Attorney and criminal client face death penalty; Man who consoled victim’s family accused of murder

a word of warning this podcast explores graphic and disturbing stories and includes some strong language it therefore may not be suitable for our young listeners or other folks who may find it disturbing hello and welcome to True Crime daily the podcast covering high-profile and under the radar cases from across the country every week I'm your host Anna Garcia our cases this week one minute he is consoling the family of a young woman who was murdered and found dead in the trunk of a car and next he is being arrested for putting her in that trunk it's a bitter pill to swallow for one family now dealing with grief and betrayal but first when the defense attorney appears more dangerous than the criminal they are defending police say that she fell for her client and fell hard she wanted a witness gone a person charging her client with domestic abuse so according to the DA this Duo killed the witness and her parents so no one could testify well there going to be a lot of people testifying against them as they head to trial for three murders we are recording this on Wednesday December 6 of 2023 Our Guest today is Dr Judy ho a clinical and forensic neuropsychologist a professor a prolific author a dear friend of the show Judy we're so excited to have you back it's been a while I know it's been a while thank you so much for having me back and uh for all your support and happy holidays yes happy holidays I haven't decorated yet I'm so behind oh man well you still got time it's only early December you're good you're good it's good it's good it's good and Judy you have a new book out that we're going to talk about later what's the title it's called the new rules of attachment I'm so excited about this book and yeah can't wait to speak to you all about it oh I have so many issues Judy you know when you're on all I can think about is all the things I need to ask Judy to help me get through oh thank you Anna well I can't wait to chat more about that but first there's these crazy cases I just can't oh my gosh what is it with people why do they do such stupid and morally corrupt and heinous things just to fix some problem somewhere else right exactly it's like so short not only shortsighted but just you know not the not only the consequence to another human being's life or multiple human beings lives but also their Liv you know have you ever really thought about what's going to happen to you after this I mean it's just it's insane clearly they are not thinking and they're not making good choices and that's why I love this podcast because I love to talk about human behavior at the end of the day it's about choices the problems people have and the choices they make and sadly they are the worst choices ever which I know you know you can give us a little bit of insight into yes okay our first case is out of beg Oklahoma and you know we're asking the question here who is more dangerous the former criminal defense attorney or her criminal client turned lover boyfriend you know instead of bringing up the best in each other Judy these two have brought out the worst in each other without question without question it's like they're just upping the anti by being together and like I mean their terrible ideas of it's like group think at its worse right that's kind of what it feels like and it's not like you know she was an angel before this you know how I hear this sob story all the time and you know I know a few people they always blame this is going to sound terrible but they always blame the other one right oh she was such a wonderful woman until she met this guy and he dragged her down really I think maybe you have a predisposition or there's something off with you if you let somebody bring you down and vice versa whether it's you know a horrible woman a horrible woman bringing down a good man right exactly and in this case I know that you're going to get into all the details but this is something where you can't just say well uh you know he negatively influenced me and I was so innocent before because she actually knew of many of his alleged crimes before and still decided to step into the personal Realm of the relationship with him yeah absolutely some of this was her idea okay we've been covering this case since 2019 when it happened and and what is new here is that the state is asking tightening the screws and asking for the death penalty it's possible that they may want these two to maybe enter into a plea and avoid a trial I I have no idea I have no idea but it is getting very serious so the accused here here they are a former criminal defense attorney 38-year-old Keegan Harris and her client turned boyfriend Barry Titus II to is 40 Keegan's 38 Barry's 40 okay now they are charged gets a little complicated here they are both charged with murdering Barry's ex-girlfriend who had accused Barry of domestic violence and with the battery case coming up against him his attorney SL lover decides let's get this case dismissed and the best way to dismiss the case is to get rid of the accuser get rid of the woman first they try to discredit her and then when that doesn't work the police say the two of them murdered her at her parents house and also murdered her parents to make sure that they could not be Witnesses so now you have three dead people 43-year-old Tiffany ior that was the ex-girlfriend and her parents Jack who was 65 and Evelyn Chandler 69 three people dead because this guy is facing potential you know potential imprisonment of convicted on domestic violence charges wow how does this solve the problem uh doesn't I mean that's that's what's crazy and of course the charge the original charge is domestic violence and assault so this is I mean this is just obviously the most extreme version of that is murder right but it's you know if you were hoping to say that you were innocent and claiming that clearly this is not going to help your original case no no so you know it as we said it's not like the attorney was an angel here before she met Barry Titus so back in 2014 she the attorney was charged with assault and battery on a police officer in addition to domestic assault on her then husband Nicholas Harris so the officer was injured in the middle of responding to this domestic violence call the husband told investigators at the time that Keegan had kicked him in the face somehow the charges ultimately get dropped which I always find troubling with domestic violence when charges are dropped yeah me too because they generally signify a very dangerous issue that that law enforcement is not dealing with by by ing charges right um we know that it can be very very difficult for the person who is the identified victim of domestic violence disputes to get out of a relationship that is clearly abusive and problematic and unfortunately a a substantial proportion of individuals then go on not only to experience even more extreme domestic violence but even a small proportion of that they go on to essentially be accidentally killed in a domestic violence dispute sometimes it's on purpose but a lot of times it's just on accident during the heat of the argument um so it leads to terrible consequences but even knowing that when somebody's in the relationship it can be really hard to see that and to get out and sometimes abusers can kind of come back be really contrite they'll love bomb their partner and their partner says okay let me give this another chance and then they contact the police and they say you know what I don't want to press charges Judy what is your opinion of what appears to be two histories of domestic violence and when the two alleged accused abusers then come together and form their own relationship how does that work right I mean not only is there obviously concerned that perhaps they're going to be making another domestically violent partnership perhaps on both sides more than anything it's like their own ideas about what's okay and what's a good way to treat somebody in a relationship is completely warped and they kind of are on the same wavelength about well whatever goes and if there is abuse or there's assault that's kind of just comes with the territory so it's almost like they they essentially feed into each other's ideas about what's right and what's wrong in a relationship and their moral codes are essentially just uh completely sideways because they're in this partnership with one another and basically they can get into this place where they can say you know what we're the ones who are right and everybody else is just making a big deal out of nothing so if two abusers come together and form a relationship are they abusive to each other or do they take that energy and turn it to the outside world that's a great question and I mean I think that certainly there's always the risk that they're just going to be abuse over one another and it's kind of like not an either or it could be an and so there could be abuse within their relationship but also if they feel like they're being ostracized by Society or that people don't understand them then whatever anger that is pent up that's leading to the domestic violence disputes could essentially be turned outside the home to other people that they see as common enemies and in this case this could have very well been what happened I mean essentially it's like look at these people trying to take us down well I know because I used to be in the same position I was accused of being domestically violent towards my ex partner I know how you're feeling and I know how we're going to get out of it it's almost like taking up each other's causes in a way and Revenge Revenge in and avenging each other wow that is really layered I hadn't looked at it that way before so after this domestic violence incident with her husband four years later in October of 2018 Keegan begins representing Barry on charges um drug charges and Firearms charges and that is when the two of them fall in love and have an affair so the four former law partner of Keegan no longer works with her back at least back then said that when Barry Titus came into her life quote her decision making went down the tubes again I'm going to make an argument that there was always a little something something there yeah I mean again it's interesting right because as you were telling retelling that part of their history what also struck me is um and this is this is your romantic meat Cube that you're defending somebody in serious charges and allegations and you're thinking this might be a good partner for me so to me that that's just amazing because you know as the attorney you have attorney client privilege you learn essentially all the ins and outs of someone's life in many ways so that you can adequately represent them and defend them and so she's being led into his deep Dar Secrets many of which are horrible and sound like there's a lot of morally questionable if not corrupt ideas in his life and how he goes about things and her response is I want to date this person and have sex with them and make them my love I mean that is I don't know that that just blows my mind as you were talking about yeah it does so Barry was charged with domestic violence and battery for a 2017 incident where he allegedly beat and tried to strangle his then girlfriend friend Tiffany ior one of the three who was murdered and Tiffany met Baran Tinder and at this point she had a restraining order against him so she accused him of domestic violence and she had a restraining order so it's in the middle of this that Keegan the attorney first is dealing with the drug charges now is dealing with I mean the guy is looking like a career criminal here it's not like it's just like one thing in an otherwise seemingly perfect life no no no no no no no that is not who he presents to be or is so investigators say that attorney Keegan first tried to discredit Tiffany now how she handles this okay how she chooses this is what she does according to the police you know instead of maybe saying oh she's a liar I don't know she decides to turn to one of her other clients who um you know has all sorts of problems with drug charges she turns to this other client and she says I need you to help me this is what she says according to the client who um ultimately turned against her and went to the police he testified to police that she said I want you to plant a bag of meth at Tiffany's house the place where she lives with her 60-year-old parents um but that didn't work out the plan didn't work out so here's how the plan went down so he does plant a bag but it's not meth I guess the guy is like look I'm not that crazy he plants a bag her parents find it so they call the police and they're like something really suspicious is in our house and we believe that someone put it here the police come out they tested it's powdered sugar so there's really not much that the police are going to do about this so right it's like this is a little weird I think your Christmas cookie baking Maybe someone forgot a bag somewhere you know from the police perspective but the family decides Tiffany's family decides her dad says you know what we are in danger here and I'm putting up surveillance cameras which they do so the methamphetamine witness intimidation plan obviously completely fell apart and that is when Barry and Keegan went to plan B [Laughter] which it's I don't like honest ly you're a criminal defense attorney you should know better there have to be other ways using legal tools to figure out how to defend your client this is this is not how you they teach you in law school right I mean this is what's what's crazy is that I mean of course we know how horribly the story actually ends and when you talk about this portion of their thinking it's almost like Child's Play like you're I mean you know the police is going to test the substance right so even if you're trying to discredit Tiffany by saying oh she's a meth user or that she possesses meth and she intends to sell it or whatever the plan was you don't think that the police is going to go and test the substance and know that it's sugar you didn't even think that maybe you might try to go get an actual bag of meth like I don't know you know like just weird right just like this is like a child's version of this is how I'm going to subvert the police you know it's just it's so do believe that Keegan wanted real meth planted there and I believe that her client was like no way lady I got enough problems I'll help you in the sense I'll plant something with the thoughts that the somehow this would be a form of intimidation that might actually work cuz they would know where it was coming from I that's what I'm thinking cuz I don't think she was going to play around with with powdered sugar I believe that the person she sent to do it was like o I got enough charges against me right right right right let me yeah exactly like I'll I'll support you in that I'll let you do what whatever it is that you had planned but I'm not going to go and procure a bag of meth for this purpose and essentially possibly get in more trouble based on that right right and this plot the plot with the bag um really is key to figuring out who killed the three because when the three were found dead the guy who says he planted that bag of not meth but sugar Joe urbe he was already a defendant in a drug trafficking case he went to the authorities trying to get leniency for his current problem now at least his problem solving actually I think he has much better problemsolving tools than the other two cuz he's like I got a situation I got to get out of I have some information that may help the police and may help me much more logical use of potential tools there so he he tells the police that he planted that bag at the direction of his attorney Keegan he specifically said that it was for Revenge she had told him it was for revenge and here's the part that we didn't know he tells the cops she even told the guy planning the bag of drugs and then make sure to contact your DEA you know agent friend and you tell him they're running drugs out of there so the setup was not only to plant it but then to have the authorities come in and raid the house find the meth and then take them all into prison to jail oh my God that was the plan but of course it didn't work out because the the one executing the plan was like o yeah right right right all right so here's the other thing that's important to keep in mind as how they're reacting to what's going on so at this point Barry remember he has the domestic violence charge against him this is before Tiffany is dead so the drugs have been PL the fake drugs have been planted that didn't work out so Barry has offered a plea deal of 10 years behind bars for the domestic assault charge this potential prison time is what undoes Bonnie and Clyde here because they want a life together and Barry going to prison isn't going to make her happy so that's when Plan B is executed literally executing the witness and her parents it's just horrific horrific so let's let's get to um the day before the crime and the day of the crime because it's kind of interesting again it gives you insight into how they're thinking and you would expect more and almost like a better cover up of the crime from a criminal defense attorney right you expect good skills here and this is not what we're seeing so according to prosecutors Barry and Keegan drove to Keegan's family home her home in Frisco Texas on September 6th of 2019 couple had dinner with her family before checking into the Red Roof Inn in Plano Texas they were going to be out of state and they were going to have plenty of witnesses oh they were here having dinner they checked into the motel that was The Alibi that they had set up authorities say after they checked into the hotel the couple then drove 3 hours back to begs Oklahoma to the family home where Tiffany lives with her parents and Tiffany's parents and Tiffany were killed about 3:00 a.m. on September 7th so technically the next day the next day after you know but in the early morning hours after dinner police say there is security footage of two masked asants getting out of the vehicle but because the killers cut electricity of the house and cut the phone lines that's where the video ends so there's there's there's some video but not enough video then the asants again police say it's these two but at the point of the murder they were just two Mass salant asants they kick in the door and the first person to be shot is Jack the dad then Tiffany is gunned down as she's being chased down the hall and she's shot in the back the mother is hiding in a closet they find her in the closet and they shoot her dead too so you have three victims shot with two different weapons so a family member finds them dead that's how they're discovered and this family member tells the police you know look there was a issue going on because Tiffany had a restraining order against this Barry Titus guy and there was an upcoming case and there was going to be a trial here's something they didn't plan on remember how they went to have dinner with her family in Texas right they did not plan on her brother once he found out that three people were dead and that Barry you know was involved with a case with one of the the victims her brother goes to the police and turns over a weapon that he believes may have been used in the commission of this triple homicide oh my gosh someone at least in that family did the right thing exactly wow that's crazy you know which goes back to nature nurture it's like all right one sibling here knows right from wrong what happened to this one what happened to her exactly wow okay I mean I I do you know I think that's important I think it's really important that the family just didn't L try cover everything up oh yeah they were here for dinner no there's no way they could have done it they're like we want no part of this and chances are they know a lot more about who she truly is and her boyfriend than than we know right now oh my gosh yes and I'm sure it was a conflict right I mean even if you're just the most morally upright person you know this is your family member like you do feel bad about what you're about to do but he knew that that was the right thing to do what is really striking though is that as they're kind of concocting this plan because I know you were saying Anna like that this whole idea of Barry having a potential prison sentence was what kind of set off this course of horrible events that led to this triple homicide but like at any point wouldn't they think that they were already Persons of Interest and they wouldn't get away with it that's just ridiculous right I mean I I don't know I mean I I would just I'm just trying to understand and get insight into their thinking and their belief that they could get away with something like this just like coincidentally her and her parents are murdered when all of this is going on and she has no other known enemies I mean yeah no one had more motive than D exactly yes no one absolutely no one had more motive it's so I mean he would rise to the top of the list as far as suspects exactly and the obviously you know the The Alibi is not going to be that good um even though all of the evidence has not been released yet by prosecutors which will come out at trial there are some things that they're saying are very potentially damning right now one of the things that the cops did was when the weapon was turned in the police went ahead and charged them both on federal charges I I guess May of transporting I some something in there was this was the Federal charge so um they ultimately did plead guilty on these weapons charges now they hadn't been charged with the murder yet they probably thought they you know my guess is they thought oh let's plead guilty on the weapons charge and we can skate on the murder right right because they're just so freaking brilliant so much smarter than every body else in the room so Keegan received 24 months and Barry received 36 months and right after their sentences were rendered on those Federal um weapons charges on April 8th of 2021 Keegan and Barry were finally charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree burglary for the shooting deaths of Tiffany Jack and Evelyn now here's some of the evidence that authorities say they have against them so there's apparently some DNA left at the scene they found a baseball cap that seemed to match the video before it stopped recording that showed the two asants that baseball cap has Barry's DNA on it according to police I think it's important but I don't know if that's enough to prove do you know what I mean because it's it was found not do you know it wasn't at the scene of the murder it was outside so right right there's that there's the ballistics that they're you know that they can match and then there's that security video here's what's interesting about the security video talking about they think they're the smartest ones in the room according to authorities the security camera captured a 2010 Lexus it's a that's a pretty unique Car considering it's 2019 do you know what I'm saying exactly yeah that's a very unique car yeah for because it's an old car so um that Lexus appears to be the same kind of car same kind of car that the attorney drives again not not very bright nope nope you drive your own car to the scene of the crime again like that is just like just poor problem solving if you're going to try to pull off a and she's an attorney like you know how these investigations work you've seen probably hundreds if not thousands of you know reports from police and other things like this like so what would possess you to not only drive your own car but just the idea of we're going to pull this off and you know use use things that are easily identifiable and traceable to us I mean it's just and that's the interesting thing about group think like the two of them are talking to each other obviously not telling other people because this is their little dirty little secret and they're going to live happily ever after is their plan like there's nobody to check them right nobody to say this sounds ridiculous what are you doing the two of them are just talking to each other amping each other up saying this is an awesome idea and we're gonna get away scottf free and we're going to live a beautiful life together and they're just making Believers out of each other you know of all the plans they could have hatched this one honestly was the dumbest and yeah the most violent because none of this was necessary none of this was necessary obviously you don't take a life I mean there's so many other things they could have done so Barry and Keegan have pleaded not guilty to the murder charges and what has changed here is like I said they are now being charged with the death penalty because prosecutors feel that this was an especially heinous act when you have the context of how they were chased down Tiffany was chased down gunned down shot in the back the mother is hiding they're basically saying that the last few minutes of their lives were horrific and they were tortured before they died so that's why they are asking for the death penalty here and and one other thing um that I I recall from reading through the court records is there was a footprint a shoe print that was left at the scene they serve search warrants twice on Keegan's apartment home and they believe that they may have found a boot that might match that so there's you know and they also found a cell phone that they didn't find the first time so there's a lot more evidence obviously not all of it is being made public but I do believe that by um the state's being quite serious here and they're going for the death penalty True Crime 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anytime for no additional charge in the season of giving give yourself what you need with better help visit betterhelp.com truecrime daily today to get 10% off your first month that's betterhelp hp.com truecrime daily our next case is out of Houston Texas where a teen is charged with his ex-girlfriend's murder he's also charged with hiding her remains and then posing as a concerned friend pretending to help search for her these cases undo me i' I've covered a few of them where it's been a very similar situation teen boy murders teen girl and teen boy Comforts the mother of the murder victim and the family and is part of the search and part of the Inner Circle while everything is going on it makes me crazy I it's almost look I know that the murder is the most horrific thing that anybody can do but this added layer of betrayal is so egregious I know it's crazy and again you know when we think about stories like this and we think about the thought process of these individuals and what they're going through um I don't know if it's sort of this stepbystep process I think that sometimes they're just in the moment trying to wing it and then it just leads them down this crazy path and then it's almost like this point of no return and I I just feel like we see that off also you know maybe there's a certain idea that you go into these IDE uh the these situations and then when you're faced with potential consequences what's going on like you're just spitballing trying to find a way out of what you've done I'm curious here you know this case and the other case that I covered involving really basically young people I I mean look he's 19 years old he's legally an adult but as we know it's basically the end of teenage years so my question is when a young person like this does it does this does the does the crime allegedly allegedly he is charged Presumed Innocent but hypothetically if a teen commits a crime like this and then you know like when a child is really naughty and you know some and has broken a lamp in the living room yet they stand there next to the lamp as if somebody else broke it I'm wondering what what is the psychology behind that because this feels like the same but far worse and far more serious right definitely well I mean first we know that the executive function systems in our brain that makes good decisions plans ahead you know even moral development you know all of these things that the executive function is charged with we know that it doesn't fully mature in people until mid 20s or late 20s there's even some studies that say it doesn't really mature until early 30s which I think actually makes a lot of sense right this is why when we're younger we're more impulsive we have more bravado we think that we're going to just make you know everything happen on our own uh there's no consequences even with like little things not I'm talking about not talking about murder I'm talking just about getting away with little things like oh well if I just finish this project last minute like my boss isn't going to notice and I'm still going to do an awesome job like these are the kinds of thoughts that you more likely have when you're 20 years old rather than when you're 40 or 50 um so this idea of okay I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar AS the metaphor that you used and now I'm just going to point my finger at everyone else I mean this is certainly something that I think again like I was referring to earlier like you find yourself in the situation like what do I do okay the first thing to do is deny deny that I did anything like doesn't matter what it looks like and then you just get dragged into the process they're like well help us you know help okay well I'll help you look I mean all of a sudden you're this you know the the shoulder that the family is crying on and um I don't know if at that point he's really thought through this is what I'm definitely going to do when this all happened it's just he found himself in this situation and was like how do I get myself out of it now how do I look innocent and it's just the step by step is not there it's just in the moment he's making these rash decisions to just keep going and then he gets to the point of no return oh my gosh this to me is the most fascinating part is is those moments where these decisions are made yeah because again to be so young and to to be part of this pretending again the oh a monster came in and broke the lamp it wasn't me it's so infantile it's so it's look I'm not saying that I expect more out of a 19-year-old because then you I'm setting myself up for always being disappointed but I I I really gosh that psychology is just like I couldn't well first of all I couldn't right most people will not commit a murder they just can't and then and then for it to be so fresh you know it's not like it's not like he again charged Presumed Innocent it's not like he had days and weeks and months to kind of like come up with a different scenario in his head and prepare no this was like immediately like pretty much the same day exactly yep and that's that's part of you know well like what am I going to do now that I find myself in this moment well I guess I'll just pretend to feel really sorry and help the family okay well now I'm being more inundated into their good graces I guess I'll just keep going oh gosh well the accused here is 19-year-old Ariel Cruz he has been charged with murder the victim is his former girlfriend 21-year-old ad compos now the two had dated briefly according to her family and she's the one who called it off they remained friends but family members have made public statements that he was obsessed with her but again I guess she managed to remain friends if you know this is the other thing about you know I think you can think about this as a young person maybe less so as we get older you know how when you're in that situation that there's you're trying to get rid of someone they're kind of you don't like them but you you can't get rid of them so you're kind of to them and you wonder if she had just really gotten rid of him what is it about people where they they they try to explain away and we we are all I think at points of Our Lives guilty of this thing of trying to nice nice away a problem it's just like oh they're not that bad they're not that mean they're not you know what I mean exactly and I think that there's a lot of self-justification that happens where you know you look at the behavior you look at what's going on in your life and then you try to make sense of it right because our human psyche it doesn't do well with distance so for example of somebody is somebody who does tobacco addiction prevention research but they're a chain smoker like eventually something has to change they either have to find a new job or they have to quit smoking because that dissonance of living that life is just too strong and so I think in this case it could have also been sort of a distance of well I guess if the person's still hanging around I'm letting them like I guess they're I guess I like them I guess they're a good friend you know you have to make some sense of it or else it's just too difficult for your mind to hold this dialectic of like well why would I have them around if I don't really like them and they're kind of annoying to me you know it's hard sometimes you know I dated one person when I was much younger and I could never get rid of this person no matter how many times I tried to break up with this person you know and ultimately when you look back at your life and you're like you know this person was obsessive right and it was wasn't until he decided the relationship was over that I was truly free and interesting right and so yeah and I remember just being so exhausted from trying to break up with this person yeah when you can't you know you cannot get rid of a person right yeah so at one point so at one point where you're just kind of like well I guess I guess like they're okay like you kind of made made it okay for yourself to keep them around it's not that it was okay because I wasn't particularly happy but you know no matter what I tried it didn't work so I was like oh well I just need to get through this right right and then start rationalizing everything exactly yeah that rationalization process is so strong like we don't realize how strong rationalization can be you know and before you know it you kind of believe your own rationalization so then there's there's kind of no turning back at that point you're like well I guess they're not so bad like you make it okay for yourself like you said maybe maybe just you know they're not they're not maybe they're not as annoying as I thought they were right it's it does not that you not necessarily that you just think that they're amazing all of a sudden but it's more just like well I guess they're not that bad you know yeah and even even if somebody says something you might find yourself kind of defending them like well but they're really nice so you know like and that happens that happens to the best of us because that's just the way all human minds work like yes it's what's one of the ways that our minds can try to find peace and try to make sense of a situation and when our minds can't make sense of something it feels really Disturbed it essentially feels like you're in fight or flight all the time so it makes sense why you'd have to do this so it's embarrassing for me to admit this you know that I couldn't get out of this relationship when I consider myself a fairly strong willed woman educated all of these things and here I found myself in this position where I could not get rid of this person and um so I feel for ad da like there's a little bit of me who like she was a little younger than I was thinking to myself you just you're trying to get rid of the person you know you just trying to get through it's just like oh what exactly exactly and you know what it's not it's not you Anna like even the most people but I think it was me because it's some point I mean despite everything I tried I just maybe I should have just fought even harder I don't know was exhausting just so tired those are the dark ages of Anna Garcia oh my God anyway back to this case enough of my therapy here with Dr Judy so adna was attending Houston Community College and very close with her family in fact she drove her sisters to school every day just a lovely young lady so on November 28th ad dropped her sisters off at school and then she was heading to her own School family members had been calling her for hours they learned that she hadn't turned up for her own classes at College which was not like her not answering the phone was not like her this is a responsible young woman so then the family calls the Houston Police Department and you know how disappointing this turns out to be you know they try and explain that they think you know she's missing even though it's only been a few hours the and police are not that helpful early on but we know early on is when they need to be the most engaged in these situations right yes so the family and friends uh figure out how to use her phone to track the location of the phone which leads them to Indigo Street in a community in southwest Houston there they find her car it's locked they can see the cell phone and they can see some of the belongings so they call the police again this is where I get very upset with the police department I got to tell you they absolutely drop the ball here without question they come out they take a report they include it in their report they see that her phone is in there they know it's the family car and the and the family says please break into the car and the police say we don't have cause what so they leave so the family calls a locksmith to come out and open the car and while they are out there they are with her friend the former boyfriend knocking on doors asking people in the neighborhood have you seen her how long is this car been all this conversations going on and who is helping in this whole thing the man who now stands accused of killing her so um several hours go by several hours go by and you know the family is very you know upset at this point so at 5:40 that evening this has been going on for hours and locksmith hasn't shown up yet so one of the family members says that's it I'm done I am breaking the glass and I'm getting into the car I mean it's not like anyone is going to accuse them of breaking into a car it belongs to the family right they break the car window right they unlock the car and then they open the trunk and that is where they found their loved one in the trunk oh my God she's dead stuffed in a trunk they should not have seen that if anyone had to see that it should have been the police but the family should not have had to see this so what do they do they call 911 they come out the paramedics come out it's too late she is pronounced dead at the scene and who is part of this entire gang of people this gaggle of family members this guy who is now stand accused of killing her acting shocked and hugging extending his sympathies to the family it's just so awful oh it is such a betrayal such a betrayal so I think at that point obviously the you know there were family members who were like telling the cops you you better talk to this guy you know because he used to date my sister and so then the police well so the police finally do interview him and they claim they claim that he confessed but before I get to what his confession is and what his details are I want you to hear from ad's Aunt Bobby Munoz she talked to ABC 13 about this moment when they found her dead and he the now accused was standing there let's play the clip he knew where the car was at the whole time cuz he's the one that put it there with her in it I just think her aunt says it as it is as the police allege and that is horrific that betrayal and it just I I don't know I does it does it distract from the grief because it it focuses the grief towards the anger right I mean I think a lot of this is really about trying to make sense of how somebody who obviously had this level of intimacy with this young girl you know you you you kind of have an inherent trust I think as a family member in some ways because you just can't see like this innocent person like innocent seeming person like a young person being able to commit a crime like this and then show the level of sympathy and caring that he does to the family it's like you just can't connect the dots and I I honestly think that as this was happening and as Ariel's confessing um it must have just been like such a shock first to the family but then the additional blow of feeling so betrayed you know like him taking advantage of their vulnerabilities you know the idea that he would essentially rally with the family members and do the search and kind of stay with them it's like this idea of well maybe maybe she's still alive like we all just have to hope and pray she is and it's I think it's just that second level of that betrayal and that recognition of the Betrayal I think that's really the the the kicker you know yeah very disturbing so police questioned Ariel and they claim that he confessed to luring adna to a shopping plaza before shooting her in the head and stuffing her into the trunk of her car they haven't released a lot of details and they haven't again told us because forensics will take quite a bit of time but they claim that he has already confessed and that he allegedly said that after killing her he drove her car from the scene where the crime was committed which they haven't revealed to that Maryland V location where you know that street where the abandoned vehicle was found prosecutors claim that Ariel's motivation is quite simple he was a jilted lover and he didn't like it so what we don't know is the details of what allegedly went down what the conversation was but you know they they they again are claiming that that's the motivation and it kind of would make sense it's a logical one so then investigators later searched Ariel's bedroom he lives with his parents and they claim that they located a gun that may have been used in the murder but of course ballistics tests will come later so after he's arrested Ariel is arrested friend of family right friend of victim his bond was set at 500,000 however his attorney filed a motion to try and lower that um and he had his first court appearance on Monday of this week on December 4th now Ariel was there trying to get that Bond reduced meanwhile all of her family they are in the courtroom and they were very pleased that that Bond lowering was denied but clearly there were a lot of feelings that they have so now I want you to hear from the aunt again Bobby Munoz and still talking to ABC13 this is how she describes what the family believes Justice will look like I hope that the state of Texas takes his life like he took hers and I hope he never gets out I can certainly understand how she feels and how the family feels exactly yeah and you know like we said about the earlier case like this idea of like a life for a life it's a different kind of rationale but it's that idea of maliciousness that's not just about the murder but it's about deceiving the family um you know getting them when they were already hurting and vulnerable and scared and pretending to be a shoulder to cry on I mean that's a different kind of maliciousness in myself too yeah and that's the kind of stuff that juries yeah because that just touches on the human emotion it just makes it a more egregious more violent crime it really ratches that up now Ariel has a defense attorney remember innocent until proven guilty um his defense attorney says he is innocent and when asked about this confession the alleged confession the attorney replied false confessions are made all the time and then the attorney added but my heart goes out to the compost family um what they are experiencing is unimaginable that is true that is true it's always sometimes a little hard to swallow when it's coming from the defense attorney but yeah well at least there was that acknowledgement I mean hey look the defense attorney has to do his job and if his client is saying I'm innocent the defense attorney's job is to defend that client to the best of their ability that's it yeah so no trial date has been said it's very very early on in the process um and way before we're ever going to get to that this young woman must be buried her funeral is scheduled for next week our condolences it is now time for our comment section these are the crime cases you all are talking about on social media and here's our producer will Updike hey Will hey how's it going good good Judy good to see you as always you too you too what do you have for us help us okay so let the mood with the holidays it's um you know it's it's time to time to visit family um you know sometimes dig sometimes dig up the past this is a little bit of an inappropriate uh familial visit uh with some very inappropriate digging up of the path this case comes out of St Louis Missouri where two 73-year-old men were charged after they allegedly dug up their grandmother's grave over the course of several days now this happened back in August again got to note the age of these suspects here both in their 70s um and kind of how this came to light to the police was there was actually actually a worker at a Shake Shack which was across the highway essentially from this uh graveyard and she saw she saw these two men reportedly according to her they they returned to the scene a few times throughout like a couple of weeks but this one day they were out there and they were digging and this is just this is just broad daylight mind you it's it's not the cover of Darkness or anything so she's taking out her phone she's filming these people she notices both the age of the suspects and then obviously they're making some pretty big Headway on this grave at this point they've got you know quite a lot of dirt so she calls uh the Berkeley Police Department they send an officer over there and it's a call about property damage um so this a little note on this SE uh this Cemetery here the cemetery is one of the oldest in St Louis it's it's over a 100 years old It's the final resting place for over 42,000 people and it's one of the in the state one of the first places where um black people could could bury their relatives um where they like the the remains wouldn't be disturbed um so you know it's kind of like a there are some historical significance about it um so the suspects we're identified here uh as Jimmy Allen and zebulun Nash um and when officers arrived Nash uh told them that he was retrieving his grandmother's corpse to relocate her body and that Allan had been assisting him for the last several days now Allan reiterated the story but he added that he completed most of the digging at the gravite and was also helping Nash retrieve his grandmother's corpse now there's a little bit of an aside here from the suspects in this where they said uh they had actually paid someone to do this they were looking to move the grandmother they had paid someone to do this and they apparently got ripped off so they decided to take matters into their own hands now there was also some people kind of saying you know this this is a grave plot they have paid for this they do technically own this and and should be allowed to do whatever they want with it um however uh the Berkeley police chief actually said that if they wanted to remove the body they would need a state order to do so it's not something you can um kind of just roll up and do apparently um can't just contact the cemetery and say so I want to move Grandma I you know I don't know I I don't know the full thing so that's that's kind of an interesting thing about this case too is given the age of the suspects um they were detained on charges of destroying or defacing Cemetery property uh but they were released right away and they like the police officers noted both the age of these suspects and they said it was like a really hot day they had been outside and they didn't really want to keep them um so there's kind of a thing going on of like should these guys be charged like what is the situation with this there are some people who are for like the preservation of this Washington Park Cemetery of course and um that you know they said that the cemetery site is in a wretched state of neglect and despair and this might have been what contributed to it I mean if you think know why do we know why they wanted to move grandma like we don't know why why it could it could be due to like the state of where this like the condition the cemetery is in I mean obviously if you have two guys returning over a period of like two weeks diing in Broad dayline I mean there's something wrong there in how things are being upkept I would imagine but the kicker on this is that they dug six feet down oh the grandmother's remains were not there what do you mean she wasn't there no answer on that I cannot find anything on why they were not there but apparently someone stole Grandma they got there and there was nobody there so again what should these two guys be charged yes they were technically defacing the property but like who's going to answer for a body not being there they have a case they themselves have a case oh my gosh whatever reason why they wanted to move Grandma their intuition was right if they were like not happy with that particular plot right it's like Grandma's body I feel like they weren't completely in the wrong here right oh wow um yeah so it's it's a confusing one like I said some people had differing opinions on on how these guys should be charged what they should be charged with hey Tim said these cops are something else uh not really in agree with it here now uh Chris G thought they had ulterior motives they said I think Grandma was buried with some jewelry or something worth money I don't know that that's what the two 73y old men were after but if she was previously grave robbed or something who knows um yeah like I don't know the condition of this place just raises so many questions I just don't know how people could return to digging the same site for like almost two weeks in broad daylight and nobody noticing at the cemetery except notices except for the girl who works at the smash Shake Shack excuse me yeah and clearly and clearly they didn't think they were doing anything wrong if they would be coming in the daylight with all their materials and like snack pack and like their drinks for the day like you know I mean that's just that's odd but I want to know is the actual ual like I mean is the entire coffin gone is it just the body so like the Coff's empty yeah it's hard to tell from the pictures um because there there's like um it it's shown with like some wood that's broken but I can't tell and no one and it it didn't in any report I read specify if that was the coffin because I know sometimes there's other like enclosing things or things to hold so it doesn't you know when it rains or whatever it doesn't like all Bear Down on the um on cofin so I I don't know but her just not being there and is it worse if the coffin is still there I think it's somehow worse it's all horrible you know what there's nothing good about any of this it's all Horrible no matter what it's horrible um yeah Jen B uh had it with this they said nobody you're telling me I'm digging Graves for days and then got arrested for nothing which I yeah I don't know it's really really tough uh justice agreed with this they said after looking at the condition of the cemetery I would want to dig up and relocate my grandmother too and you know what only the best for Grandma she's not staying in a place where people can uh Graves during the day uh but anyways that'll do it for this week's comment section uh thank you so much to everybody who sent those in we hope that yall are having a uh happy and safe holidays and visiting loved ones under better conditions than these um those above ground yes yes those above ground uh but that'll do it for this week thank you so much and I will see you all later bye will Judy you have written several books and your latest one is about attachment which I'm so curious about oh well thank you so much for always being so supportive of my work my new book is called the new rules of attachment and it is a what I hope for readers is going to be a revolutionary approach to attachment theory that teaches readers how to heal their inner child to change their insecure attachment Styles in relationship ships friendships at work and home uh what people don't realize about attachment Styles which is really referring to the primary bond that you have with important caregivers in life when you were very young and how that sets up a template to how you think about yourself and how you relate to others even how you go about your goals most of the times when we look at attachment Theory people are talking about them in the realm of romantic relationships how that affects your adult romantic relationships but as it turns out most of us are thinking about this all wrong it's really not just limited to romantic relationships it actually affects every aspect of your life potentially from your friendships to Career to goal setting and critically our sense of self so the good news is you can learn to be securely attached at any age and stage of life it doesn't matter if your primary caregivers are around to kind of help you reflect on what happened or do the work and this is not a book that blames your caregivers in any way but you know sometimes for Mo for the most part all of our parents are trying to do their best but you know they make mistakes a long way they've got their own stuff going on right and things happen there are many tragedies in families exactly and so that can all lead to disruptions and attachment and maybe it's not anyone's fault and it's not really about blaming anyone but this idea is that you can reclaim your ability to feel safe loved and capable of achieving the life you want at any time so just like my first book stop self- sabotage this is going to be a lot of Hands-On exercises that are science based but also distilled enough to be practical and that something you can do every single day it's not going to feel like insurmountable but I I'm really really excited about this book Because when people ask me you know what are you going to do after stop self-sabotage you know for me it's like what's underneath self-sabotage there's a deeper level and attachment is what's a deeper level so very excited so what's an example then Judy of of how one can start to modify their behaviors or reactions that are all um grounded in in an issue of attachment yeah so one really quick technique that you can start doing today is just to start visiting with that part of you that's still a child and like still has those childhood dreams and the childhood innocence and maybe had some unmet needs from that time when things were difficult in your family um and one really fun way to start doing it is just like play with your inner child like literally challenge yourself every single day to do something that you enjoy doing as a child and really just kind of connect with that time in your life not only does it bring joy and meaningfulness but it's also a way just to invite your inner child out because a lot of times we try to suppress those needs like okay well you know I don't want to have to complain about that I don't want to think about that right now you know and then we we push away these critical needs that we have as children and so you know some of the things that I've been doing I've been like I played Hopscotch Yesterday by myself I went to the playground a couple of days ago uh I made some lanyard bracelets get out are you going to a Taylor Swift concert too what is next J I know right I mean as a child yeah friendship races but I remember how much I loved those when I was a kid and also how I just play hobscotch for hours you know so anyway it's just things like that you know just to invite your inner child out to play to honor your inner child and then like to dialogue with your inner child you know we all have that little child inside of us and it's important to honor it and to to truly understand what it is that was maybe missing in those critical years and then try to give it to them now as an adult and so this is just the first step I wonder if that's why I've always loved poptarts you know when I was a kid yeah I love poptarts too loved poptarts very specific it has to be the strawberry with the white frosting on it you know those the best those are the best I agree with you I also really like um putting juice boxes in freezers and then eating them like a lollipop so I mean like I mean like a popsicle so I need to start doing that again that's really fun treat for me Judy how does this which sounds like an awful lot of fun like how does this help with your attachments well a lot of times when we're children we had these needs you know we all did as humans I mean we are born the species that we are we can't survive on our own that's literally just a biological fact so during that time we really have to lean heavily on the people around us to meet our needs but sometimes if we if there's trauma in the family if there's other levels of insecurity with that Bond like I'm not sure if my parents going to actually attend to my needs or maybe they seem really busy and stressed out on their own so I don't want to bother them we start using coping strategies that are not actually super helpful um in the grand scheme of things but in that moment it was what helped us to survive so for example if you had a parent that wasn't totally available you may try to just be an overachiever so that they will pay attention to you because they like your achievements right or if you had a parent who you weren't sure if they were going to come back like you're just not sure I mean half the times they're not in the house for different reasons you you know you might act really clingy in some ways or like complain about you know stomach issues and your headache like just to get them to stay and nurture you more and all of these things when you're an adult even if your life circumstan have changed the shadows of those coping strategies are still there because the child's inner child's needs have not been met at that time and so the important part of this first step of inviting your inner child out to play is just one recognize that the inner child's there to start to understand what were some of those needs that weren't really met when they were a child and then the step the work is to really as an adult meet those needs of the inner child you know being able to change some of the ideas that you have about life and yourself that developed from so long ago and being able to look at it now and say okay but now I am an adult I am capable of affecting change what are the things that I can do to take care of that inner child who is still you know in the background essentially having their own little Tantrums at times but it's affecting your life in a negative way and so it's so important to be able to meet your inner child's needs as the adult that you are now who can be the template for a secure parent right so it's this idea of reparenting yourself in many ways and giving yourself better and more effective coping strategies for the challenges that you have in life right now wow so interesting Judy I just love having you on the program honestly it's always no matter how painful the subject matter is and how deep we go you always leave us with something hopeful and a tool and I'm always grateful for that oh thank you and I'm so so excited always to be on the show with you and to dialogue with you and you know you're just you're always doing brilliant work so I admire you you're the best a thanks Judy okay where can people get all your books find out more about you or follow you you okay so follow me on social media I'm on all platforms but Instagram's my primary so it's Dr Judy ho right now I'm providing a free mental health Wellness Advent calendar so every day of December we're doing something for our Wellness so I would love for you guys to get on board with me and do that a lot of these things you can do in under five minutes but it's just like a great time to just rethink your Wellness anyway as we go towards the new year and people tend to self-reflect blot during the holiday so you can find that free tool on my Instagram and you can visit my website there's the pre-order link there for people who are pre-ordering my book I'm going to be holding a special webinar just for you guys with information that's not even in the book so some extra tools and tips um so I have all of information of that on my Instagram and on my website Dr Judy ho.com fabulous fabulous well you won't find any of that good stuff on um any of my social media sites always say that you're always so self-deprecating by your social media I love your social media but anyhow You'll Always Find goofy stuff on there some it always makes me smile it always makes me smile and you know because of what you do in your job Anna you have to have like a happy oh gosh yes I embrace Bel light and the happiness exactly right always hold on to the happiness always always always so that's Anna G news Anna with one n um you can find this episode all our episodes we also have some really special episodes for the holidays like they're not holidays themed but we have special podcasts that you know look at just one crime and we have a bunch of great authors who have joined us so please look out for those during the holidays and subscribe to our YouTube channel can you believe we are about to celebrate our 300th episode 300 congratulations 300 crazy we're going to have a big podcast in the New Year Judy I hope you join us I know you're super busy but you're you know love when we celebrate the 300 or each 100 Mark to do something special with I was at your last big celebration so I really hope I can get the invite again for this party absolutely so lovely oh my gosh congratulations and I'm so proud of you and everything that you've done so are we so check out our YouTube um again this podcast wherever you get your podcast also don't forget we have a website you can subscribe to our newsletter there so until next week this is true crime daily the podcast I'm your host Anna Garcia and as we always say don't do [Music] crime

Channel: True Crime Daily

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Length: 69min 35sec (4175 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 08 2023