All Episodes Discussion

[Ohmo]

On 12/30/2017 at 11:15 AM, Annber03 said:

The story felt awfully familiar to me-I think I've seen it on some other show at some point.

48 Hours did it.

[cooksdelight]

I’m watching the rerun “A Killing in Cottonwood” and the guy keeps confessing all over the place. I don’t get a hung jury in the first trial, but he’s fortunately in prison after the second trial. 

[JudyObscure]

9 hours ago, ari333 said:

and then there's the other dude who sent to the fake text. 

There were so many unintentionally funny things about this one.  First there was the fact of two women fighting over a guy who has done the impossible and managed to look like Randy Quaid only much, much worse, and then that note.  Just picturing that rough old bearded dude texting, "We had a lovely evening," had me chuckling.

[cooksdelight]

33 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

fighting over a guy who has done the impossible and managed to look like Randy Quaid only much, much worse

Thank you for summing up exactly what I was thinking when watching that ass.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I didn't remember who killed the woman, but the husband's over-acting and histrionics and making sure his extreme "misery" was caught on the police cam made it pretty clear to me who did it.

See, I thought his reaction was pretty realistic. So many times we (or the police, or witnesses, etc.) say "gee, the husband sure didn't seem too upset about his dead wife, did he?" Like with Scott Peterson, for example. So now if we start saying "Oh, he seemed too emotional, too over the top," then I don't know what exactly that "sweet spot" should be for just the right amount of emotion. Personally if my spouse had been murdered I'd be so inconsolable I wouldn't even be able to talk.

On the other hand, I'd like to know how soon afterwards Seth was interviewed by the police, because he did kind of seem over it by then. If this were just a day or two or even a week or two afterwards, I wouldn't expect him to have been so calm and composed.

[ari333]

6 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

There were so many unintentionally funny things about this one.  First there was the fact of two women fighting over a guy who has done the impossible and managed to look like Randy Quaid only much, much worse, and then that note.  Just picturing that rough old bearded dude texting, "We had a lovely evening," had me chuckling.

Another chuckle was that  the fake texting dude  spelled things in full words instead of text speak. I am oldish and use text speak sometimes. People have told that I am annoying.  :-) and they are right.

Seriously, how stupid does one have to be to engage in that stuff? Dumping a car that does not belong to the dumper and giving the dumper a ride. Does it not scream FISHY!? Why couldn't the Randy Quaid (snort that's a good one) guy do his own fake text? I assume he had her phone.

That dude has a temper. How he had two females only says to me.... money. I sound shallow, but yikes.

They say that two dangerous times for many women is when they try to leave  and or are pregnant. He said that he broke up with her, but I wonder if it was the other way.

Edited January 1, 2018 by ari333

[saber5055]

I watched the Nicole-murdered-in-Montana rerun last night as I didn't remember if I had seen it before. Yeah to that Cody guy being butt-ugly plus gross, but Nicole and the other woman weren't fashion models and some women just can't be alone, they have to have some man, ny man, and get pregnant just so ... well, I don't know. They just do. It's like they have to have a man plus kids or they are losers. Plus Cody had super money from working that oil-fraking job (creep, fraking is horrible).

What I didn't get is why leave the car on the side of the road? And why leave the keys in it? Why not leave it in that town, where Nicole could have disappeared much easier. Who locks their car and leaves the keys in it if you are broken down?

Cody turning his phone off for the period of time tells me that's when he got rid of the barrel w/Nicole's body in it. That's the only time he DID use his brain since as the prosecutor said, he didn't think much otherwise.

It's such a waste of time to ask killers if they murdered someone. Has anyone anywhere ever answered yeah, I did it? When Cody said he hoped Nicole showed up sometime, I wish Josh would have said: "Oh, you mean you hope the barrel that you put her dead body in would be found?" Now THAT would have been gold.

Why wouldn't the FB texting guy go to the police? Why wouldn't the give-me-a-ride guy go to the police? I guess it's a Montana thing. I love Montana, but people are pretty trusting there, and so very nice.

When Cody rejected the plea offer -- TWICE -- and got life in prison, I shouted YEAH! YOU EFFER! to my tv screen. What a jackass. I'm hoping the barrel is found some day so the family can have some small closure.

Who ended up getting that house that was padlocked closed?

[ari333]

25 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

I watched the Nicole-murdered-in-Montana rerun last night as I didn't remember if I had seen it before. Yeah to that Cody guy being butt-ugly plus gross, but Nicole and the other woman weren't fashion models and some women just can't be alone, they have to have some man, ny man, and get pregnant just so ... well, I don't know. They just do. It's like they have to have a man plus kids or they are losers. Plus Cody had super money from working that oil-fraking job (creep, fraking is horrible).

What I didn't get is why leave the car on the side of the road? And why leave the keys in it? Why not leave it in that town, where Nicole could have disappeared much easier. Who locks their car and leaves the keys in it if you are broken down?

Cody turning his phone off for the period of time tells me that's when he got rid of the barrel w/Nicole's body in it. That's the only time he DID use his brain since as the prosecutor said, he didn't think much otherwise.

It's such a waste of time to ask killers if they murdered someone. Has anyone anywhere ever answered yeah, I did it? When Cody said he hoped Nicole showed up sometime, I wish Josh would have said: "Oh, you mean you hope the barrel that you put her dead body in would be found?" Now THAT would have been gold.

Why wouldn't the FB texting guy go to the police? Why wouldn't the give-me-a-ride guy go to the police? I guess it's a Montana thing. I love Montana, but people are pretty trusting there, and so very nice.

When Cody rejected the plea offer -- TWICE -- and got life in prison, I shouted YEAH! YOU EFFER! to my tv screen. What a jackass. I'm hoping the barrel is found some day so the family can have some small closure.

Who ended up getting that house that was padlocked closed?

I get confused because I watch so many of these, but I think he took her car there to dump it because it was "stab city" and he thought it'd look like... well... stab city, as in some  (other than him)  violent person got her. Poor Nicole. She almost got away.

Those poor little cold, hungry piggies in the car..... 

I agree that he had a clue when he turned his phone off while he hid her body; but his mistake was that he never (IIRC they said "never") turned it off at any other times so that looked super fishy. That almost screams, "Hey, I am hiding the body now." 

Some folks are murdering fug on the inside and that makes them fug on the outside. 

So there is new technology about the phone tracking? Because they totally got him going back to his home in the morning. Liar. Gotcha.

Edited January 1, 2018 by ari333

[cooksdelight]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

On the other hand, I'd like to know how soon afterwards Seth was interviewed by the police, because he did kind of seem over it by then

I think it was a few hours after he “found” her.

[veronicamers]

On 12/30/2017 at 8:28 AM, JudyObscure said:

I've always been fascinated by that case, Veronica!  Obviously, from my arguing above,  I lean toward siding with the wives in these cases, but I might have a different opinion if I actually knew the other woman.  What was she like?

She was well-liked by students, free-spirited, enthusiastic, fun. Kind of a "rising star" at the college. There were rumors about her being romantically involved with a student, but I never gave them too much credence because at our small liberal-arts college there were always rumors flying about student-professor fraternization. So it could have been true. Or not. I was not too terribly surprised when I heard about this case...only because I've learned anyone can be an adulterer so why not her? The media coverage and the unique nature of this case with the unprecedented lawsuit was certainly surprising.

[PepperMonkey]

Watched the "Cody killed Nicole" episode cause I didn't remember it at first, but then remembered parts of it, but not all, so watched it again anyway. It's not a new one, though, Dateline, and there weren't many, if any updates, so give us some new stuff. Have people stopped murdering? I find that hard to believe.

Anyway, Cody didn't seem like a great guy to me so I don't know why Nicole would lie about being pregnant to try to hang on to him in the first place, but I think she did have problems other than just medical, like maybe even self esteem, to let herself do something that crazy. She already had 3 great kids, but I'm always amused at how their families say, "Her kids were everything to her" and then they're willing to debase themselves by lying about being pregnant to trap a man. Just don't get the logic behind that. And then, I know Amber (? Was it Amber? His new wife??) probably knew nothing about the murder when it happened, but she, unwittingly, was the proximate cause of it with her demands that he evict Nicole and get her out of the house so they could move on with their lives.

What kind of idiot buys someone a house, when they are just dating, anyway? I don't care if they do have money and if he had so much money what did that one thing matter to him? None of this made sense to me until they brought up the house thing and I realized, oh, that's why he did it. Back to the wife, I think he cared about Nicole and her kids and that's why he did it, but she kept pushing and pushing for him to get the house back. I think he told Nicole, hey you've never made a payment and I want my house back and Nicole said, nope, sorry, you gave the house to me and I have it in writing.... He HAD to get that house back because the girlfriend/wife demanded it. Not that she ever thought he would murder her over it, I'm sure, but still.... This guy had anger issues and that just sealed the deal.

Not sure how everyone else feels, but I knew he was guilty when he put all of her stuff in her car, drove it an hour away and left her pets in the back to starve to death. Anyone that has no concern for animals is a good suspect to me.

Okay, I just re-read this and it's a little stream of consciousness, but I'll ask for forgiveness as while I am not legitimate sick, I have my first cold in 3 years and I may be a little out of my head on Tylenol cold medication...

[cooksdelight]

1 hour ago, PepperMonkey said:

What kind of idiot buys someone a house, when they are just dating, anyway?

I don’t know, but I never met any of them in my single days! My husband and I bought one 2 months after we got married, and I didn’t have to pretend to be pregnant!! LOL

[vavavoom]

What puzzled me on the Nicole murdered in Montana episode is why Nicole's friends filed a missing person's report but didn't notify Nicole's family when they did it. Why would that make sense? Wouldn't you call the sister and let her know?

[ari333]

34 minutes ago, vavavoom said:

What puzzled me on the Nicole murdered in Montana episode is why Nicole's friends filed a missing person's report but didn't notify Nicole's family when they did it. Why would that make sense? Wouldn't you call the sister and let her know?

That seemed strange. What if she were at a relative's? I can see a friend filing a report if someone is missing and the family has not bothered to file anything and someone has called the family to check it out. (Christina Morris', for example,  live in bf did not bother to report her missing at all even after 4 days.) 

Edited January 2, 2018 by ari333

[CaughtOnTape]

On 12/31/2017 at 10:02 PM, Ohmo said:

I had the opposite reaction.  My first thought was "Why didn't they look at Lisa's lover?"  I would have been the pain-in-the-ass juror because I think "reasonable doubt" came in at that point in spades.  First of all, there was an admitted physical relationship between Lisa and her lover...enough that he could have been the father of the baby.  Then, his alibi is his wife?  Nope.  I'd want more than that.  There's nothing there that can be verified other than her word. I don't think Seth is a prize by any means, but his story of an intruder seems more plausible to me knowing that Lisa had a lover.  I'd want to know why the lover's wife is so willing to alibi him.  The "in bed with me" alibi essentially means squat.  He could have hired someone.   He eventually took a paternity test, but what did lover boy know (or think) about the baby when Lisa was alive?

Plus, the sandwich and the placement of the gun are odd to me.  If you're Seth, you're going to throw the gun away yards from the trailer when your in-laws work in law enforcement?  However, if the lover killed her or hired someone to kill her, how do we know that they never hooked up at her house?  The lover would then know about the gun and he could have thrown it (or had it thrown) where it was found to implicate Seth.

I mean, he was stupid enough to blame the next door neighbor as well as lie about who was doing the vandalizing knowing full well Tate would tell police he had nothing to do with it and also act so normal the police had no choice but to believe him...I can believe he'd be dumb enough to throw the shotgun.  From where I sat, Seth was glaringly guilty.  It looked to me like the house was a mess from the crime scene photos.  I'm inclined to believe the sandwich had been sitting there after having been dropped out of a trash bag or out of someone's lunch before I go down the nefarious circumstances road about it.  

[EtheltoTillie]

On 1/1/2018 at 7:05 AM, JudyObscure said:

There were so many unintentionally funny things about this one.  First there was the fact of two women fighting over a guy who has done the impossible and managed to look like Randy Quaid only much, much worse, and then that note.  Just picturing that rough old bearded dude texting, "We had a lovely evening," had me chuckling.

I did not watch this but I had to Google it and your ugly Randy Quaid comparison is spot on. You win the internet today. 

[glowbug]

Regarding the Starbuck case:

I knew the ex husband did it as soon as he said he wasn’t concerned when Chanin didn’t show up to pick up the kids. His reason for not being concerned (thinking she was out on a date and just got side tracked) was even more suspicious, especially since he didn’t get concerned enough to report her missing when she didn’t make contact that night. Did he think she lost track of time all night? It would be one thing if she had a history of being flaky but she clearly didn’t since neither Blake nor any of the kids mentioned it, though they were quick to condemn her for being a “slut”.

I also think there was parental alienation going on in that family. The way the kids talked about their father and mother was very off. I would have liked to hear what the younger kids had to say had they been separated from their father and older brothers for some time. Also, the evidence disproved Blake’s account that their relationship was good after the divorce so he’s been known to lie about other things, and there was no reason for Chanin to lie about being afraid of Blake unless she was trying to set him up for her eventual murder by someone else. Blake came across is very controlling and scary, like the stereotype of a domestic abuser (25% of domestic abuse cases fall into the lifetime movie stereotype and this appears to be one of those cases). And by domestic abuse I include emotional abuse and coercive control, not just physical violence. I think the jury got it right with this one. I read in an article that a judge ordered that the minor children not have contact with him. I wonder if there was evidence presented that Dateline left out that would make a judge think their having contact with him would be harmful to them. 

Edited January 5, 2018 by glowbug

[Ohmo]

'I Think Clay Lost Control' Juror #3 Speaks Out About The Clay Starbuck Trial

I tried to watch the Starbuck Dateline episode online, but my computer decided to have a moment and apparently did not like this episode for some reason.  I had seen the episode before, but I couldn't remember the details.  I also thought there might be new information about the case, so I went looking around.  Nothing "new" to report, but I did find the above article.

[Ohmo]

On 1/2/2018 at 3:03 PM, CaughtOnTape said:

I'm inclined to believe the sandwich had been sitting there after having been dropped out of a trash bag or out of someone's lunch before I go down the nefarious circumstances road about it.  

Except that it was food out in the country.  I live in suburbia, and even here, food left outside would attract at least raccoons if left out overnight.  That sandwich looked to be in pristine condition in a sealed plastic baggie, making me think that it was dropped recently.  It also appeared to be uneaten or minimally touched at best.  Rather than garbage, I thought it might be something that someone might bring with him/her if they expected to be watching Seth and Lisa's home for an extended period of time...which points to the intruder theory, and which is one of the things that brings reasonable doubt into the picture.  Testing that sandwich bag could have provided a clue.  If Seth's DNA were on it, it could have been garbage as you suggest in your scenario, but if someone else's DNA were found, the intruder theory could have merit.  That's why I would have acquitted Seth based on the presented evidence.  Too much reasonable doubt for me to be sure that it was him.

Edited January 10, 2018 by Ohmo

[ButterQueen]

On 12/24/2017 at 1:53 PM, Ohmo said:

Truly, that was why I believed the Hee Haw Gang...because of the level of stupid, like the $8000 blowing off the top of the car and the other guy saying he bought that list of stuff....four-wheelers, etc with his share.  The odds that someone would "rehearse" that as part of a cover story seems very small.  The story was so stupid, it must be true!

The one that got me was Ashley saying that she went to the prison and saw the same person that she had for 28 years or whatever.  No.  Your father was embezzling money in addition to wanting your mother dead.  Even if his daughters are in denial about Frank's role in the murder plot, he was convicted of embezzling money.  Therefore, he was not the "same person" that his daughters had known.

I love watching all of Keith's shows in rerun, but I cannot watch this one....because of those horrible, horrible daughters.  If I was their mother, it would be hard for me to forgive their hateful words and support of their dad.

[Ohmo]

Kaitlyn Conley has been sentenced.

Kaitlyn Conley sentenced to 23 years in prison

Kaitlyn Conley sentenced to 23 years for death of her ex-boyfriend's mother

Tension runs high as Conley sentenced for manslaughter

Edited January 13, 2018 by Ohmo

[patty1h]

I got really confused near the end of last nights episode "The Women and Dirty John".  I guess my attention drifted and I lost track of the names of the women, and thought that John attacked his ex-wife.  It took me a few minutes to figure out that he attacked one of his ex daughters-in-law, and I'm unclear if he did it thinking it was the ex or he targeted the daughter out of animosity for exposing his past.   Whatever the reasons for the attack, this was one messed up dude -- drugs, phony medical background, lies about military history, death threats against his first wife, even his mother ratted him on for being a piece of garbage. But he got what was coming to him - stabbed in the eye, Walking Dead style.  Teehee!

This should be another lesson that people need to do background checks when getting serious about a prospective BF/GF, cause the scammers are out there.  I could not believe that this smart business woman was so blinded by "love" that she ignored all of the warnings from her kids and even cut ties with them over the scumbag John Meehan.  I think I may visit that Wondery podcast site and listen to the expose they did on him.

Edited January 13, 2018 by patty1h
corrected sentence/changed a word

[druzy]

LA Times: Dirty John

[ridethemaverick]

Thank you druzy, I just read the entire article.

Re: the article, Debra's mom was a piece of work. Not only did she forgive the man who killed her other daughter, she testified on his behalf at his murder trial. Now Debra's willingness to put dirty John before her own family makes more sense.

Listening to them speak, Debra came across as smart and articulate, while Terra came across ditzy and slow. Turns out Terra was clever and mom was a complete fool in love.

No words for dirty John other than scary as hell. His phone messages to his ex wife were chilling. 

Edited January 13, 2018 by ridethemaverick

[atlantaloves]

Wait a minute, didn't Dirty John just stab her daughter Terra who survived, and she stabbed him back and killed his ass, they never showed the other daughter in all the interviews.  Correct me if I am wrong, and yes I agree, you really have to run a background check on anybody you date, they all seem to like to say either they are doctors, or they work for the CIA, yeah, right. I agree, the mother was a total idiot, but she got out alive and so did the first wife, thank God. That was a great episode. 

[cooksdelight]

When I ventured into the world of online dating years ago, I ran background checks on everyone. It paid for itself and saved me a lot of grief.

I kept thinking “He killed the daughter who’s not appearing on the show”. And I kept getting an uneasy feeling that I knew this guy from somewhere.

First thing this morning, I get a text from a girlfriend of mine who went to L.A. with me back about a year or so before John met Debra. “Did you see Dateline??? That’s the guy that tried to pick us up at the bar out by the beach that night!!!” OMG.... she was right, that’s why I thought I knew him. We were sitting at the corner of the bar so we could look out at the ocean. He spotted us, and made his way over and asked if he could buy our drinks. Then the schmoozing began. He was so transparent. Debra may be a savvy businesswoman, but with 4 (now 5) husbands behind her, she knows nothing about men. He followed us out to our car, insisting on seeing us there safely. He followed us in a beat up old car for a little while until I lost him on the freeway. Thankfully we were in a rental and he couldn’t trace the car to anyone but Budget.

[druzy]

@cooksdelight you literally dodged a bullet! Did he say he was a doctor?

[BusyOctober]

Terra seemed very...simple?? Slow?? when she was speaking.  I thought they were going to tell us she suffered a brian injury that effected her speech. Good for her and her invisible sister for honing in on the psycho BF.  Good thing Terra learned that zombie kill move from watching Walking Dead too!  She was definitely brave and had more synapses firing than I would have in that situation.

 I don’t get how a parent, who is supposedly so close with her children, can be turned against them in favor of some rando online date and promises of a romantic relationship.  Sure, have fun and go on dates or trips, and maybe even fall in love. But the minute my grown, adult children have that many suspicions, or when Mr. New Man In My Life starts isolating me from or my family or friends is the minute when I take inventory of what’s really going on.  Take off the rose-colored glasses and be as objective as possible.  And do a background check.

[biakbiak]

51 minutes ago, atlantaloves said:

Wait a minute, didn't Dirty John just stab her daughter Terra who survived, and she stabbed him back and killed his ass, they never showed the other daughter in all the interviews.  Correct me if I am wrong, and yes I agree, you really have to run a background check on anybody you date, they all seem to like to say either they are doctors, or they work for the CIA, yeah, right. I agree, the mother was a total idiot, but she got out alive and so did the first wife, thank God. That was a great episode. 

I believe the poster was refering to Debra's siter who was murdered by her husband years earlier and the mother supported him, its talked about on the podcast.

[Ohmo]

18 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

I kept thinking “He killed the daughter who’s not appearing on the show”. And I kept getting an uneasy feeling that I knew this guy from somewhere.

Yikes Cooks!  You and I are of the same mind because I also thought that we were going to get to John murdering Debra's other daughter.

Dude also spent time close to my next of the woods.  Not sad that Terra's actions toward him were fatal.  She has done a great service for humanity.

10 minutes ago, BusyOctober said:

Terra seemed very...simple?? Slow?? when she was speaking.

I attributed that more to the current color of her hair and the location in which she resides.  (Think Pamela Anderson or Jessica Simpson.)

[metalchik]

The podcast has so many more details on this case.  It's so good!

[Annber03]

Dang, @cooksdelight, how scary! So glad you managed to escape his clutches. 

31 minutes ago, BusyOctober said:

I don’t get how a parent, who is supposedly so close with her children, can be turned against them in favor of some rando online date and promises of a romantic relationship.  Sure, have fun and go on dates or trips, and maybe even fall in love. But the minute my grown, adult children have that many suspicions, or when Mr. New Man In My Life starts isolating me from or my family or friends is the minute when I take inventory of what’s really going on.  Take off the rose-colored glasses and be as objective as possible.  And do a background check.

I didn't understand that, either. I could never imagine my mom being like that if my sister or I tried to warn her about some guy she was seeing. We all trust each other's judgment, so if any one of us spoke up with suspicions about some guy, at the very least, we'd hear them out, and I know we'd ultimately side with each other in the end. We'd certainly never shut each other out or anything like that. 

[cooksdelight]

38 minutes ago, druzy said:

@cooksdelight you literally dodged a bullet! Did he say he was a doctor?

Yes, he did, and he was wearing a blue scrub shirt. And his hands were grimy! We looked at each other and knew the guy was a joke. But he bought all of our drinks so we played along and then got the hell out of there. Creepy, creepy dude.

[saber5055]

It's really easy to take the high road and say someone was dumb or smart or anything when watching a program showing a selected 40 minutes of a real life that covers years. It's also really easy to see a con man when he is portrayed that way in 40 minutes. It's not so easy to spot a con man when he is smooth, saying all the right things, and filling a void in someone's life. Con men work over a period of time ... I know this because I've been a victim. I said I would never trust anyone again, yet I surprise myself to this day by still believing people when they tell me something. I don't judge the mom/wife for anything she did or did not do. But the daughter who ended up killing John ... I can't imagine the PTSD and/or guilt she has. That could account for her slower manner of speaking, something that did not bother me in the least, and has nothing to do with the color of her hair. She endured a horrible tragedy that will live with her forever. But what a great dog she has.

Cooks, I can't believe that pick-up-bar guy was Dirty John. He targeted wealthy women by pretending to be a doctor, he was not shown to be a bar hopper looking to pick up random women. He was a con man needing to be kept in an upscale manner, he wasn't shown to follow women leaving a bar scene ... for whatever reason. He wasn't a rapist or murderer, until the end when he attacked the daughter. Dirty John looked like "Any Man."

[Annber03]

Just now, saber5055 said:

But what a great dog she has.

Her dog is awesome :D. I love how protective pets can be. 

[cooksdelight]

1 minute ago, saber5055 said:

Cooks, I can't believe that pick-up-bar guy was Dirty John. He targeted wealthy women by pretending to be a doctor, he was not shown to be a bar hopper looking to pick up random women. He was a con man needing to be kept in an upscale manner, he wasn't shown to follow women leaving a bar scene ..

We had rented a Mustang convertible, we were dressed to the nines and wearing expensive jewelry. We both had very good jobs and had money to travel. We weren’t “bar hopping”, we had been to a dinner party in a very large beach house which we found boring, so we left and found a nice place with a view of the beach and the sunset.

In other words, we weren’t random women. :)

[saber5055]

Cooks, I owe you an apology. I just read the LA Times six-part story of Dirty John, and WOW, what Dateline did NOT cover is shocking. That most certainly could have been and probably was Dirty John you encountered. There is so much more to his story than the "clean" version I watched last night. Wow. Just wow to everything this guy did for years before Terra did him in. Apologies from me. Yes, bullet dodged. Multiple bullets.

[applecrisp]

Kudos to the 14 year old who heard the screaming. She too was a hero.

[atlantaloves]

Oh wow, you are so right, if she (the teenaged neighbor) had not gone out to see what was going on with him trying to kill that sister, and the teenager being a witness to that gal being stabbed, no telling what would have happened, the sister probably would have been charged with murder, which seems to happen a hell of a lot. It's hard to prove you were defending yourself, and sister woman stabbed this guy IN THE BRAIN AND EYEBALL......Whoa. Love her.  

[patty1h]

3 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

I don’t get how a parent, who is supposedly so close with her children, can be turned against them in favor of some rando online date and promises of a romantic relationship.  Sure, have fun and go on dates or trips, and maybe even fall in love. But the minute my grown, adult children have that many suspicions, or when Mr. New Man In My Life starts isolating me from or my family or friends is the minute when I take inventory of what’s really going on.  Take off the rose-colored glasses and be as objective as possible.  And do a background check.

I invite you to watch any episode of Dr Phil when he does a catfish episode and you will see 50-60-70 year old men and women who will not listen to reason from family, because they've found the "love of their life".  These people cut off communication to their kids, empty their bank accounts (up to hundreds of thousands of dollars), and then borrow from people to help their true love who is stuck in Saudi Arabia/Africa/Canada.   It seems that some people get hypnotized by the thought of love and tune out any common sense thrown their way, all while getting conned, and it seems rampant in the older set.  I think they feel they have limited time left and they deserve some love in their life, dammit!  I got that vibe from Debra - she tried 4 times, and she's a bit older now and this one really loves her (it helps that John was a master manipulator).  She was only willing to hear the sweet nothings that John was whispering and choosing to selfishly ignore her kids.   There should be a link to the Dirty John podcast on all of those dating sites with the warning "Don't Let This Happen To You!"

Edited January 14, 2018 by patty1h

[emoxie]

Unlurking to recommend that everyone listen to the Dirty John podcast! I listened to it a few months ago and then made two girlfriends listen to it with me again. It was easy to be frustrated with Debra at first but when you learn the family history and how her mother is, it explains so much. 

Her other daughter is featured on the podcast (and has the same manner of speaking as Terra) and talks about getting the GPS tracker and how she didn’t trust John from the beginning. They also talk with Debra’s nephew on the podcast about his encounters with John. 

I agree with the poster above that talked about these con men that hone in on susceptible women. I can’t fault Debra to some degree (again the family history) but I think once she was at risk of losing contact with her daughters and other family, she should have smartened up. Hard evidence of his misdeeds was provided to her a few times and she explained it away. 

[Ohmo]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

But he bought all of our drinks so we played along and then got the hell out of there. Creepy, creepy dude.

Cooks, were you worried that he'd follow you, or did he simply turn his attention to more unsuspecting prey (like Debra)?

[Mama No Life]

Terra also is suffering from PTSD so it's possible she's on some type of medication.  I found her to be amazingly strong when she took Keith back to the site of the attack.

[tobeannounced]

What do you do with yourself while listening to a podcast? Do you stare at the wall? I'm semi-joking, semi-serious. I feel like I'm missing out on the whole world of podcasts, but it just seems so boring to sit and listen.

[saber5055]

Details about that 14-year-old girl coming to Terra's rescue is in the six-part LA Times articles. She said almost everyone who lived in Terra's apartment complex was standing on their balconies or outside just watching the attack, and some people were walking to their cars to just go ... shopping, or whatever. This young girl said that really made an impression on her, how no one was doing anything, not even calling 911, just watching. Patty1h, you are so correct about how con men can move in on "damaged" women and tell them everything they want to hear so they can get everything they want. They are master manipulators. Even after Debbie found out about John's background and lies, she got back together with him multiple times. She said she'd go to sleep with him not knowing if he would try to murder her during the night. According to the LA Times article, she has given up dating and is concentrating on work full time. And I say, good on her.

Tobeannounced, if you don't want to sit and listen, try reading. It will keep your eyes busy. Here is part one of six parts. I can't do links, so cut and paste. http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-dirty-john/

[tobeannounced]

Very cool, saber5055, thanks! I do love to read.

[ari333]

40 minutes ago, tobeannounced said:

What do you do with yourself while listening to a podcast? Do you stare at the wall? I'm semi-joking, semi-serious. I feel like I'm missing out on the whole world of podcasts, but it just seems so boring to sit and listen.

YOU ARE MISSING SO MUCH ....CAPS INTENDED! You can take a walk, you can commute or get stuck in traffic, you can lull yourself to sleep, you can put it on speaker and cook or f;old laundry or make tuna salad :-)

[UsernameFatigue]

I totally thought that when they were only showing one daughter, that Debra's other daughter was murdered. I was so relieved to find that Dirty John was the one who bit the dust. And as the attack was being described I kept thinking "Is the dog OK, is the dog OK!". 

I haven't read any articles on this case or listened to the podcast, but boy did Debra bug me. I know there are gullible women and con men (and vice versa) but geeze louise how can anyone ignore SO many signs? I have never understood why women aren't suspicious that men can so easily move into their homes. John said that he had to borrow her car because his was stolen? (Apparently every thing was stolen too except his scrubs? Lol). Did they steal his house as well? How did a doctor, let alone an anesthesiologist, not have a home already? Then all the lies, and isolating her from her family. The real head shaker was buying a place near Las Vegas so John could live there away from her family. Why didn't he buy his own place, Debra? Was he now working in LV? Honestly, I am so sick of supposedly smart women acting so dumb where men are concerned. How sad that her two daughters were the ones with the common sense, and it almost cost one her life.

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, tobeannounced said:

What do you do with yourself while listening to a podcast? Do you stare at the wall? I'm semi-joking, semi-serious. I feel like I'm missing out on the whole world of podcasts, but it just seems so boring to sit and listen.

I also knit while watching TV or listening to podcasts. 

[Blissfool]

3 hours ago, tobeannounced said:

What do you do with yourself while listening to a podcast? Do you stare at the wall? I'm semi-joking, semi-serious. I feel like I'm missing out on the whole world of podcasts, but it just seems so boring to sit and listen.

Drive.

Treadmill.