Rachel Wade Case Analysis | Homicidal Teenage Love Triangle

hello says dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of rachel wade just a reminder i'm not diagnosing you by this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon i'll put the link to patreon in the description for this video so first i'll look at the background in this case i'll move to the timeline of the crime and offer my analysis starting with the background rachel wade was born in pinellas park florida on february 27 1990. in her late teens she became involved with a man named joshua camacho the pair broke up but rachel was still interested in having a romantic relationship with him another woman named sarah ludeman also developed an interest in joshua their relationship was tumultuous and characterized by violence a love triangle formed joshua characterized both relationships as friends with benefits neither individual was his girlfriend he was involved in another relationship as well he had a child with another teenage girl reportedly he failed to pay child support but maintained a relationship with the mother the rivalry between rachel and sarah escalated they were harassing each other rachel left a number of threatening messages on sarah's voicemail here are three examples number one rachel said i'm guaranteeing you i'm going to murder you two she said you are a blank fat blank and i'm going to blank kill you i swear on my life and three she said josh may have played me but blank i'm going to play you were blank out too so watch it wasn't all one-sided with rachel on the attack sarah was aggressive as well she appeared at rachel's workplace in appleby's restaurant and knocked over rachel's tray and generally harassed her now moving to the timeline of the crime on april 14 2009 rachel was alone in her apartment she was expecting joshua to arrive but joshua was with sarah rachel claims that she went outside to walk her dog and heard a car horn sarah was driving by and she yelled stay away from my man rachel claimed to be afraid she called an old boyfriend named javier laboy who told her to come over to his house before she left she put a steak knife in her purse even though she was supposed to be on her way to javier's house she made her way to joshua's house arriving at about 11 pm joshua and sarah were playing video games rachel sent joshua a text which read now i know why you're not talking to me because you got her joshua responded that's right i don't like you anymore why don't you go home rachel wrote no i'll wait for her to go home at some point rachel and joshua were on the phone rachel threatened to stab both joshua and sarah rachel made her way to javier's house according to the plan she had earlier so at this point sarah and joshua are in his house and rachel is in javier's house joshua's sister janet camacho wanted sarah to give her a ride to a mcdonald's restaurant sarah started driving her minivan with her was not only janet but a friend of sarah's named jillica smith sarah happened to encounter a friend at a stop sign who indicated that rachel was at javier's house sarah decided to drive there and confront rachel during the drive rachel called sarah and once again stated she was going to kill her and joshua this did not deter sarah she arrived at javier's house and encountered rachel who was standing outside with the knife positioned nearby here we see different stories about what happened i'll cover them in detail in the analysis what we do know for certain is that rachel stabbed sarah in the shoulder and chest the knife perforated sarah's heart witnesses said that after stabbing sarah rachel threw the knife onto the roof of a neighbor's house then she said i'm done sarah was mortally wounded she was transported to the hospital and would die at 2 29 a.m on april 15 2009 rachel was arrested and charged with second-degree murder later rachel wade was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 27 years in prison she is scheduled to be released on april 7 2036 when she is 46 years old now moving to my analysis was rachel wade actually guilty certain facts really weren't in dispute in the trial rachel stabbed sarah which caused sarah's death the issues that were debated were really around self-defense did sarah attack rachel and give her the right to defend herself let's look at the factors that point toward guilt and those that point toward innocence i'll start with the factors pointing toward guilt the inculpatory factors the prosecution's case was straightforward rachel wanted to kill sarah and that is what she did there was a history between the two and there were threats in both directions joshua's sister janet stated that rachel was the aggressor after sarah pulled up on the street rachel approached the vehicle and stabbed sarah after sarah had opened the door and started to exit sarah did not have time to attack angelica smith who again was also in the minivan essentially said the same thing rachel closed the distance and began to attack rachel threw the knife onto a neighbor's roof this made it look like she was trying to get rid of the murder weapon rachel would say that she did not want anyone else to gain possession of the knife the defense argued that this was a case of self-defense rachel was outnumbered and facing a larger adversary in sarah rachel was five foot four 110 pounds sarah was 5'9 166 pounds javier said that he really didn't see much of the fight but he did see that the women were fighting before sarah was stabbed a friend who was at javier's house named dustin grimes testified that sarah and the other two women stepped out of the minivan at the same time and approached rachel i think this was the strongest testimony for the defense as dustin would be in theory the least biased witness he was friends with javier but really not involved in the incident in any meaningful way rachel testified in her defense she said that she displayed the knife in order to prevent sarah from attacking rachel had never been in a fight before she was simply trying to defend herself sarah jumped out of the vehicle once approaching her rachel started walking towards sarah with a knife in her hand sarah backed up a few steps but then started swinging her fists sarah struck rachel three times in the head before rachel started swinging the knife rachel did not know she had even struck sarah with the knife sarah had harassed rachel in the past like at the applebee's restaurant and drove to where rachel was with the intent of getting involved in a physical confrontation rachel received threatening voicemails from sarah but deleted them sort of my thoughts in terms of guilt or innocence in this case there weren't a lot of good witnesses in this case janet angelica could have been biased in favor of sarah rachel alleged that janet joined in the attack if that's true then janet's credibility would be severely diminished javier really didn't see much of the fight as i mentioned dustin seemed like a good witness and supported rachel's account i think what really led the jury to the guilty verdict were the voicemails where rachel made it pretty clear she was going to murder sarah here's how i look at this case as far as guilt or innocence sarah harassed rachel rachel retrieved a weapon and went to somebody else's house for safety rachel and sarah kept communicating which involved rachel threatening sarah looking for a confrontation so rachel went from a more defensive position now to a more offensive position sarah however then becomes the aggressor by driving the minivan over to where rachel was and attempting to exit or exiting the vehicle so we see they seem to be switching back and forth from defense to offense in the moments before the lethal force was applied one could make a good argument that sarah was not only threatening rachel but brought back up in the form of janet angelica rachel could have seen them as threatening there was a size difference between rachel and sarah and then we have these two other people or potentially aggressors i don't see this as a second degree murder case there is reasonable doubt as to that charge i think rachel probably did commit some crime but it worries me that the witnesses can't agree about what happened it makes me think that bias was involved these two women were harassing each other and threatening each other nobody was an angel in this incident i think manslaughter makes more sense in this case rachel was being reckless by provoking sarah into a confrontation involving rachel holding a knife and sarah being unarmed i think sarah could have put rachel in fear for her safety regardless of rachel's aggressive statements rachel provoked a fight but would not have killed sarah if sarah did not initiate the confrontation moving to the next question what happened with these people to bring them to this point let's take a look at the personality and relational factors involved in this case rachel and sarah were described as being somewhat similar they went to the same school they both liked the beach movies and dogs both had dreams of being a veterinarian they both had blonde hair they were outgoing friendly and active on social media rachel started sneaking out of her bedroom when she was young at age 15 the police caught her in the car with a 19 year old he was later charged in connection with the activity that was occurring in that vehicle rachel had run away 14 times and dropped out of school she went to mental health counseling but there's nothing available on the outcome of the treatment so looking at rachel's history we see someone who may have been headed for trouble she was rebellious when she broke up with joshua she was emotional and desperate to get back with him moving to sarah sarah appeared to have low self-esteem she did not have a lot of experience in romantic relationships rachel had quite a bit but joshua was sarah's first boyfriend she was obsessed with him frightened of losing him he became controlling telling her what to wear and who she could see she lost 30 pounds when the two were together joshua had multiple love interests no steady job no car the police would call him a player he would pose holding a gun he thought of himself as a tough guy sarah started to mimic his behavior becoming increasingly aggressive another girlfriend would claim that joshua once said if you love me you'll fight for me suggesting that joshua may have encouraged his girlfriends to be aggressive in the first six months of their relationship the police interviewed sarah six times over public confrontations between her and joshua allegedly he punched her during one incident but she failed to file charges there was a lot of confusion over attractiveness and self-worth in this case sarah was described as being big boned whereas rachel was petite sarah saw herself as unattractive and would describe rachel as much prettier than her sarah lived with her parents had a curfew and had no car rachel had a car and an apartment sarah would talk about how she could not compete with rachel she was very threatened by rachel's continued interest in joshua rachel appeared to agree with sarah's assessment she was stunned that joshua would have selected sarah as a love interest she was confused by his reasoning rachel saw herself as much more attractive than sarah others were confused by rachel selecting joshua so there were a lot of people who desired other people in this whole mess and it was confusing to everyone i think one could make a good argument that none of these people were ideal romantic partners regardless of the levels of physical attractiveness they were all impulsive and aggressive i think this case demonstrates the power of jealousy and how easy it is to induce many would say that joshua was not a good catch yet he was able to leverage jealousy in order to boost others interest in him i think normally people would look at a situation like this and say if joshua wanted to make rachel jealous he should have found another girlfriend who was equally attractive but in reality by selecting someone who rachel viewed as unattractive he hurt rachel's self-esteem made her question her own attractiveness this only fanned the flames of jealousy in addition he selected partners who had difficulty regulating their emotions and who felt compelled to fight for him joshua managed to bring out the worst in these two women what lessons can we learn in this case people who are both young and impulsive tend to make decisions that will cost them for the rest of their lives based on relationships that would have failed anyway and unrealistic expectations lesson here is to set higher standards i don't think these young women ever ask themselves when they are harassing each other what are we fighting for the winner would end up being a casual sexual partner with joshua that's literally what they were competing for this is one contest for being a loser is highly preferable no love interest is worth physically fighting a rival over and anyone who demands that romantic partners fight over them has perfectly demonstrated why no one should those are my thoughts in the case of rachel wade please put any opinions and thoughts in the comment section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis of this topic to be interesting thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 58,046

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Id: V5ZSD59knyk

Length: 14min 33sec (873 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 12 2021