee Police Department, several officers were suspended from their positions. In the end, the department openly admitted to their wrongdoing, confessing that Rachel had zero training as an informant and admitting that she didn't even have any experience or prior knowledge of the substances that she would have been purchasing that evening. She quite literally went into the operation blind. Naturally, the police department was found to be at fault, but there's no mention of whether or not they faced any real repercussions for this. Now, Officer Pender was fired as a result of the failed operation, but less than two years later, he was reinstated. So it doesn't seem like the department learned anything from this. Rachel's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the department and they were eventually awarded $2.6 million, but that's pretty much the end of it. No further repercussions were faced, but there is somewhat of a silver lining here. Rachel didn't lose her life for nothing. In the wake of this disaster in May of 2009, Rachel's law was passed by the Florida State Senate. This law helped to instate some seriously strict guidelines for how Florida officers are allowed to use informants, ensuring that a situation like this never happens again. This law requires every single police department in the state to subject informants to extensive training exercises to ensure that they're as prepared as they can possibly be for anything that gets thrown their way. If Rachel had had this type of training, it's incredibly likely she would still be here. If Rachel had had any training at all, she'd probably still be here. The thing we have to keep in mind is that laws like this cannot be substituted for common sense. Yes, Rachel's law is an incredible thing and it's guaranteed to save countless lives, but it shouldn't take a lawyer or some college degree to understand that you can't throw an average civilian into the biggest police operation that the Tallahassee Police Department has ever seen. On what planet is this okay? And in what world did anyone think this was safe? I love the fact that Rachel's life wasn't stolen for nothing. There was some good that came of it, but she didn't have to lose her life for this to have taken place. Her fate should weigh heavily on the shoulders of all 19 officers who were involved in this operation. Not one of them spoke up. Not one of them suggested, hey, this is a bad idea.  Actions speak louder than words and it's clear to see that the Tallahassee Police Department saw Rachel as nothing more than disposable. It was 2007 when Carly Ryan fell head over heels for her boyfriend, Brandon Kane. Investigators say that the two had everything in common, but Brandon had a few dark secrets that Carly was blissfully unaware of. Detectives would learn that Carly and Brandon had been dating for several months leading up to the crime and everything was going well for the two. But one day in February of 2007, things would take a dark turn when Carly failed to return home from a night out with her friends. She'd been acting somewhat strange in the moments before leaving that day, repeatedly asking her mother for hugs. It seems almost like she knew something was wrong, but she was powerless to stop it. Carly's mother certainly felt that something was a bit off that evening, but she could have never imagined just how terrifying things were about to become. Carly Ryan was born in January of 1992 in Stirling, South Australia. She was raised by her mother, Sonya, for most of her childhood, but there's never been any mention about what happened to her father, so I suppose it can be assumed that he was simply out of the picture. The thing about Carly is that she was growing up in the midst of a social media hurricane. By the time she was a teenager, it seemed like there was a new social media platform coming out every other day of the week. And this was long before Facebook was the goliath that it is today. Most of this case takes place back in 2006 and seven. So we're talking about the days of Myspace, Zanga, Tumblr, and the countless other online messengers that were around. It was an incredibly interesting time to be on the internet, but it was also a remarkably dangerous time because many of the safeguards that are in place today simply didn't exist back then. Considering Carly was just a teenager at this time, her mother Sonya was pretty critical about what Carly got up to online. Carly and Sonya were remarkably close, meaning Sonya knew pretty much every detail of Carly's life. She'd often walk by the computer and take a peek at what Carly was doing, but knowing that her teenage daughter was a smart girl, she trusted that Carly was being safe and cautious. Sonya says that she feels like she knew everything that was going on in Carly's life. She knew all of her friends, kept tabs on what was going on at school, and was an ever-present force in all that Carly did. Not in a helicopter parent kind of way, but in a pretty healthy mother-daughter relationship kind of way. You've got to remember it was just the two of them, so they were understandably super close. But the main issue here is that at this point in history, the internet was wild to put it lightly. Carly was known to spend a lot of time on a website called ratemybody.com. For those of you that aren't familiar with this site, well, it's pretty much exactly what you would think. People post photos of themselves and anonymous users rate that person's body. The big problem with this website is that as we've already established, there were virtually no safeguards in place. The website prided itself on anonymity, and that means that there was no way of knowing if the images you were looking at even belonged to the person who uploaded them. Worse yet, considering this website was often visited by teenagers, well, I think you'd get the picture I'm painting here. This was not a safe website, and it was a major hotspot for older men who had some rather nefarious intentions. Thankfully, this website has since been shut down. But Carly was often described as a scene girl. This is a bit of a vague term that's most often used when referring to teens or young adults who are super interested in the Gothic punk lifestyle. These would have been the kids listening to bands like Blackville Brides, asking Alexandria to escape the fate, all while reading Twilight or something similar, wearing all black from head to toe, black hoodies, black headphones, so on and so forth. And don't think I'm saying this in a judgey or joke kind of way. I was one of those kids too. Heck, I'd still listen to all of those bands. Dying is your latest fashion, one of the greatest punk albums of all time. For Carly, this was a group of people and a lifestyle that gave her a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging. She was known for being pretty active on websites like vampirefreaks.com, which is another goth or emo website in store.  Her profile was pretty much everything you would imagine it to be. It was full of gothic selfies, heaps of makeup, links to all of her favorite online forums, quotes from her favorite books, typical MySpace stuff. By sharing her interest in this genre of entertainment, Carly was able to make dozens of online friends. But there was one friend in particular who really caught Carly's interest, an 18-year-old named Brandon Kane. Brandon was a young musician who was born in Texas but had recently moved to Brisbane, Australia, the total opposite side of the country from Carly. The two immediately became friends as soon as they met. They liked all the same bands, had all the same interests. It was almost like they were meant to be. Before too long, their relationship grew into something more. Carly began to share stories of her new online friend with her real life friends. It wasn't too long after this that Carly stopped referring to him as simply a friend. He was now considered her boyfriend. All of Carly's closest friends knew about Brandon and Sonia knew about him too. It seems that in the early days of their relationship, Sonia was happy that her daughter had met someone that she could be so open with. Even though Brandon was a few years older, Sonia didn't find this too concerning. She mentioned that she would look over Carly's shoulder from time to time to see what the two were chatting about, but she never noticed anything suspicious or anything that concerned her in any way. Before long, the two started video chatting with one another, and by all means, Brandon appeared to be the guy that he claimed to be. Carly couldn't have been happier. Even though her boyfriend lived over 20 hours away, she was just ecstatic to have someone that she could be close with. But it didn't take long before things started to get, well, a bit unusual. Brandon was quickly becoming the main focus of Carly's life. Whenever the two were up to, the other person was immediately informed about it. They shared everything with one another. What I found particularly fascinating is that, as we all know, most teenage relationships don't last too terribly long, especially online relationships. But Carly and Brandon managed to keep their relationship going for more than 18 months, even though they'd never even met in person. After they'd been chatting for about a year or so, Brandon wanted to introduce Carly to his father, Shane, and he did this over a video call. As time rolled on, Carly started talking more and more about Shane. In fact, it didn't take long before Carly was talking about Shane just as much as she was talking about Brandon. This is when Sonia started to get a little bit concerned. She asked Carly why she suddenly had such an interest in Shane, and she explained that Brandon and Shane were incredibly close, much like Sonia and Carly were. Sonia reminded Carly to be careful, and Carly made it very clear that if anything started to get weird or uncomfortable, she would tell her mother right away. And for Sonia, this was enough to calm her fears, so she dropped it and let it be. Sonia would later learn that Shane had a job as a security guard, and this job caused him to travel for work events every so often. In February of 2007, he was traveling across Australia for one of these events, and on his way back home to Brisbane, he offered to stop by Carly and Sonia's home to drop off a few birthday gifts that he and Brandon had purchased for Carly the previous month. At first, Sonia thought this was a little bit strange, but when Shane showed up at the family's home, he was wearing his security guard outfit, so the story seemed to check out. Shane seemed to be exactly the man that he claimed to be. He was clean-cut, professional, and nothing seemed unusual about him. In fact, Carly and Sonia felt so safe around him that they offered to let him spend the night at their home, inviting him to Carly's birthday party the following day. But while Shane was in town, he offered to take Carly shopping. Now, this in my book is definitely a bit strange. What would a 50-year-old man be doing taking a teenage girl shopping? Even if he was the father of her boyfriend, this seems a bit strange considering the two had only just met, and there's been no indication that Carly's mother was even present during their trip. But the following day at Carly's birthday party, that's when things started to get really bizarre. When Shane showed up at Carly's birthday party, it was immediately clear that something strange was happening. When Carly's friends and family members started showing up, Shane started to get visibly uncomfortable. There wasn't any particular moment where you could point to and say, see that, that's weird. But Sonia started to notice that Shane, for lack of a better word, seemed possessive over Carly. It seemed almost as if Shane and Carly were glued at the hip. He didn't let her wander off too terribly far, and he hung around Carly throughout the entire party, rarely ever speaking to anyone other than her for more than a few simple sentences. But the following morning, that's when things really started to get weird. As soon as Sonia passed by Carly's bedroom, she noticed Shane and Carly relying on Carly's bed. In one report, it was claimed that Shane was actually lying on top of Carly, and Carly was visibly uncomfortable. Sonia immediately sprang into action and told Shane that he needed to leave immediately. It doesn't seem like he put up too much of a fight either. He knew he'd been caught. He grabbed his things and left. As soon as he was gone, Carly revealed that he'd made a few passes at her, and that she had repeatedly rejected his advances, insisting that she was in love with his son, not him. Carly then told her mother about the birthday presents that Shane had shown up with. Now, because of YouTube's terms of service, I can't really explain the full extent of these gifts, but let me just say, one of them was an outfit that no 50-year-old man had any business gifting to the girlfriend of his son. This was the moment that Sonia truly understood what was happening here. She made all the right moves in the coming days, taking away Carly's access to social media, banning her from using her cell phone, keeping a much closer eye on her online activity, and calling Shane and telling him that he was never allowed to speak to her daughter again, or she'd report him to the police. Mind you, this all may sound a bit harsh, but this wasn't done as a way to punish Carly in any way. This was all done in a bid to keep Carly safe. And based on Sonia's statements since then, it seems like she likely did a good job explaining this to Carly. It's awful that Carly lost so many of her freedoms because of this guy, but when it comes to the safety of your child, all bets are off, you do what you have to do. But the problem is that, well, we've all been teenagers at some point. We all know that regardless of what your parents tell you to do, if you wanna do something, you'll find a way to do it. And Carly wasn't willing to let Brandon go. She admitted that what happened with Shane was pretty insane, but Brandon wasn't to blame for this. No sooner than her mother forbade her from speaking with Brandon, Carly was right back up to her old antics, speaking to Brandon every chance she could get. Only this time, she was keeping it a secret and her mother had no idea. A few weeks passed by and it was February 19th, 2007, when Carly told her mother that she was going to be spending a night out with a group of her friends. She got dressed up in her best outfit then headed for the front door. But strangely, Sonia says that it was at this moment that Carly's behavior began to change. She turned to her mother and asked her for a hug, then another, then another and another. It was almost as if she was afraid to leave. Her demeanor had changed without any rhyme or reason. Sonia didn't really know what this was all about, but what kind of mother would turn away hugs from her daughter?  The door closed and Carly was never seen again. Carly never returned home from her outing with her friends that evening. When she still hadn't shown up by the following morning, Sonia knew something had gone terribly wrong and that's when she called the police to report her daughter missing, every parent's worst nightmare. But for Sonia, her nightmare was about to get far, far worse. Sonia would be subjected to something that no parent should ever have to face. As she was pacing around her home, pleading for some sort of news about her daughter, she heard a knock at the door, followed by two police officers with sullen expressions. As we all know, this never means anything good. Carly had been found, but not the way her mother had hoped. Investigators revealed that early that morning, detectives had come across a victim who'd been floating in Horseshoe Bay. That victim was identified as Carly Ryan. When she was taken in for further forensic analysis, it was determined that Carly had endured at least 19 injuries before she lost her life, each of which was more haunting, heartbreaking and heinous than the last. Security cameras and witness reports would soon reveal that Carly was last seen on the beach in the Horseshoe Bay area at around 9.30 the previous evening. She was in the company of what appeared to be two men, but it would later come to light that this had been one man and a teenage boy. They had arrived in the area in a blue vehicle, and it was this vehicle description that was used to track them down later on. As it would turn out, the two males who were seen in the CCTV security footage were none other than Shane and Brandon. Except that's not entirely true. See, that's because Shane and Brandon, they didn't exist. 11 days after Carly was discovered in Horseshoe Bay, police closed in on Gary Francis Newman, as well as his teenage son. His teenage son has never been named due to laws in Australia that prevent the names of the young offenders from being revealed. It would quickly become clear though that Gary was in fact both Shane and Brandon. He'd created an alter ego online to lure teenage girls and cause them to fall in love with him, faking interest in everything they loved and stalking them both online and in the real world. What makes this situation so much worse is that Gary had either convinced or forced his teenage son to play a part in the scheme as well. Considering there's virtually zero information available about Gary's son, we don't know if he was a willing accomplice or just as much a victim as Carly was. Basically, Gary was the one who was chatting with Carly for more than a year online, but anytime he needed to schedule a video call with Carly, he would ask his son to step in to make things more realistic. All the photos that have been shared between the two were also of his own son. When Shane or Gary was forced to leave Carly's home after being caught lying in her bed, he was understandably upset. After all, he'd been concocting this plan for more than a year and a half and in the blink of an eye, it was all over. But he couldn't let this be the end. He needed to see Carly one final time and this time he would bring his teenage son along to help finish the job. Carly was lured out of her home that evening under the promise of finally being able to meet her online boyfriend in person for the first time. She lied to her mother and explained that she would be going out with friends, but in reality, she was due to hang out with her boyfriend or so she thought. The thing is, Carly knew that something was fishy about this situation. She had seen all the red flags. Her mother had warned her about both Shane and Brandon, but she chose to risk it all anyway. We know that Carly knew about the potential dangers because of how apprehensive she was to leave her home that evening. Her mother knew something was a bit off too, but considering Carly lied about her intentions that evening, there was little her mother could do. As she was blissfully unaware of the level of danger her daughter was about to place herself in. Now, don't think for one second that I'm blaming this on Carly. She was never anything more than a victim of this awful, heartless monster. I merely bring up the fact that she ignored all the obvious signs of danger as a warning to parents or teenagers that when your gut tells you something's unsafe, it's probably because it's unsafe. If you smell smoke, there's probably a fire. We've been given the gift of gut feelings for a reason and you should pretty much always trust them. But if you could imagine, this story is about to get a whole lot worse. If you remember, it was nearly two weeks after Carly was found in Horseshoe Bay that Gary's home was finally raided by the police. When detectives showed up at his home, Gary was actually in the middle of chatting up another teenage girl online. When his home was searched and investigators combed through every square inch of his place, they found a notebook that had documented at least 200 different aliases that Gary had been using online. From what I can tell, he used this notebook to help keep his story straight so that his victims wouldn't see right through his charade. Brandon and Shane had been just two of the names, less than 1% of his total list of characters. In his notebook, investigators found names, ages, occupations, interests, everything that related to each and every one of these characters that he'd created. If you consider that Gary used two aliases when speaking with Carly, that means that he could have had another 100 victims, assuming he pulled the whole father's son card for each of them. In reality, this number of victims could be substantially higher. There's just no way to know for sure. This notebook was also a gold mine for investigators because it even documented user names and passwords for each of his fake online profiles, giving them every last piece of evidence that they needed to get this man behind bars. But we have to remember that putting someone behind bars does little to help calm the pain of the family who are now left with one less person at the dinner table each night. Worse yet, in Sonia's case, she's now left with no one at her dinner table each night. Sonia's world ended the day that she lost her daughter. Her purpose, her goals, her ambitions, they're gone and she can never get them back. Thankfully, Gary was sentenced to life in prison. Unfortunately though, he still will be eligible for parole after 29 years, but considering he was 50 when this crime took place, the man will likely be 80 before he ever has the slightest chance of seeing natural sunlight again, though we can all hope that this day never comes for Gary. In the wake of Gary's sentencing, Gary's ex-wife came out and explained why the two had gotten divorced many years before this. She explained that Gary had been shockingly aggressive towards her, assaulting her multiple times, forcing her against her will on many occasions. When he then started turning his attention towards their own teenage daughter, that's when she knew that she needed to get herself and their three children out of there. Unfortunately, this wasn't even a wake up call for Gary. He would later adopt the son of his own, the one that he used in his online schemes and he simply repeated the cycle. After all was said and done, Gary's son was cleared of all charges, which pretty much secures the idea that his son was likely just as much a victim as Carly was. In the aftermath of such a tragedy, Sonya felt that she needed to do something, anything, to help parents whose children may end up in similar situations. This led her to form the Carly Ryan Foundation, a foundation that offers certified online safety programs and conducts regular seminars to help educate children and parents about the dangers of online predators. If this wasn't enough, Sonya was also able to establish Carly's law, an Australian law that allows prosecutors to both charge and convict online predators before they ever lay a hand on a child. They can do this by establishing intent based on chat logs, as well as convict an adult who misrepresents their age to a minor. This law has already saved so many lives and Sonya was the driving force behind this law every step of the way. If not for her, there's no telling how many other children may have ended up just like Carly. If you're a parent or even if you're a teenager, I would strongly urge you to visit CarlyRyanFoundation.com to better understand everything that the foundation has to offer. The resources page has heaps of valuable information that's been updated for modern times to help keep kids safe on more modern platforms such as roadblocks, Fortnite, and the various other social media or gaming platforms that are predominantly aimed towards children. There's nothing that any of us can do to bring Carly back. But if Sonya has it her way, every child across the globe will become better educated about internet safety so that stories like this will one day be a thing of the past. No one should ever have to go through what Carly and Sonya dealt with. And it's our job, you and me, it's our job to keep these kids safe. It was April 16th, 2003, a day like any other in San Antonio, Texas. Traffic along the I-10 was carrying on as usual. When out of nowhere and without any warning, a gold mercury tracer swerved towards the median and struck something, causing the car to launch into the air, bounce around for more than 1,000 feet then crash back down onto the concrete. Every witness to the crash naturally assumed that something awful had likely happened to the driver. But here's the kicker. The car then just kept driving along as if nothing happened. The car continued down the highway for several more miles before finally veering off the road near the John's Road exit and crashing into a patch of trees. When investigators arrived at the scene of the crash, they very quickly learned something wasn't right here. The driver of the car had been mortally wounded but his injuries weren't caused by the crash. Craziest of all, the victim's nipples had been removed and he was missing a portion of his pinky finger. When detectives noticed that his hands and feet had also been duct taped together, well, that's when they knew they uncovered much more than a car crash. They had just stumbled onto a very bizarre crime scene. Before we keep going, I wanna let you guys know about the sponsor of today's video, Factor. If you're getting too busy with your summer plans to cook, Factor can help you skip the process of making a menu, going to the store, prepping everything and cooking meals that ultimately take you hours. Factor offers incredible flavor and nutrition that you just can't beat. With Factor's fresh, never-frozen meals, you can have an amazing dinner ready to go in just two minutes, giving you more time to take care of the things that matter most to you. If you're ready to stick to your wellness goals while also saving heaps of time, I strongly suggest you give Factor a try. Every meal features high-quality ingredients such as broccolini, leeks or asparagus. The meal I had last night came with some shockingly delicious carrots and I've never even liked carrots until now. There are more than 34 weekly restaurant quality meals to choose from, including bruschetta, shrimp risotto, green goddess chicken and grilled steakhouse filet mignon, all of which are ready in just two minutes. Now, I've been super busy with the channel lately, so meals like this are incredibly convenient for me. If I'm in the middle of making a video, I can literally take just two minutes to make some dinner, then get right back to work. With that having to go to the grocery store multiple times a week, I've got so much more free time in my schedule. One of my favorite things about Factor is that it's extremely flexible as well. For example, if I know I have dinner plans with friends or family one day next week, I can adjust the size of my order or even skip that week entirely. That way I won't be wasting money on a meal that I know I won't end up eating. Head to factor75.com or click the link below and use code TINOTS50 to get 50% off your first factor box. That's factor75.com and use code TINOTS50 for 50% off your first order. Thanks to Factor for sponsoring today's video. Colonel Philip Hsu was a licensed doctor who worked for the Wilford Hall Medical Center located on the Lackland Air Force Base. Colonel Hsu was a soon to be employed psychiatrist at the facility and had worked for the Air Force for more than 23 years with plans to retire in October of 2003. Philip wasn't your average veteran. He'd been decorated with more awards and honors than I can count and was a man deeply dedicated to his country. His wife Tracy recalled Philip and said that she'd never met anyone else who had such a passion for life and all the little things that go along with it. Philip was fiercely loyal to his country and his uniform. Philip and Tracy had met back in 1988 when both of them were stationed at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Philip had just been coming down from a very difficult divorce from his former wife Nancy with her seemingly taking every opportunity to make Philip's life difficult, at least in his eyes. Strangely, around the time of their divorce, his ex Nancy took out two life insurance policies on Philip with each being valued at around $500,000. Philip did his best to have these policies canceled later on, but he wasn't able to do so as the insurance agency claimed that he hadn't been the one who opened the policy so they couldn't have them canceled without the policy holders consent. Now, I'm certainly not a lawyer, but I don't understand how Nancy would have been able to take out a policy on Philip after the two had already been divorced, especially considering that their marriage had ended on very bad terms. But according to various sources, this was certainly the case. In fact, some sources even claim that these policies were given to Nancy as part of their divorce settlement. I just can't wrap my head around this, so if there's any divorce lawyers watching, be sure to let us know in the comments how all of this would have played out because this just seems incredibly bizarre. And in reality, I'm not the only one who thinks this is strange. In fact, Philip found it very concerning as well. Philip wrote a letter to USAA Life Insurance, the company that offered the policy and explained that the policy caused him to fear for his life, worrying that his former wife and her new husband may do anything within their power to claim the benefits of this plan, even if it meant ending his life. In his letter, Philip said, quote, my former wife and her husband would prefer that I die of natural causes. However, the longer I live, the more tempting it becomes for them to act on their plans for my murder. While there isn't any foolproof evidence to claim that Nancy was in any way involved in the case, Philip certainly believed otherwise. His fears were heightened even more when he began receiving a strange series of letters in mid-1999. But these letters weren't from some deranged killer, as you may expect. Instead, they were from an anonymous author who was actually trying to help Philip, or so it seemed. The first letter was received in May of 1999. Philip had told his wife about the letters and they scared him to such a degree that he even told his supervisors at work about them. The only problem is that no one outside of Philip's wife seemed to believe that the letters were anything to be concerned about. These letters Philip had begun receiving were more than just a little bit creepy. They were downright haunting. Just take a look at the first one and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Please read this letter. You may be in danger. I'm writing because I remember you as such a kind and caring doctor and I can't just sit by and not help you by telling you what I know. I'll try to keep it short so you're certain to read it. A friend of mine who worked with Don, your ex-wife's husband, told me some scary things. I don't know Don or your ex-wife myself. Sorry, I don't even know her name. My friend told me they wish you were dead so they could collect life insurance. I don't understand why they would have life insurance on you but that's what my friend told me. My friend thinks they may actually be planning something. I don't know if they would actually hurt you but please be careful. I had to write. If I didn't, I couldn't bear the thought of something bad happening to you that I could have prevented by telling you what I heard. If I hear anything more specific, I'll let you know. Shortly after this, things started to go missing. For Philip, the most concerning item that was stolen was his laptop which contained his nearly complete master's thesis. Philip reported his stolen laptop to the police in June of 1999, saying that he was working the library when he stood up and left his table to go use the restroom. When he returned, his laptop was gone. Evidence confirms that Philip's laptop was returned later on in July of 1999, after being left on the hood of his car. When he approached his car, he found a note that said if he reported anything else to the police, other people would die. When he booted up his laptop later on, he found that his entire hard drive had been wiped, taking his master's thesis with it. Philip would eventually confront his ex-wife about the letters and the rumors that she'd been plotting something. Naturally, Nancy claimed she had no idea what the author of the letter was talking about and she claimed it was probably just some kind of joke. While Philip did his best to brush off the thought of someone coming after him, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. Throughout 1999, Philip was still attending schooling so that he could receive his master's degree and ultimately become a psychiatrist for the Lackland Air Force Base, as mentioned a moment ago. Just to clarify, it was during his final year of schooling that his laptop was stolen. One of Philip's counselors at the school had approached Philip about his master's thesis, explaining that he needed to turn it in soon if he planned on graduating on time. It was during one of these meetings with the counselor that Philip revealed that his laptop had been stolen, but he was doing everything he could to get his thesis completed, though the only copy of it was on his laptop and that had obviously been deleted during the theft. Around this same time, Philip also told the counselor about the threats on his life, as they'd been stressing him out severely. His counselor seems to have been one of the only people to take these threats seriously, and he immediately told Philip that he should contact the police. Philip was apprehensive about going to the police, insisting that they simply wouldn't care or wouldn't take him seriously. Though in reality, it's more likely that he just feared someone else may get hurt if he were to raise any more awareness about his situation. As far as the counselor knows, Philip never spoke with investigators about these allegations. Philip did eventually complete and turn in his master's thesis, though. But things only got more strange from here. Just over a year later, in October of 2000, Philip was scheduled to take his aerospace medical board exam. He had obviously been preparing heavily for the exam, but when the results came back in, Philip scored zero points. It was as if he had never taken the test at all, but several people confirmed that he had been present that day and had actually turned in his exam personally. The crazy thing is, his test was multiple choice, so at some point during the exam, even if he had guessed most of the answers, he was bound to at least get one response correct. The professors believe that for whatever reason, Philip intentionally failed the test, though no one knows why. One theory is that Philip had become dissatisfied with the Air Force and wanted to send a message to his superiors. This rumor is furthered by the fact that he planned on retiring from the Air Force entirely and beginning to practice psychiatry in a private environment. This has never been proven, but it's certainly an interesting theory, though I don't understand why failing his exam would have proven anything to his superiors. In our reality, it would have just made things more difficult for Philip in the long run, but when looking at Philip's medical history, things get pretty concerning. He began reporting panic attacks in June of 1999, the month after he received that first creepy letter. His records indicate that by the end of 1999, his anxiety had grown to such a degree that it had progressed into symptoms of depression. He was placed on medication for depression and in December of 1999, his symptoms had improved, but his underlying fears did not. He still feared for his life, but the medication took the edge off so that he wasn't so focused on it all the time. Over the following three years, up until April of 2003, Philip worked alongside a psychiatrist trying various medications to help remedy his panic attacks, but they persisted all throughout this time. Philip's paranoia grew to a worrying degree and his panic attacks continued to worsen in severity, to the point that Philip began to fear he was going to have a heart attack. Philip's psychiatrist worried that he wasn't being entirely truthful in their conversations. It wasn't necessarily that Philip was lying to him, but he felt that Philip was instead withholding important details in some of the scenarios. But that's when Philip finally dropped a bombshell on the psychiatrist and revealed the story about the threatening letters. Philip knew that the story sounded crazy, but the psychiatrist noted that Philip's anxious response to telling the story indicated that he was, without a doubt, telling the truth. Around the same time, on April 11th, 2003, Philip updated his will. He had previously had his son listed as a beneficiary. The problem is that his son was in the midst of some marital issues and Philip feared that if he lost his life and his son received the money, he may end up losing most of it in a divorce settlement. To fix this, Philip updated his will and everything that was going to be given to his son was now going to be given to his wife. While this is the official explanation to this sudden change in plans, other people believe Philip was making final arrangements as he knew his life was about to end. But more on that in a moment. Philip's concerns about his job performance were taking a heavy toll on him. He knew his anxiety and paranoia were affecting his ability to work and he confided in a psychiatrist that he was worried he was soon going to be unable to do his job. But that's when Philip revealed the most concerning thing of all. He came in one day and revealed to a psychiatrist that he'd experienced what he called a dissociative episode. Philip elaborates on this by saying that he had an episode or a vision would be a better way to put this about driving to work one day and losing control of his car after a great deal of violence had been inflicted on him. Now, this may sound like something out of an episode of The Twilight Zone, but I assure you this story is entirely true. And unfortunately for Philip and his family, his worst fears right down to the very last detail were about to come true. It was the morning of April 16th, 2003, just days after his last meeting with the psychiatrist. Colonel Philip Shue was traveling along Interstate 10 just outside of San Antonio, Texas, just minutes after 8 a.m. Two witnesses reported seeing Philip on the highway just after mile marker 543. They reported that immediately after this marker, Philip's car began to behave erratically. He would swerve in and out of lanes, eventually crossing the median and remaining here for several hundred yards then weaving in between light poles. As he was traveling along the median, his car struck something though we don't know what specifically. After hitting this object, his car became airborne with some reports suggesting the car bounced several times over a span of a thousand feet. I'm not sure what these reports mean when they say that the car bounced, but judging by the photos of the aftermath, it seems safe to assume the car had been through quite the ordeal. Regardless of the obvious damage to the car, Philip continued traveling down the highway for several more miles, with witnesses saying that Philip corrected the car and seemingly drove normally again throughout this time. However, four or five miles later, as soon as the car passed the Johns Road exit, it crossed the side median and drove directly into a patch of trees, striking three of the trees and coming to a halt after the driver's side smashed into one final tree with some serious force. Both of the witnesses claimed that the car had been seen driving between 60 and 65 miles per hour throughout the entire ordeal. And neither witness ever saw the brake lights on the car light up, not even once. Reports indicate that Tracy says that Philip left home early that day at about 5.30 a.m. so that he could catch up on some paperwork that he'd been lagging behind on. He had coffee with his wife as usual and the two talked about their plans for the future. Then he left afterward telling his wife, see you later. When he crashed his car later that morning, police noticed that Philip was actually headed in the opposite direction from his work and no one knows what he had been doing between 5.30 and 8.00 a.m. It doesn't seem that anyone ever reported seeing him at work that morning. And none of the evidence found at the scene suggested that he had been there either. What he'd been up to during this time remains a mystery. When investigators and detectives arrived at the scene of the crash, they quickly determined that Philip had suffered fatal injuries. He was in such a bad state that there was never any attempt to resuscitate him. Police and first responders were initially treating the case as a simple car crash. But that's when they noticed the duct tape. When investigators made it to the scene of the crash where Philip's car had come to rest, they removed the door of the car and uncovered several pieces of evidence that just didn't make sense. They first noticed the strips of duct tape that had been wrapped around his wrists and ankles with around four or five inches of tape dangling off of each extremity. Stranger yet, his work uniform had been ripped open and was covered in blood. When they examined him even further, that's when they noticed that both of his nipples had been removed leaving disturbing wounds on his chest. While most videos and articles covering this case claimed that his pinky had been entirely removed as well, in reality, only the tip had been removed and this tip has never been found. Philip's cell phone was found inside the car. It was a clamshell style phone and while no calls had been made that morning, there was blood found on the inside of the phone suggesting that it had been opened up at some point after Philip had been attacked. Philip was known to have had at least $47 in his wallet but his wallet was missing and the wallet pocket on his pants had been cut open but investigators don't believe this would have been a severe enough cut to cause his wallet to fall out somewhere suggesting that they believe it was either ditched or stolen. The only other suspicious items found inside the car were a straight razor, two pocket knives, a latex glove and some medical needles. Philip's DNA was later found on both the glove and one of the knives but there was no DNA from anyone else inside the car or on any of the other items. The latex glove doesn't appear to have been ever worn and detectives claim that the knives they found would not have been sharp enough to inflict the injuries that Philip was found with. A large wound was found in Philip's chest during the autopsy. This wound, according to the autopsy report does not appear to have been caused by the crash. It seems as though it was inflicted just minutes or hours beforehand. The coroner reported signs of hesitation around the wound, suggesting the perpetrator was either nervous or wanted to make the wound as painful as possible. The same hesitation was not found around his nipples and they appear to have been removed with the utmost confidence and precision. The coroner ultimately found no evidence or any signs of a struggle, as is true in many of these cases but this is where the investigation takes a nosedive. After all of this evidence was gathered, after learning the man had been possibly restrained and duct taped by all four limbs, after his nipples had been removed, after his shirt and pants had been torn open and after the tip of his pinky had been removed, the coroner ruled that Philip did this to himself. At the request of Philip's late wife Tracy, a second autopsy was performed. The doctor who performed the second autopsy agreed with most of the findings from the first autopsy but with a few exceptions. Mainly this doctor didn't believe that all these wounds could have been inflicted by Philip himself. He did admit that there was a distinct possibility that Philip could have done this to himself but most of the evidence suggested otherwise. The main bit of evidence that I personally find most concerning is the fact that there were no fingerprints found on the duct tape that was wrapped around his limbs. This would suggest that whoever put the tape there was wearing gloves or was being particularly cautious. But there's a bigger picture here that to some extent could actually help prove that Philip didn't do this to himself. Philip had recently announced that he planned on retiring from the military with this retirement being scheduled to take place in just a few months. Philip had also been accepted into a fellowship program that he'd been highly anticipating and he'd just purchased a new home with his wife Tracy outside of town. But to top all of this off, Philip's psychiatrist found no indication that Philip had any sort of plans to claim his own life, none whatsoever. In fact, Philip was looking forward to the future though the creepy letters that he'd been receiving certainly put a damper on things. Philip's medical records showed no signs of mental illness outside of his depression and justifiable paranoia. When a toxicology report was conducted, the only thing found in his system was his prescribed medications and a small amount of lidocaine. Interestingly, the reports showed that Philip had stopped taking his anti-depression medication at least a week before the crash. But both his psychiatrist and his wife say that they were not aware that he had discontinued his medicines. Worse yet, the levels of lidocaine in his blood were initially reported to have come from pain cream. But upon further analysis, it was determined that the levels in his system were far, far higher than what would have been usual in pain cream. And that's when investigators remembered the pack of surgical needles that had been found in his car. Investigators have concocted a narrative that when you really think about it, could make sense. They believe since Philip worked in a hospital, he was able to procure lidocaine injections for himself. They believe that he would have used the lidocaine prior to inflicting the injuries on himself. While this does make sense in a way, it doesn't explain the hesitation that was found around his chest wound or why he would have done this in the first place. Now, some reports say that this chest wound was quite deep, as were the wounds to his nipples. But I was able to locate an official legal report about the incident and this report claims that all of Philip's unusual wounds were just superficial.  So if this is true, the hesitation found around his chest wound may have meant that Philip did in fact inflict the wound upon himself, but he was apprehensive about doing so. Either because of the pain or because he was unsure that he wanted to go through with it. To make things even more interesting, the duct tape that was found wrapped around his wrists was not tied in a way that would indicate that he was fully restrained by someone. In fact, the method in which the tape was applied wouldn't have restrained him at all. Now, I don't fully understand how the police described the tape being wrapped around his wrists and there's no public photos from the case to prove anything. But they claim that any grown person would have been able to break the tape due to the way that it had been wrapped, even if it was tied behind their back. There were also no signs of stretching on the tape, as you might expect, if someone was struggling to break free. But there's still one other piece of evidence that just doesn't make sense. The missing tip of his pinky finger. According to first responders, while this is certainly a strange clue, it's most likely that he lost the tip of his pinky in the car crash. First responders noted that while there was a sizable amount of blood on Philip's clothing from his other injuries, there wasn't a large amount of blood coming from his finger, suggesting that it may have been cut off after he passed away, possibly being severed by glass or by his own car door during the crash. Now, we're all obviously asking the same question here. Did Philip really do all of this to himself? And if not, who's to blame? Well, according to his wife Tracy, the answer lies in another question. Who stood to gain the most? Tracy Xu has been very outspoken about Nancy, Philip's first wife, and her potential involvement in Philip's demise. Now, as I mentioned at the beginning of the video, there's no evidence to suggest that Nancy or her husband were involved outside of the mysterious letters that Philip had received. But in 2008, Tracy and Nancy were involved in a lawsuit with one another. During this lawsuit, Philip's passing was officially reclassified, and it's now being listed as a full-blown homicide. This allowed USAA to release the funds of Philip's life insurance. And who received them? Nancy and her husband. Tracy did her best to sue for the money, but she ultimately lost the court battle and the funds were handed over to Nancy. It's been reported that only 500,000 was paid out to Nancy though, and we know that Philip had two policies, so I don't know where the other money went. It may be best to assume that this is why Philip changed his will, and he somehow managed to get the second policy switched to his current wife's name, but this is just a guess I really don't know what happened to the rest of the money. So who's to blame here? Well, we still don't know. More than 20 years later, the case remains as mysterious as the day that it happened. There's so much that can't be explained here, such as why Nancy was given two life insurance policies on Philip's life, who had been writing the mysterious letters that Philip received leading up to the crime, and even stranger, how Philip had such a bizarre premonition about his crash just days before it happened. Well, there is one explanation for Philip's bizarre premonition about his crash. He planned it. He planned it down to the last detail. Now, I have a hard time believing the theory that Philip did this to himself, but it is possible. But considering the courts in 2008 determined the case is now reclassified as a homicide, I mean, we just don't know. I could see this case going either way, especially considering that Nancy, Philip's first wife, has refused to make any comments about the case. In fact, she's pleaded the fifth more than a dozen times when asked about Philip's final moments. In a letter to USAA, written back in 1999, Philip implicated his ex-wife, Nancy, and said, quote, thoroughly examine my eventual death for evidence of foul play, even if on the surface, the cause would appear to be natural or accidental. And wiser words may never have been spoken. In June of 1930, Joseph Mozinsky left work one evening telling his wife he was heading out to run some errands. In reality, Joseph was continuing a two-year affair with his 19-year-old mistress, Catherine May. Catherine and Joseph were sitting together in a parked car in Queens, New York when an unidentified man approached the vehicle and without warning fired two rounds at Joseph, ending his life instantly. The mysterious man then handed Catherine a note, telling her not to read it until the following day. He then walked Catherine to a bus stop and left her there unharmed. Catherine did not immediately report the crime to the police. Instead, she waited until they approached her about a coat that she left behind that evening. She then handed the note over to investigators. Investigators were stunned by this note, partly because of the crazy story Catherine had shared about that evening, but also because the note didn't make any sense. All the note said was Joseph Mozinsky, 3X3-X-097. Police had no leads in this case until they received a letter in the mail, describing Joseph as a rascal and a dirty rat. This letter warned detectives that 14 more of Joseph's friends would soon be joining him. Just a couple of days later, police found another body. When police spoke with Catherine May about the night in question back in June of 1930, she gave conflicting accounts about what really took place that evening. You've got to keep in mind this story unfolded nearly 100 years ago and the world was a much different place back then. Catherine was devastated by what had transpired and rightfully so. There was a much bigger social impact here than what we may be accustomed to these days. See, Catherine had an image to uphold. So when police began interrogating her about what happened that evening, she repeatedly tried to cover her tracks and save herself from public ridicule. It's believed that this is why Catherine never even went to the police after the crime had taken place. She knew she'd messed up by having an affair with a married man and if she informed police about it, it would only have made matters worse. So she did her best to conceal her true intentions that evening. When asked about the crime, Catherine first told police that she believed the suspect was an Italian gangster, specifically pinning a man named Albert Lombardo. But as police pressed her about this, they quickly realized that she was lying. In more recent years, many people believed that these accusations were racially or ethnically motivated and that would certainly align with the average public opinion at the time. Officers realized rather quickly though that Catherine wasn't being entirely truthful. And when pressed about this, Catherine did eventually confess that her story was untrue. And that's when she began to change her tone. She finally explained that the man appeared to have a thick German accent. Worse yet, the man didn't just stop at ending Joseph's life. According to Catherine, after ending the life of Joseph, the man grabbed her and took advantage of her. He then began rummaging through Joseph's pockets almost as if he was looking for something. He found some papers in one of Joseph's pockets and rather strangely, he set the papers on fire, then turned to Catherine and asked for her address. The man then grabbed Catherine and walked her to the nearest bus stop, boarding the bus alongside her as soon as it arrived. It was at this point that he handed her the aforementioned note. He accompanied her to the nearest bus station, then departed after telling her not to open the note until the following day. Catherine did not obey the man's wishes. As soon as he was out of sight, Catherine looked at the note and found an odd phrase written inside, Joseph Mozinsky, 3x, 3-x-097. Now, there are conflicting reports about this note with some sources saying that the note was handwritten, while others suggest that the phrase on the note had been stamped with red ink. Either way, Joseph's body was found the following day. With all of this unfolding, the editor of the New York Evening Journal received a bizarre letter in the mail. The letter began by saying, kindly print this letter in your paper for Mozinsky's friends. This statement was followed up by a series of letters and numbers that didn't make any logical sense. The letter claimed that by printing this letter in the paper, the editor would be saving the lives of many people, saying, quote, By doing this, you may save their lives and the women may know where the missing papers are and who has them since they were given to Mozinsky. We don't want any more crimes unless we have to. This letter was then signed 3x, the man behind the gun. When police were informed about this letter, they looked at the postmark and found that it had been mailed out several hours before Joseph had even lost his life. This confirmed to investigators that the man behind the letter was indeed the man behind the crime. The next day, the paper did decide to report on the incident, but they never mentioned the letter in their write-up. Just a few days later, the paper would receive another letter from this elusive criminal. This time, his intentions were much more clear. It became obvious that this man wasn't going to leave until the job was done. In this letter, he clarified that Catherine May was nothing but an innocent bystander and that she had no involvement in the crime whatsoever. But he continued on and seems to have suggested that Joseph Mozinsky may have been much more of a womanizer than his wife and Catherine even realized.  Not two women as stated in the papers, but six and two young girls, one 14 and one 15, were with him in that same place. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to suggest that Joseph had been involved not only with Catherine, but at least six other women, two of whom were underage. The man continued on by saying, quote, I am the agent of a secret international order. And when I met Mozinsky that night, it was to get him certain documents, but unfortunately they were not in his possession at that time. If his relative knew so much of his luck with women, maybe he would tell us what became of the following items. NYX 2673, NJ 4344, Philadelphia, XV346. These papers must be returned to us at once or 14 more Mozinsky's friends will join him. Mozinsky's relatives and friends have until Monday, 12 p.m. to bring these documents to us. If no answer is received by that time, we will start merry hell for all of them. It was clear whoever was writing these letters, they meant business and they were going to stop at nothing to get what they believed was rightfully theirs. The letter was once again signed 3X. On the evening of June 16th, five days after the crimes against Joseph and Catherine, Noah Salley, a 26-year-old radio mechanic from Brooklyn, had picked up his girlfriend, Betty, driving to a nearby salvage yard so the two could spend some time alone in the car. As the two sat in the vehicle, they noticed a man with a flashlight approaching. He shined the light in the window then revealed that he was holding a weapon, aimed at Noel. This man, much like the man from the previous crime, spoke with a thick German accent and asked Noel for his driver's license. After reviewing his license, the unknown man then turned his flashlight into the distance and began flickering it in a pattern. When Noel asked what he was doing, the man said that he was telling his friends that he wouldn't be needing their assistance. The man then turned back to Noel and asked if he knew Joseph Mozinsky. Noel replied, no, and the man immediately fired at him. Despite his wounds, Noel was still alive and well and managed to utter the phrase, I'm not the man you're looking for. The assailant then calmly walked to the back of the car, looked at the license plate and replied, you're the one we want all right, you're going to get what Joe got. He then fired one more round and ended Noel's life. Three X returned to Noel's side and began searching through his pockets. He then pulled out a slip of paper and shouted, I have it. The man then turned to Betty, Noel's girlfriend, and started to advance towards her.  He took Betty and much like he did with Catherine, took her to a nearby bus stop. He handed Betty a note and when she read it later on, it simply said, sally three X. Stamped in red ink, just like the letter that Catherine had received just days before. When police arrived at the scene of the crime later on, they collected several key pieces of evidence that seemed to prove that Noel certainly knew much more than he was letting on. When they searched his body, they found a newspaper clipping about the crimes against Joseph and Catherine with the word Mozinsky stamped in red ink followed by the words, here's how, written in the margins. We don't know if Noel was the one who collected this clipping or if it had been left in his pocket by the mysterious three X. All we know is that it was there when investigators arrived. If this weren't strange enough, investigators soon found a roll of cash that had been stashed inside of a magazine with this being found in the back of the car. Prior to these discoveries, police still believed Catherine may have somehow been involved in the first crime. But after hearing Betty's story, they agreed that Catherine was nothing more than an innocent victim, just like three X had said. Three X may have been nothing more than a cold-blooded monster, but he was now proven to at least be honest. Shortly after the crime was committed, the Evening Journal and police both received a letter in the mail. One of these letters contained a 23-caliber shell casing, as well as a note that mentioned Noel Sally, referring to him as V5 Sally. The letter that they received went on to state, quote, Some of our money was found on his person and the NY document. 13 more men and one woman will go if they do not make peace with us. It was at this point that the Evening Journal decided to post the letters they'd received from three X, hoping this may put a stop to the crimes. Almost immediately after the publication went out, they received yet another letter. This one read, quote, Tonight one more will go. You may let them know three X is the man behind the gun. He asks for no quarter, but will give none. On June 18th at 9 p.m., I will be at college point to get WRV8. Police were desperate for answers in this case and they set out on an incredible manhunt to try to bring three X to justice before he could get ahold of whoever WRV8 was. Police were stationed all over the town that evening, but oddly, no crime was ever reported. The very next day, the Evening Journal received yet another letter. This letter was the first of its kind because it almost seemed hopeful in a strange way. It read, quote, WRV8 of CP has returned to Philadelphia XV346 to meet tonight after reading their paper. Also $37,000 of blackmail money The letter continued on by saying that since the items were returned, one woman and five men would have their lives spared. It's assumed that these individuals must have somehow been close with the would-be victim and that by fessing up, the men was able to save their lives. But there was a catch. The letter concluded by saying that NJ4344, as well as $39,000 were still missing. This meant that seven more men were still in danger. 3x referred to each of these men by their code names, saying that they each needed to follow orders if they wanted their lives to be spared. The threat to WRV8 may have been over, but as far as investigators knew, the real crimes had only just begun and Joseph Mozinski's brother was about to learn this the hard way. On June 19th, just eight days after Joseph Mozinski had lost his life, his brother received a letter of his own. The postmarks on this letter suggested that it had come from Philadelphia and the writer ordered Joseph's brother, John, to deliver a series of valuable documents to him, presumably referring to the aforementioned $39,000, as well as the NJ document. The letter requested that the documents be placed inside a newspaper and hidden inside the men's room at the Broad Street station. As soon as John received the letter, he approached the police and an investigative team and explained that he had no idea what the letter was talking about, claiming to have no knowledge of these documents whatsoever. John was placed under police protection while the investigation was underway, and it seems as though John may have actually been telling the truth. This is because just two days later, investigators would receive their final letter from 3X. The letter stated, the last document, NJ 4344, returned to us on the 19th at 9 p.m. My mission is ended. There's no further cause for worry. At this point, you're probably thinking the same thing that I was. Now that 3X's job was over, he probably planned to leave the area and never return, meaning we'll never actually find out who this man was or what he wanted. Well, that's not entirely true. See, 3X may have been a monster, but he wasn't one to leave Lucent's. Before signing off his final letter, 3X came clean about his intentions, his origins, and why he'd shown up here in the first place. 3X explained that he was a former officer in the German army. He said that he'd been recruited by a secret organization based in Russia, known as the Red Diamond of Russia. One interesting thing to note is that when 3X signed all of his letters, he didn't technically sign them as 3X. He signed them as 3, followed by an upside down V and a right side up V, giving the impression of a poorly written X. 3X went into extreme detail, explaining that the inverted V represented the supreme tribunal of the order, and the normal V represented that he was a special agent. He went on to explain that Joseph Mozinsky and Noel Sallie both had their lives ended because they too were part of the Red Diamond of Russia. He said that they'd been affiliated with the organization, but had committed treason after joining a gang of blackmailers and smugglers. The three documents that 3X had been searching for were the property of the Red Diamond of Russia. The documents had been stolen for blackmail purposes, and it was 3X's job to get these documents back. He signed off his letter by saying that he would now be returning to Russia, clarifying that any further letters received by anyone claiming to be 3X would be considered fake. Police were interested in speaking with the family of Joseph and Noel, hoping that they'd be able to shed some light on this secret organization. But as expected, when the families were questioned, they claimed to have no knowledge of this Red Diamond of Russia, and even went as far as claiming that there was no way their loved ones could have been involved in such a thing. But one thing that's rather interesting is that just a month before Joseph lost his life, he deposited $8,000 into his bank account, the equivalent of around $150,000 today. It's never been publicly revealed where this money actually came from, and many suspect it could have been a payout provided by the blackmailers or the smugglers. After all was said and done, police did receive more letters from 3X, but as 3X's own letter stated, it's to be assumed that all of these future letters were nothing but fakes. Catherine and Betty were both called in on multiple occasions by police to take a look at a few people who police suspected could have been involved in the crimes, but both Catherine and Betty were able to clear each of these suspects of any involvement in the case. It's safely assumed that 3X did, in fact, return to Russia as he claimed. At this point, the case was, in a sense, solved, but neither 3X nor the Red Diamond of Russia were ever heard from again, and the identity of 3X remains a mystery. What I personally find so odd about this case is that you have to ask yourself, who is the real criminal here? As far as secret agents go, 3X seems to be a relatively level-headed person. After all, he gave each of his victims the chance to turn over the papers that were stolen, giving them the chance to have their lives spared, and 3X made good on his word. Each of the victims that did return the papers were allowed to live. That's extremely unusual in crimes like this. Most of the time, the criminal would have gotten what they wanted and claimed the lives of their victims anyway, simply for revenge, but 3X didn't. But even though 3X made good on his word, you have to remember he took advantage of Catherine when she was a completely innocent woman, not to mention the fact that he took the lives of two other people. But you have to wonder if Joseph and Noel were even half as honest as 3X was, would they have even ended up in this situation in the first place? I personally blame Joseph just as much as 3X for putting Catherine in such a dangerous position whether he meant to or not, not to mention the two underage girls that he was supposedly involved with as well. Joseph Mozinsky is just as much of a criminal as 3X is. It's just hard to feel bad for someone who built a life for themselves that was fueled by crime, regardless of which side of the table they were playing on. This case is still technically unsolved, but for all intents and purposes, at least in my own mind, this case has reached a perfectly reasonable conclusion. 3X showed up, took what was rightfully his, and left. It would be great to find out who this masked man really was one day, and maybe even learn what was contained on those papers, but let's be real, that's simply not going to happen. Remember, this case took place nearly 100 years ago, so even though 3X may have never seen justice in his life, certainly be held accountable in the next one. The only remaining question is, whatever became of the red diamond of Russia? February 13th, 2009, when Amber Dubois set off for school for what would unknowingly be the final time. As she arrived, she was approached by a boy who appeared to be a bit older than her, and certainly much larger. The two chatted outside for a few brief moments, and then Amber disappeared. Just a year later, in February of 2010, Chelsea King was out jogging on a local hiking trail in Rancho Bernardo Park. She planned on going on a five-mile hike, but at some point along the way, she too disappeared. Investigators would later find pieces of her clothing scattered all around the trail, and soon after, detectives came across a crime scene. As a quick side note from today's story, did you know that your personal data is actually being sold online by data brokers right now? I believe we all have the right to keep our data private and protected, and that's where DeleteMe comes in. DeleteMe is a service I trust to remove all my personal data from the internet with the simple push of a button. DeleteMe's proprietary system and team of experts will review hundreds of data broker websites and remove information about you and your relatives, such as name, age, address, email, phone number, photos, social media links, almost literally everything. After your first seven days of joining DeleteMe, you'll receive a personalized privacy report, detailing all the various places where DeleteMe has found your info and what they'll do to get it removed. Personally, my favorite aspect of DeleteMe is that I'm getting far fewer robocalls and scam calls since signing up. They've removed my phone number from so many databases and it shows. I used to get four or five calls a day, and now I'd be surprised to get more than one or two in an entire month. I'll admit I was pretty skeptical about the service at first, but I can tell you firsthand that it works and it works well. I've been using DeleteMe for several months now, and the results couldn't be better. You can join DeleteMe right now using my 20% off discount code TIE20 or by clicking the link in the description. That's discount code TIE20 or by clicking the link in the description. Give it a try for yourself and let me know how it works out for you. I think you'll be impressed. Thanks to DeleteMe for sponsoring today's video. Today's story involves three victims in total, but we'll specifically be focusing on the two victims that led to the criminal's eventual conviction. Remember, if you guys know of any strange or interesting cases that you'd like me to cover, be sure to leave your suggestions in the comments. I'm always looking for new stories, and most of these cases come from you guys. But with that said, let's begin the story of Amber Dubois. Amber Dubois was a very interesting girl. She was just 14 years old in 2009, but she had already made up her mind about what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Like many young girls her age, Amber had a loving interest in animals and wildlife. She'd spent a lot of her life infatuated by farm animals, and she'd always speak to her mother about her dreams of owning a few animals of her own one day. See, Amber was a very academic young girl. While many of the other kids her age were worried about what they were going to do for the summer or where they were going to go shopping or go hang out after school, Amber was extremely focused on getting good grades, taking as many courses as possible than trying to graduate early. And she was well on her way to doing so. Amber had been attending Escondido High School in California, just a short trip away from the heart of San Diego. When it came time to choose her classes for the year, Amber knew that she wanted to become part of the school's future farmers program. This program would allow the younger generation to become acquainted with farm animals and all the ins and outs of living life on a farm and taking care of the animals and livestock. This program was everything Amber had dreamed of, but there was one catch that her mother seemingly didn't see coming. This program would allow Amber to get a head start on her future goals of becoming an animal behavioral scientist, but in order for this to happen, Amber would need access to a lamb, particularly a lamb of her very own. Her mother wasn't interested in letting her buy a lamb. After all, lambs are a lot of work, at least for someone who doesn't really have access to all the necessary supplies and whatnot, and Amber certainly fell into this category. But as the weeks and months passed by, Amber continued to beg and plead with her mother to allow her to buy a baby lamb. Eventually, her mother felt obligated to agree and even offered to pay for the lamb if it meant helping Amber achieve the future that she had always dreamed of. But while she was very hesitant about the idea, Amber's mother wrote to her check for the lamb with Amber becoming ecstatic, securely hiding the check inside of her backpack so that she could go to pick up her new baby after school. This all took place on February 13, 2009, a date that for reasons unexpected, her mother would never forget. Amber left her home that morning with a skip in her step, overwhelmed with excitement by the idea of finally having a lamb of her own. She couldn't wait to get to school and tell both her instructor and her friends about what the future had in store for her. But tragically, she never got the chance to do so. As soon as Amber arrived on the campus of her local high school, a witness spotted her talking to someone who was described as being much taller than Amber. The witness couldn't make out the boy's age, but seems to have believed that the person that she was speaking to was a student at their high school. To clarify, the witness didn't say this outright, but it's just the impression they gave during their interview. They described the boy as being doughy looking, quite tall and dark-complected. After Amber was spotted talking to this person, she would never be seen again. This particular day was a Friday. It had been raining on and off throughout the day, but by all means, it was a day like any other. That is, until Amber failed to return home that afternoon. One thing to note is that Amber's parents had separated at some point during her childhood, leading her mother to begin dating again. While Amber's mother appears to have been at work on this particular afternoon, her mother's boyfriend had been at home and was anticipating Amber's return from school. But she never came back. Naturally, the boyfriend, named Dave, assumed that Amber had just become caught up in her newly purchased lamb and had lost track of time. But as minutes and hours eventually ticked by, Dave became extremely worried. He decided to drive over to Amber's school and try to find her. No sooner than he arrived, he spotted one of Amber's teachers and asked if she had seen Amber. In a disturbing twist, she replied that Amber hadn't been in class that day. This was particularly odd because not only should Amber have been at school for the entire day, but she'd also never missed a day prior to this. Her mother recalled that Amber was hyper-focused on her school attendance and her studies, and she wouldn't miss a day of school no matter what. So where had she gone? Dave grew incredibly concerned at this point and called Amber's mother to report what had happened. Soon after, Amber was officially reported missing and the search was on. Hundreds of volunteers caught wind of Amber's disappearance and turned up to help search for her. The search area spanned for miles, but no matter how far or wide the search was, no one managed to find any evidence that would explain where she had gone or who could have been responsible. When police began to dig deeper into her disappearance, they realized that Amber's phone was still active in the area a short time after she had disappeared. There was no mention of what time her phone was specifically turned off for good, but we know that wherever she had gone, it had likely been within a span of just a few miles as Amber's home and school were both within the proximity of the same cell tower. And there was no indication that she'd been anywhere near another cell tower during the beginning stages of her disappearance. Now, it's obviously possible that her phone could have been disabled before she left the area, but police didn't seem to believe that this was a likely scenario, though it's unclear why. When police began looking further into her cell phone data, they quickly learned that Amber's voicemail had been accessed shortly after she had disappeared. This voicemail again pinged off the same cell tower that connected to both Amber's home and her school. Investigators had now begun to feel confident that Amber had been abducted, but the only real evidence they had to go on was the eyewitness account from earlier that morning, describing the unknown mail that she'd been speaking with just moments before she vanished. Police, now taking the case far more seriously, began to interview all of the registered offenders in the area, as well as Amber's friends and family. A total of 1,200 tips were followed up on, and police conducted at least 500 interviews, but none of these interviews produced any leads or additional evidence. The captain of the police force recalled that no matter how much they investigated the case, they only ended up with more dead ends. Just over a year later, things would only get worse. Chelsea King was just 17 years old on February 25th, 2010. She was a straight A student at Poeway High School in California. Much like Amber, Chelsea lived just a few miles from the heart of San Diego. Chelsea was also a girl who took her schoolwork very seriously. Outside of her usual classes, she was a member of the school's cross-country team and would spend a couple hours each day training, running and hiking. One particular trail that she often visited was in the Rancho Bernardo Community Park. The trek would have taken her about five miles from beginning to end, and it was a trail that her family said that she would take time and time again, a trail she knew like the back of her hand. Chelsea had spent her last few months researching more than 100 colleges. Considering she had excellent grades and a remarkable work ethic, she'd been accepted into a few of these schools already, but it seems as though she was trying to decide between the University of Washington and the University of British Columbia. But unfortunately, she wouldn't attend either of these schools. That's because after she was out hiking her favorite trail at Rancho Bernardo one day, she wouldn't return home. It was February 25th, 2010, almost exactly a year after the devastating disappearance of Amber Dubois. Chelsea had been following her typical five-mile route, with her parents expecting her home at her usual time. But that time came and went with no signs of Chelsea. Chelsea's family and friends searched all over the park for any sign of her, but there was simply no trace of her. Before long, the police were called in to investigate. The police worked alongside a group of countless volunteers. With their combined efforts, they began to make a bit of progress in Chelsea's case, but it wasn't the progress that they had hoped for. Rather than finding evidence that Chelsea was alive and well, all of their discoveries proved the exact opposite. First, volunteers came across one of Chelsea's socks, found about two miles away from where she had parked her car, but then came the most shocking evidence of all. A volunteer came across her undergarments, combined with evidence that Chelsea had met with a terrible fate. A short while later, one of her shoes was found as well, less than a mile away from the two previous discoveries. A police sergeant says that the location of this evidence proved to them that foul play was almost certainly involved. The FBI was called in to investigate soon after, with them interviewing people at at least 300 homes in the surrounding area, and following up on at least 600 tips. And again, registered offenders were interviewed, but no one seemed suspicious or gave any indication that they may have had ties to Chelsea's disappearance. But investigators would finally have a breakthrough in the case when they sent in the underwear that they had found for a DNA analysis. When the results came back, they found that the DNA obviously matched Chelsea, but they also found DNA that belonged to a man that was known to the local police far too well, a man named John Gardner. John Gardner was well known to the police near San Diego. That's because back in 2000, he'd been convicted in another case involving a minor. In this particular case, the victim made it away with her life, but just barely. He had ambushed a 13-year-old girl and taken advantage of her. In a truly chilling twist, the young girl had actually been his neighbor. John had been about 21 years old at the time of his offense. He was sentenced to serve just six years behind bars, being released early on good behavior. The prisons were known to have been incredibly overcrowded at this time, and it's likely that this played a part in his early release as well. John was eventually released from parole in 2008, but a later investigation found that during the stint of his parole, he violated it at least seven times, including one time in which he lived too close to a school in 2007. John was also given an inklet to wear during his parole, during which time he was documented as having violated that 168 times, but nothing was done about this. When the GPS data was looked over later on, it was found that he'd spent countless hours in close proximity to several schools. He was also spotted in front of a daycare, as well as visiting prisons. With police believing he may have been delivering contraband to inmates. When police connected John to the case of Chelsea King, everything began to fall into place. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots and understand that John had stalked Chelsea along her jogging route that day, striking when she least expected it. It was reported that he took advantage of Chelsea and also claimed her life, but police never revealed the order in which these events took place. But as investigators were digging up all the details that connected John to Chelsea's disappearance, they began to realize that Chelsea's case had striking similarities to the case of Amber Dubois. Police would eventually track John down to a bar, where they found him to be soaking wet, covered in mud, and clearly drunk. They brought him in for questioning regardless, and it became apparent that he wasn't telling the truth about his knowledge of Chelsea's disappearance. But things got a lot darker when, without being provoked, John brought up Amber's disappearance as well. We have no idea why he would have spoken about Amber, and police say that her name came up at random during their interview. During the process of John's interrogation, it became clear to him that investigators had enough evidence to pin him to the crime. He eventually called in an attorney, and the attorney knew that they had a very solid case against him. It also became clear that prosecutors were going to do their best to secure the death penalty. Throughout this process, John quickly began to realize that, by all means, his life was essentially over. This realization set in even more when he found out that just five days later, on March 2, 2010, a team of FBI investigators had located the remains of Chelsea, buried near Lake Hodges. This was the moment that John knew the jig was up. He'd been found out, and there was little he could do to stop his conviction. Unless he got crafty, investigators obviously had enough evidence to pin him to the case of Chelsea King, with the DNA match on Chelsea's clothing being the most crucial piece of this. But the evidence connecting him to the disappearance of Amber Dubois was trivial at best. They believed her case had many similarities to the case of Chelsea, but they had virtually no evidence tying him to her disappearance. Just because he mentioned her name in an interview doesn't prove he was guilty. It just proves he watched local news back in early 2009. But that's when investigators came up with a plan. As mentioned, John was staring down the barrel of capital punishment, but they offered him a plea bargain that he couldn't afford to refuse. If he would lead them to the grave of Amber Dubois, they would agree to stop pursuing capital punishment, and instead simply pursue a life sentence. The only problem with this is that Chelsea's family would need to agree with these terms. Up until this point, Amber's family had been living in utter turmoil, hoping, begging, and praying to learn what had happened to their beloved daughter. The only thing worse than finding out that your loved one passed away is finding out that they're just missing, and you have no idea if they may still be out there begging to be found. After hearing about the heartache that the Dubois family had been forced into, Chelsea's family agreed, without hesitation, to waive the possibility of capital punishment in exchange for a plea deal. Everyone was in agreement, and John decided to open up about what had happened to both Amber and Chelsea. He told police everything, and he led them to an old dirt road, taking them to a rusted-out water tank. Nearby, police found the shallow grave that belonged to Amber. When John explained the details of her final moments and what he had done to her, they confirmed these details after digging up her remains, and it appeared that John had, in fact, been telling the truth. He was later convicted and given two life sentences, one for each of the girls, as well as that additional 25 years for assault, and an additional 24 years for other convictions. Needless to say, John Gardner will never be leaving prison again. But one of the headlines and comments that I continually see in regards to this case is that the system somehow failed these two girls. I'll admit, at first, I didn't understand what these people were talking about. After all, the criminal was caught and put away for life two times over. The system worked as well as it ever has. I'm often the first one to criticize law enforcement when they make ridiculous mistakes, but this is a prime example of an investigation firing on all cylinders and putting a killer behind bars. But there is a bigger problem here. If John hadn't been released from prison in the first place, or maybe if he'd at least served a longer, more beneficial sentence, these girls may still be here. After all, the whole point of being put behind bars is to be rehabilitated and learn from your mistakes, but that didn't happen with John. If you remember, John was arrested back in 2000 for what he did to the 13-year-old girl. That girl's life was changed forever in the blink of an eye. He took something away from that child that can never be given back and left her with a lifetime of fear and resentment, a lifetime, yet he served just six years behind bars. In response to this outrageous sentence, the family of Chelsea King worked alongside attorneys and law enforcement to instate a new law, now known as Chelsea's law. This law is the first of its kind to allow criminals to be placed behind bars for life, for crimes that didn't involve claiming the life of another person. If John had been given the proper punishment for his crime against the 13-year-old girl all those years ago, both Chelsea and Amber would likely still be here. To top this off, if investigators had done something about the 168 violations of parole that John committed, these girls would still be here. If they had arrested him when he was found stalking a children's daycare, these girls would still be here. If they had arrested him for moving to a home that was within walking distance of a school, well, you get the point. The most important thing is that John Gardner is now locked behind bars, where he will remain for the rest of his days. But I can't help but shake the feeling that if police had actually done something about this man years prior than the King and Dubois families, they'd still be sharing holidays with their beloved daughters. Paul Bernardo and Carla Homulga, known in the media as Ken and Barbie, are two of the most twisted criminals that Canada has ever seen. And after hearing this story, I think you'll agree. Paul Bernardo is a particularly disturbing man, who along with the help of Carla committed a series of crimes against young women in Ontario between 1986 and 1992. When the two were eventually apprehended, Carla struck a controversial plea bargain with prosecutors, after she claimed she was an unwilling participant in the crime. But investigators would later find out this wasn't exactly true, but their deal had already been made. In more recent years, this plea bargain has been described as a deal with the devil. A total of 23 victims are involved in this case, making it an incredibly important story to tell, and one that you can't afford to miss. This story is so convoluted and filled with so many twists and turns, that it's difficult to determine even where to begin. But I want to begin with a word of caution. Typically, I make these videos in remembrance of the victims. If you've watched true crime stories for any length of time, you know that the victims are always my prime focus, but today's video will be a bit different. The sheer brutality of this case is something that needs to be spoken about, so that the crimes that these two people committed will not be forgotten, especially considering one of these monsters is no longer even behind bars. So this video, rather than focusing on the victims, will be particularly focused on the criminals and the awful crimes they committed. So with that said, let's begin with a story of Paul Bernardo and Carla Homuca, the Ken and Barbie killers. Paul Bernardo was born in Ontario in 1964, to his parents Kenneth and Marilyn. Paul's father was a seriously sick man. It's been reported that Kenneth had an unusual fascination with his daughter, Paul's sister.  The details of this abuse haven't been clarified, but it's safe to say that whatever went on in the Bernardo household wasn't pretty. Thankfully, Paul's father would eventually be held accountable for his crimes, but the family never recovered. Even years after the abuse had ended, Marilyn, Paul's mother, suffered from severe mental health issues, including depression and uncontrollable anxiety. During the time that her husband still lived in the family home, Marilyn grew so afraid and paranoid that she packed up her things and moved into the basement just to have some physical distance between herself and her husband. The natural question many people may be asking is, why didn't she just leave it? Well, you have to keep in mind when you're living alongside a ticking time bomb and also a proven psychopath, you can't really afford to rock the boat, so to speak. Marilyn was likely just doing the best she could to make sure that she didn't end up six feet under. Regardless of his troubles at home, for much of his childhood, Paul didn't really present himself as being someone with a troublesome home life. All in all, he was a fairly ordinary kid. But as he entered his teenage years and young adult years, things began to change. While he grew up being a very outgoing boy, taking pride in his enrollment with the Boy Scouts, underneath the cracks had begun to show. He began to develop an obsession with fire. By the time he was 16, his parents had gotten into a monumental argument. After Kenneth, Paul's father discovered that Marilyn had been having an affair. Soon after, Paul found out that Kenneth may not even be his biological father. This planted a seed of resentment in Paul, who had now developed a hatred for his mother. The two would often curse at one another, call each other names, and ultimately make an already difficult childhood just that much worse. Around this same time, Paul had been dating a girl from his school. Paul was head over heels for this girl, but then she unexpectedly left him for one of his best friends. This rather obviously only made Paul's hatred that much stronger. But now he didn't just hate his mother, he hated all women, seeing them as little more than objects that he could take advantage of. He later took several of his ex-girlfriend's belongings and set them on fire in retaliation for what she had done to him. As years passed by, somehow Paul managed to get into college. He was here that his behavior towards women reached a worrisome peak, and Paul was soon headed down a path that very few ever returned from. He and his college friends were now of drinking age and begun concocting new ways to pick up women from local bars. Paul's attempts were unfortunately fairly successful. He would convince his dates to come back home with him, where he would engage in disturbingly aggressive behavior in the bedroom, often without the consent of these women. This eventually led to two women getting restraining orders against him, but many of the other women were too afraid to go to the police, as Paul had already threatened their lives if they were to do so. But it was around the same time that Paul met someone new, a woman named Carla Hamulca. While many of the other women that Paul had dated were resistant to his behaviors, so to speak, Carla encouraged them. The two had an immediate attraction for one another, and overall their compatibility was undeniable. This all took place in 1987, and as the years passed by, the relationship between Carla and Paul only got stronger. But something else was taking place during this time as well. A series of attacks against women have been sweeping across the Scarborough area. The bulk of these attacks occurred between 1987 and 1990, with many of these victims being underage. The criminal would wait near bus stops and wait for lonely women to exit the bus and bushing the victims when they were most vulnerable, often completely unaware that someone had even been following them. At least 19 of these cases were reported to the police, but it's possible there were many more that were never spoken of. Police caught onto this series of crimes quite quickly, and DNA samples were taken from each confirmed report. Police spoke with Paul about these crimes, and he even voluntarily submitted his DNA for comparison, but for reasons that remain unclear, his DNA was never actually tested, and this would prove to be a fatal mistake. By 1990, Paul and Carla had gotten engaged. Not too long after this, Paul lost his job as an accountant, and Carla's family allowed him to move into their home. Carla led that home with her parents and younger sister, Tammy. Tammy was just 15 years old at the time, and Paul was about 26 or so. No sooner than Paul moved in, he became fixated with Tammy. Even though he was set to marry Tammy's older sister, he couldn't control his lust for her. In the end, Carla and Paul worked together to get Paul exactly what he wanted, unrestricted access to Tammy's bedroom. The two concocted a plan to feed Tammy spaghetti that had been laced with a sedative, and once Tammy passed out, well, I think you can infer what happened next. All the while, Carla was seemingly a willful participant in the crime against her sister, with some rumors saying that Carla sat back and watched the whole crime take place, while others say that she joined in. At the same time, Carla was working for a local animal clinic. When working one day, Carla was left alone with prescription medications long enough that she was able to grab a few additional sedatives, bringing them home to Paul. This was around December. In Carla's own words, she wanted to sedate Tammy and give her to Paul as a Christmas present. Thus, she dosed her sister up once again, but this time, things wouldn't go according to plan. The two had moved Tammy down into the basement so that Paul's so-called gift wouldn't be witnessed by Carla's parents. But while in the basement, Tammy, still unconscious, began to vomit. Considering she had no control over her body, there is nothing she could do to keep from choking, and she very quickly stopped breathing. Paul and Carla began to panic. So before calling an ambulance for help, the two cleaned up the scene of the crime, vacuumed the basement, washed and changed clothes, and got themselves cleaned up. And only then did they call an ambulance for help, but by this point, it was far too late, and Tammy had lost her life. Somehow, despite being witnessed cleaning the basement from top to bottom in the middle of the night, police accepted the theory that Tammy passed away after drinking heavily, then choking on her own vomit. The case wasn't investigated any further, and Carla and Paul got away with it. Soon after this crime took place, Paul and Carla moved out of the Hamulka household and got a place of their own, allowing them even more privacy to carry out their disturbing crimes. By now, it was June of 1991. Paul had been traveling through Burlington while looking for license plates that he could steal. While driving around, he came across a young girl who had been locked out of her house after she had missed curfew. Paul approached the girl and rather strangely openly told the girl that he was planning on breaking into her neighbor's house. Even more strange, the girl didn't even bat an eye. She didn't even question it. She just asked Paul if he had any cigarettes. Paul then led the girl back to his car, where he blindfolded her, forced her into the car, then drove her back to his home, where he informed Carla that he'd found their next victim. Over the following few days, Carla and Paul videotaped themselves doing all sorts of things to the girl. The situation was far, far too graphic to mention here and I know that's not something you guys want to hear but I just can't get into these sorts of details when these victims are so young and the crimes are just so unnaturally terrible. After the crime had been completed, Paul and Carla encased the victims' remains in cement and dumped the evidence in Lake Gibson, about 11 miles from their home. The dump site was discovered just two weeks later but there wasn't enough evidence to immediately link the crime to Paul and Carla. This brings us to April 16, 1992. Paul and Carla were driving around your St. Catherine School looking for other potential victims. As they drove past the Holy Cross Secondary School, they spotted someone. Again, due to the girl's age and the circumstances of the crime, I won't be revealing her name as it really doesn't add anything for the story here. For this reason, we'll just call the girl K. Paul and Carla pulled into a parking lot just a short distance away from K. Carla then got out of the car with a map in hand pretending to be lost, hoping for some assistance. When K grabbed the map to help Carla out, Paul ran up from behind, forcing her into the front seat of the car, restraining her and driving away. When K didn't return home that afternoon, her parents knew something was wrong. Around 24 hours later, her shoe was found in the parking lot where she was abducted and investigators knew they had a crime on their hands. Once again, for the few days that the girl was held captive by Carla and Paul, they videotaped themselves doing whatever they wanted to the girl. K was found in a ditch just two weeks later, about 40 minutes away from her school. All evidence had been washed away before she was abandoned, meaning investigators had very little evidence to go on. Her hair had all been cut off as well, so identification was a bit more difficult than it needed to be. Keep in mind, the victims we've just covered only account for three of a total of 23 crimes, meaning there are confirmed to have been at least 20 other crime scenes connected to the couple, but there are likely dozens more that officers simply don't know about. But by 1992, things were beginning to heat up, and the police were hot on the trail of these two. Both Carla and Paul were questioned several times in connection to the crimes, but at this point the investigation was well underway. While investigators only had two confirmed victims at this moment, the unexpected demise of Tammy, Carla's sister, was beginning to look a bit suspicious as well, but without any hard evidence there wasn't much that could be done. It was December of 1992 when all of that changed. Carla and Paul had gotten into a heated argument, leading Paul to attack Carla with a flashlight, hitting her over and over again and causing her to become so badly injured that she told her friends she'd gotten into a car accident, and some of them believed this to be a plausible excuse, meaning the extent of her injuries must have been pretty severe. But when Carla's parents found out, they weren't so easily convinced. They showed up to the couple's home and physically removed Carla from the situation. They took her to a local hospital where she revealed that Paul had done this to her. She was treated for her injuries and a police report was filed. Paul was arrested, but was released a short while later. Now, if you remember a while ago, I mentioned that Paul voluntarily submitted his DNA to the police, but they didn't really do anything else about the cases they'd been piling up. Well, 26 months later, more than two years later, they finally submitted Paul's DNA for comparison and found that it was a match. Paul was then placed on a secret 24-hour surveillance by investigators. Around this same time, Carla opened up to her family about the extent of Paul's abuse, revealing that he was not only abusive towards her but that she knew, without a doubt, that Paul was the man who had harmed all 23 of those girls. But in a shocking twist, she revealed that she'd been involved in some of the crimes as well, though she explained that she'd been forced into compliance by Paul, who had allegedly threatened to harm her if she didn't do exactly as he had asked. Police arrested Paul almost immediately after this confession, and they began an intense search of his home. They had caught wind of their allegedly being videotapes that documented some of the crimes, but when they searched the home, only one of these tapes was found. Now, normally in cases like this, police will tear a house apart while looking for evidence, but for some weird reason, police weren't allowed to conduct any level of demolition inside the home, meaning they were incredibly limited in their abilities to search. Their search of the home took a total of 71 days. After this search was concluded, the evidence against Paul was minimal. Police only found the one aforementioned tape, but the only evidence that it contained would have implicated Carla, not Paul. And this is where things get a bit strange. See, before the discovery of this tape, Carla had struck a deal with police. In exchange for a dramatically lesser sentence than Paul was facing, Carla spoke with police and revealed the extent of their crimes against these girls and young women. Police agreed to this plea bargain with Carla. They were under the assumption that Carla had been forced to commit these crimes after being threatened by her husband.  This meant that she wasn't completely immune from charges, but police assured her that her sentence would be far less severe. Carla agreed to the terms of this bargain and police drew up a contract for her, and she revealed everything she knew about the victims, helping police in their search of Paul's home. But after this search was concluded, as mentioned, they found minimal evidence. But that's when Paul told his lawyer where he had hidden all of the secret tapes. Paul instructed his lawyer to remove a light fixture from the upstairs bathroom, and inside of this fixture, all of the tapes were hidden away. The lawyer hid these tapes from investigators, but soon after this discovery and the realization of the extent of Paul's crimes, the lawyer resigned. Paul's new attorney was then given access to the tapes, which he immediately handed over to the authorities. When police viewed these tapes, they found all the evidence they needed to put Paul away for life, but there was only one problem. They also found enough evidence to put Carla away for life as well. Despite claiming that Paul forced her into submission, investigators quickly learned that this was all a ruse. The tapes clearly revealed that Carla played an almost equal role in these crimes. She wasn't forced at all, she was a willing participant. But the fact is, they'd already signed a plea bargain with Carla. This meant that regardless of what the tapes documented, there was little they could do. Paul was eventually handed a life sentence, though he was given the possibility of parole after 25 years. Thankfully, parole has never been granted. Carla, on the other hand, was given a maximum sentence of just 12 years behind bars. As a result, she was released almost 20 years ago, back in 2005. Despite her release, Carla was still kept under pretty strict supervision. She was required to submit a DNA sample to police, as well as required to tell police if she planned to be away from her home for more than 48 hours. She was also required to attend regular counseling and therapy, and has been prohibited from being in an isolated presence of anyone under the age of 16. She's also been barred from contacting Paul or any of the victims' families. When she was analyzed by a psychiatrist, Carla was, by all means, determined to be a relatively normal person. She doesn't have a particularly disturbing past, nor does she show any of the usual markers of being a volatile person. But one of her psychiatrists remarked that while Carla comes across as a perfectly normal person, her morality is questionable at best. She was ultimately declared as being a normal person, albeit one with particularly dark desires, which is likely how she was able to be so complicit in so many of these chilling crimes. In the end, this is a case that's just truly bizarre. Carla and Paul were subsequently described in the media as being Ken and Barbie, the perfect partners for one another. There isn't really much commentary to add to this case, outside of the obvious, what the heck, seriously. Thankfully, Paula's since been locked away for life, Carla, on the other hand, remarried immediately after her release and has been married to the same man since 2005. All we can really do is hope that her dark desires don't reemerge as time passes From the outside, Susan and Jeff Wright had it all. They were the perfect image of a beautiful young family, but as we all know, every family has their secrets, and the rights were no exception. One fateful night, the world around them would collapse and their lives would be changed forever. Detectives say that on January 13, 2003, someone took the life of Jeff Wright. The suspect attempted to clean up the scene of the crime, but investigators were hot on their trail. By the end of a rather lengthy investigation, after an extremely unexpected confession, prosecutors had finally caught the criminal. But it wasn't someone that any of the investigative team would have expected. The entire city of Houston, Texas was left frozen in fear when the culprit was finally revealed, and the family was left torn in two. Susan Wright was born in 1976 in Houston, Texas to her parents, Sue and Jimmy. Susan had a fairly interesting life from the very beginning. Her early childhood isn't spoken about much, but her teenage years revealed that she must have been battling some pretty serious demons. By the time Susan had turned 17, she'd begun making some interesting career decisions, as she began working as an exotic dancer. I'm not an attorney, but I'm not even sure that something like this would have been legal for someone her age. But either way, Susan made a go of it, and continued working as a dancer for a period of just eight weeks before quitting and trying to find something better to do with her time. There's no mention of how much money Susan made during her two months as a dancer, but she must have been a pretty good one because after she quit, she began to put herself through college using the money that she had made. Susan initially began a nursing program at one of her local community colleges, but she quickly found out that nursing wasn't for her and neither was college. Considering she was a young woman with her entire future in front of her, Susan felt that college was taking up far too much of her time and eating away at the little bit of freedom that she had. So after only taking a few courses and seemingly getting no degrees or certifications out of it, she decided to quit and begin working as a waitress, giving her far more time for herself and helping her to continue to have an income, unlike what was happening at college. This proved to be a good move for Susan. After leaving school, it seems like she had a pretty great time working as a waitress. She met all sorts of interesting people and generally seemed to have been quite happy with her sudden change of plans. Her job forced her to commute to Galveston with all this taking place in 1997, when Susan was just 21 years old. I couldn't find any mention of what specific restaurant Susan worked at, but we know that it was located on a beach which brought in all kinds of tourists and other interesting people. One of these people was Jeff Wright, a highly successful carpet salesman who took a serious interest in Susan from their very first encounter. One of Susan's co-workers reported that after the two met, Jeff would call the restaurant two or three times a day and asked to speak with Susan. Thankfully, Susan shared this same interest, and the two began dating within weeks of meeting up. Everyone recalled Jeff as being an incredibly sweet man. From the moment that he walked into the restaurant, several of Susan's co-workers noticed just how calm and loving he was. Susan even remembers how Jeff would bring her flowers and gifts while she was at work, and he always took time out of his day to make sure that she felt special and cared for. Barely a year later, Susan was already eight months pregnant with their first child, a boy named Bradley. The two would get married shortly before the arrival of their son, with Susan recalling that Jeff was your typical American man who wanted nothing more than to settle down with a wife and kids and a dog in a traditional Houston, Texas home. But Jeff wasn't always this way. According to several people who knew Jeff, he spent much of his teens and twenties partying pretty heavily. Mind you, when he and Susan met, Jeff was eight years older than her. He'd been a pretty reckless person throughout his younger years, often going out to bars and parties with friends and partaking in various illegal activities. Jeff was a difficult man to tame, but once he met Susan, all of this changed for the better. Or so it would seem. See, everything wasn't perfect in paradise. While the couple kept up outward appearances of being happy and deeply in love, the picture they painted for others simply wasn't accurate to what was actually taking place in the right family home. Immediately after the birth of their son, Susan and Jeff moved into a picturesque home in the White Oaks suburb of Houston. It didn't take too long before Susan was pregnant again, this time with a girl named Kaylee. Susan always did her best to keep their home neat and tidy. After all, Jeff was bringing in so much money that Susan didn't even have to work. So she decided to stay home with the kids and seemed to be incredibly happy with her newfound passion for parenting and tending to the family's home. But just four years in, well that's when the facade that they'd upheld in front of their neighbors, friends, and family began to show some cracks. While Jeff had initially believed that he was ready to settle down and start a family, nothing could be farther from the truth. In all honesty, Jeff may have honestly been ready to leave his old life behind him, but we all know that old habits die hard. After years of partying day in and day out, Jeff just couldn't shake off his lust for alcohol and illegal drugs. In fact, Jeff had developed a pretty serious addiction. Susan had done her best to let Jeff deal with his addiction in his own way, but as time passed by, Susan began to realize that his usage wasn't letting up, and it may have actually been getting worse. She spoke with Jeff about this on multiple occasions, but Jeff was insistent that he was completely fine and that everything was under control. It wasn't. Susan says that as years passed by, Jeff's usage began to seriously affect their whole life. After he would use, he would grow incredibly aggressive with both her and their children. Susan recalls being kicked, punched, slapped, and who knows what else during Jeff's uncontrollable fits of rage, all of which stemmed from his years of substance abuse. Jeff also had a mentality that he provided everything for the family so he should be able to do as he pleased regardless of who had heard. As years passed by and the abuse only worsened, Susan's patience had begun to run out. She did her best to be a good person and a good wife. She didn't believe that divorce was ever the right answer, but she knew that something had to change. She feared for her own safety and for the safety of her children, and she knew that this nightmare needed to end and she was going to see to it that whatever the cost, she would end it. It was January 13th, 2003. Jeff once again was high. He'd been playing with a couple's son Bradley that afternoon, but things didn't really go as planned. While the two were having a great time at first, Jeff once again got a bit too aggressive with Bradley, accidentally hitting his son a bit too hard during their antics, causing him to cry. Jeff was thankful that Susan didn't seem to notice that this had happened, so he brushed it off and moved on with his afternoon. But unbeknownst to him, Susan did in fact notice. After a few hours had passed by, the two tucked their children into bed for the night. As Jeff was laying on the couch watching TV, he noticed Susan appear in the doorway, wearing nothing but a bathrobe. Without another seconds thought, he turned off the TV and headed into the bedroom. As he entered the doorway, he found that Susan had placed candles all around the room and even had music play. Jeff couldn't have been more excited. He hopped onto the bed and without another word, Susan began to tie him to the bed posts. Jeff felt that the evening couldn't have gotten any better. After tying him to the bed posts though, Susan's expression began to change. As she stared down at Jeff, completely helpless, the years of abuse that she and her children had been subjected to spun around in her mind. She knew that she would never have a better opportunity to end her suffering and the suffering of her children. So she grabbed a knife that had been stored away nearby and began to execute her plan. Jeff quickly realized that the evening was not going to end the way that he had imagined, but he was helpless to defend himself. Try as he might, he couldn't break free of his restraints. All the while, Susan allowed her pent-up rage to flow freely, injuring Jeff a total of 193 times. Let that sink in for just a moment. 193 individual injuries, dozens of which should have been fatal but weren't. But by the time the crime was over, Susan dropped the weapon and slid off the bed, collapsing to the floor after realizing what she had done. Jeff's life had finally come to an end. When Susan gathered the courage to turn the light on and look at what she had done, she was struck with an intense feeling of panic. As she stared at the crime she'd committed, she was overwhelmed. She knew if she couldn't go to prison, it would destroy what was left of her family. She knew that she had to clean this up and do the best that she could to destroy the evidence of the crime, but she couldn't even determine where to begin. After a while, she decided simply to take a shower, then return to the bedroom to begin cleaning things up. After she was satisfied with her cleaning, Susan called Jeff's parents, who lived about 150 miles away in Austin. She began the call by sobbing, claiming that Jeff had just come home from his boxing lessons angrier than he had ever been before. She says that he began to unleash on both her and their son. Jeff's parents couldn't believe what they were hearing, but they had no choice but to trust that Susan was telling them the truth. Naturally they asked to speak with Jeff, but Susan explained that he'd run out of the house and she had no idea where he had gone. She felt confident that Jeff had finally left her once and for all. Jeff's parents, completely blindsided by these accusations, asked Susan what had set him off into such a fit of rage. Susan explained that his addiction had grown increasingly out of control and he had finally snapped. As far as Jeff's parents knew, he'd stopped using four years ago when Jeff and Susan had gotten married. They truly had no idea just how bad his addiction had gotten. Susan cried on the phone with Jeff's parents for more than an hour before eventually hanging up. All the while, their son lay lifeless on the bed that he had once shared with his beloved wife. After Susan finally ended the call, she knew that her hard work had only just begun. In the weeks leading up to the crime, Jeff had been busy preparing their backyard for a new deck and a fountain that he had planned to install. At this point it became glaringly obvious that this project was never going to be completed, so instead Susan came up with a plan. She pulled Jeff to the backyard and dropped him into the hole that he had been digging for the fountain, meaning Jeff had literally dug his own grave just days prior to losing his life. As Susan tried to shove him into the hole, she quickly realized that this wasn't going to work, but she'd come too far to give up now. The son was beginning to rise and she needed to think quickly. Unable to fit him completely inside, she just began throwing dirt over the top of him, doing a truly terrible job of concealing the crime. She knew that this wouldn't work long term, but with the amount of time she had before her children would wake up, she had to call it good enough and get back inside to begin cleaning up the mess that she left behind. Susan rushed back inside and began cleaning the floor, the walls, the ceiling, the bed, everything. In the end, she tossed the sheets in a trash bag in the backyard and even hauled the couple's mattress out back as well, assuming the children wouldn't find either of them. She then bleached the couple's bedroom from floor to ceiling, all in the nick of time.  After Susan had spoken with Jeff's parents that evening, they anxiously awaited a knock at their door, assuming that Jeff would come to their home to cool off for a bit. But Jeff never showed up. They never even received a call from him. As hours passed by, his parents called Susan back and asked if Jeff ever returned home. Susan explained that he had but that they ended up in yet another argument, so he grabbed some clothes and left again, destination unknown. She added that Jeff was so mad that he grabbed a bottle of bleach and shook it all over the bedroom, creating an alibi for why the home was filled with the odor of bleach and explaining why the carpet in their bedroom had been so damaged during Susan's secret cleanup. Before long, Jeff's boss called as well, and Susan shared the same story. When a neighbor inquired about Jeff later that day, she once again shared the same story, with the neighbor suggesting that Susan filed a police report. Two days later, Susan agreed to this plan. She headed to the police station in Harris County and filed a report based on the version of events she had told all of her friends, family, and neighbors. Police took photos of the cuts and bruises on her hands, the ones she'd given herself while ending Jeff's life, and the police seemingly believed every word of her story. Fearful of what might happen if Jeff returned home to find that she reported him to the police, investigators even offered her a restraining order so that she would feel safer at home with her kids. By the following Saturday, Susan realized that she couldn't keep up the charade forever. The questions people had begun to ask were getting harder and harder to answer, but that was by no means the worst part. During all this time, Susan had not managed to find Jeff a more suitable grave.  I can't go into too much detail about what Susan saw after this, but as she looked out the rear window of her home, she noticed that the dog had also well started chewing on what it had found in the hole in the backyard, and now there was evidence all over the place.  She couldn't lie anymore. Her alibi had run its course and she knew that there was nowhere else to run. She loaded up her children into the car and drove to her mother's house a few miles away. When she arrived, she told her mother the same story she had told everyone else, but her mother felt that there was something else going on here. As certain aspects of this story just didn't hold up under scrutiny.  With a slight nod of her head, Susan confessed. Susan's mother helped her find a great criminal defense attorney. The couple's children were then sent to stay with Susan's sister, Cindy, while Susan went to the police and confessed what had taken place. Well, sort of. Susan obviously knew that she'd be caught eventually, but rather than share the true version of events with police, she concocted a story that painted her as a blameless victim. She claimed that Jeff had come after her with a knife, and that she had managed to wrestle it away from him and use it to defend herself. But that didn't explain why she had injured him nearly 200 times. She claimed that once she started, she couldn't stop, but the jury wasn't buying this. Susan did explain that after years of abuse, her rage had just overflowed, but she still refused to share the full truth about what had happened. It didn't take long before everyone in the courtroom realized that Susan had been lying profusely and that the tears she shed in court were fake. Susan wasn't an innocent victim, she was a cold-blooded killer. After just five and a half hours of deliberation, the jury decided that Susan was guilty, and she was sentenced to 25 years behind bars. But that isn't the end of the story. See, one woman believed Susan. That was Misty McMichael, Jeff's former fiance. She came forward in 2005 and announced that she'd been subjected to Jeff's abuse as well during their four-year engagement. She believed that the story that Susan had been sharing may have been true after all. Police took these accusations seriously, and in the end, five years were taken off of Susan's sentence. This