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Ripped From The Headlines
Ripped From The Headlines
The Great Bagel Debate
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Get ready to take a drive down the information superhighway folks; Law and Order is getting "High-tech!" It's the 90's and Matt's recalling the dial-up trauma as he recaps Episode 19 of Season 3; Virus. When you finish rolling your eyes, get ready for a non-ripped headline from Enn; Have you ever heard of the infamous Tromp Family Road Trip? What led up to the events of Aug 29, 2016 still remains shrouded in mystery - Tell us what you think!
From the Episode:
Komputer Kindergarten: https://youtu.be/6hradnkP5bk
In this true crime law and order podcast, the episodes are presented by two separate yet equally ridiculous individuals. One who researches the actual crime and the other who recaps the episode. These are their stories.
Matt Molinaro:dented Atlanta, Atlanta.
Enn Burke:Is that the MGM sound?
Matt Molinaro:I don't think so. But it's it's not my own. No, yeah,
Enn Burke:I definitely recognized and that just couldn't place it. Hi.
Matt Molinaro:Hi. What's new? You know, we're in another week. I, as promised, or as I said, last week, I made sure to watch the tinder swindler for today.
Enn Burke:What did you think?
Matt Molinaro:I just watched it two nights ago and I'm still reeling.
Enn Burke:It's unbelievable, right?
Matt Molinaro:It is. Okay. I have a lot of thoughts. Okay, great. Okay. I, it's, it's crazy. It's unbelievable, because it's unbelievable that someone like that exists, right? People could do this kind of thing. Yeah, I'm left with some questions. And I have some thoughts. So my main questions that I really would love to answer just for my own curiosity, sure. What actually happened to Peter, that caused that that violent head injury thing? Yeah. What was that act? I mean, obviously, it had nothing to do with anything he ever said it was, right. Just were like, Oh, great. We have these videos and pictures we can use for this now. But what was it? I'm really curious.
Enn Burke:I just assumed it was all staged. Like
Matt Molinaro:the picture if it was just like his face with a wound, I believe that but he was in the back of an ambulance.
Enn Burke:I mean, you could find an ambulance, as I guess,
Matt Molinaro:there was like a photo, but there was an EMT, it was a video and there was a EMT person in there with
Enn Burke:you. I mean, he also had like the mother of his. So I mean,
Matt Molinaro:I really cannot I want to know. Instead, I more interested, I'm very curious about
Enn Burke:that. Did we ever get an answer? Was that actually his kid?
Matt Molinaro:They refer to the child as His child in the documentary, but there was no, nothing that backed out up. Sure. I just wonder I was looking online, like what is going on with Peter? Like, what does he say about all this? And he's evidently possibly going to try to sue the documentary series or documentary because he says he was duped as well. And he had nothing to do with it. And in fact, it doesn't say in the articles I've read, but it says his ex girlfriends have kind of agreed that he might have been duped. Because oftentimes when they were with him, Peter would be talking on the phone about how he's not getting paid. Or he was kind of like off to the side. And his most recent girlfriend, I think, said one of his most recent ex girlfriends, I should say, had said that. Peter just disappeared six months into the relationship. He just wasn't around anymore. When she asked Simon he said, Oh, he is what do you think he said,
Enn Burke:we're being attacked by my enemy. Basically,
Matt Molinaro:he said that he was working for his enemies. Now he was offered a lot of money and he left for his enemy. So it possibly is true for him. But my main so that's my kind of, like lingering questions. Oh, and I read online that he's trying to capitalize off it now. He has a cameo, like a cameo account. Yeah, I'm sure. And he's trying to like, you know, but um, fabric.
Enn Burke:What I mean, yes, it's all obviously he's a con man. I think that's my opinion. And, but also, I mean, what they sue over because I think like in order to for it to be liable, it has to be you have to intentionally know you have to know it was false and state it with the intent of causing material harm to a person and I don't think the documentary Did either of those things.
Matt Molinaro:I agree I don't I only know anything about libel and and defamation of character because of the Bravo docket shout out. Oh, yeah, they did an episode where they talked about Brandi Glanville arguing with a former Real Housewives of Miami because for defamation of character and libel for saying something and watch what happens live that lawsuit actually went on for like a year and a half. It was very interesting. And that's how I learned about that I don't think they did anything about that all you did was present evidence from the police
Enn Burke:but I guess also if you have enough lawyers you can you know, hassle somebody until they like settled just to make it all go away.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen anymore now that all this publicity but my main my main thoughts is I just wanted to say I couldn't understand a lot of people who watched a documentary like this are a lot of documentaries, you know about calm cons. Even like Dr. Death or Oh, dirty John dirty John. Oh my god, the first season of dirty John. So but the thing Here's is that I've been in a relationship with someone who lied to me and lived a total duplicate life while with me, I've been in a couple of those. And I didn't really get it. I knew something was off, for sure at times. But you're you think you're in love, and you don't think the worst in people that are showing you? You know who they are. And, you know, I feel so bad for these women. Because yeah, I can only imagine. I mean, they show a piece of it in the documentary, but I've seen the memes. And I've seen what people are saying online. And it's like, it's hard if you're not in the situation, to understand to understand it, because we're hearing it as data. But you have to think about it like every day for full, like they're having this full experience with this person, one on one that nobody that nobody else understands. Because it's between two people, because they're dating and whatnot. And I remember what that was like. And I remember like believing someone and being shocked when they duped me. And I remember moving in a lot faster than I thought I would and saying I never would do it again. And then doing it again with somebody else. Just hopeless and foolish thinking feeling. But that's what you domestic optimistic. That's what you do. You have to if you want love and you want to be vulnerable, and you're looking for that kind of thing. You have to be vulnerable to an extent. And I mean, you did a great job of conning these on tricking them. I mean, someone gives you a $250,000 amount of money, that debt clears. What's to make it and they're falling around a pipe? private jet, you're seeing the people you're going the places you're eating the food. Oh, yeah, it was very. Why would you not believe it for moms for you? And the most recent acts for a year, just a lot of empathy for these these victims.
Enn Burke:And they are getting hate from people on the internet. And I'm just like, I don't I don't understand that at all. But speaking of terrible people, I recently watched a documentary series on Hulu called Wild crime. Okay, have you heard of it? No. It's about the murder of a woman named Tony Henthorn. Okay, her husband, and he pushed her off of a cliff in the middle of a state park. Way. And wait, do you know it?
Matt Molinaro:I have not seen this. But I think I might have seen a Dateline about this.
Enn Burke:It's, it's very likely, I think it was a pretty notorious case. Because what they talked about a lot on the documentary was how, you know, he thought he was doing this clever thing of like going to the middle of the wilderness and pushing her off a cliff. But like, he did it in the middle of a national park, which means then it's the federal government's responsibility to investigate and prosecute the crime and they have a lot more resources than the state does. So he kind of screwed himself with that one. Not to mention all the other stupid. I want to say mistakes but evidence he left behind. I'll say this,
Matt Molinaro:the only thing I remember, like specifically is this the guy who just they discovered who had like, scouted out the trail ahead of time.
Enn Burke:Like, he went there every weekend for like six weeks leading up to when he pushed her
Matt Molinaro:off the cliff and she was not a hiker.
Enn Burke:She had like arthritis in the knees. Yeah, he like took them. That was the other weird thing. They were like, like, they didn't go hiking off. And like this was such a weird thing. Oh, so yeah, lots of lots of mistakes. And the worst part of it is, I think that he called 911. And of course, he did the gross thing of like, my bro, My Bride has fallen, you know, all that stuff. But then he kept talking about how he was like doing CPR, and he like built a fire to keep her warm. But what they ended up finding was like he had told so many stories about what he was doing that it was like, he would have had to be like building a fire at the same time as giving CPR at the same time that he was on the phone at the same time. Like all of these things happening at the exact same time. So it's like no, so anyway, it's a good documentary. I think like it's well done in it it gave it went really in depth in the investigation of it all say,
Matt Molinaro:okay, oh, definitely gonna watch that. That was a wild wild crime.
Enn Burke:Yeah, but literally, yeah.
Matt Molinaro:I have one more thing. I watched a documentary as well that I found really insane. I've heard about it a few times, but I've never been able to find it. And then I found Pluto TV. Oh, and it was on there for free. So thank you Pluto TV shout out. And it's a it's called tickled. It's been recommended on I think my favorite murder and sinister heard before. Okay. And it is something else is supposed to be a documentary or it was okay going to be a documentary about the competitive tickling sport. work.
Enn Burke:I'm sorry, what?
Matt Molinaro:Exactly the, there's a evidently, there's these events and they're publicized and you can do it filmed. And it's like, Are you an athlete? And do you want to do this competitive tickling, and I think it's like your team. And one person is getting tickled, and it's about how long you can sustain it without get like, you're like, tied. You're like, you're restrained.
Enn Burke:Uh huh. And like, you can't say anything or else you lose kind of thing.
Matt Molinaro:Well, the thing is, you don't get to learn too much about the sport because as they started to investigate, they find a really bizarre underground, sort of, I won't even say what it is.
Enn Burke:Is it a sex thing? Because tickling is like a big sex thing? Well,
Matt Molinaro:it has elements of a sex thing to it, but it's it's far more involved. Okay, and it just, it's one of those documentaries that starts out as something and turns into something else, which I love. I love, love, love. And it's called tickled, tickled.
Enn Burke:And what's it on?
Matt Molinaro:TV, you can like rent it on Amazon for like three bucks, but it's for free on Pluto TV, and I highly recommend it. I have heard there's a follow up film on HBO. I have not watched it yet. But it definitely is one of those things that is you feel like what you are you're watching an investigation sort of in real time. Okay, yeah, just watch it.
Enn Burke:Alright. I am. I'm very uncomfortably intrigued by this. So I probably will watch it soon.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, highly recommend. Awesome. And that's all I got.
Enn Burke:Great. Well, should we do the episode?
Matt Molinaro:I'm ready. All right. Go for it. All right. Well, this is going to be episode 19 of lawn order season three that we're covering, which is called a virus.
Enn Burke:Yes. I feel like this. This whole episode felt very, like we've discovered a new thing in the world. And so we're gonna find a way to make it part of a crime.
Matt Molinaro:Oh, my God. Yes. Like I'm sure like the
Enn Burke:current that like the current seasons of law and order. Like when drones were invented, like there has to be an episode about drones. It's eerie like that. But yes, of the early 90s.
Matt Molinaro:It's early 90s. Like, ooh, computers.
Enn Burke:Yeah, you're gonna hear bad things can happen.
Matt Molinaro:Oh, my gosh. Well, buckle up. Yeah. So we begin the episode with two nurses walking through, you know, like the night shift on a hospital word. And they're checking on patients. They find one man is unresponsive. And while they're like, sort of pit like they're panicking, but not moving very quickly. It's kind of strange, like there's urgency and their voice, but no one's really doing nothing about anything. As that's happening, we find out another patient in a room nearby has gotten into hypoglycemic shock. And as they work to resuscitate these patients, over the intercom, you can hear that two more code blues are being called out in different areas of the hospital. So it's like a outbreak of death. It's an insane It's wild. It's wild crabs. So meanwhile, at the station, we have the detectives engaging in a debate over bagels. Yes. If anyone ever tried to like hold a bagel hostage from me like that scene, by the way, yeah, I just take the
Enn Burke:bagel. Just have you ever had like I was realizing as they were filming the scene? I don't think I've ever had a bagel from like fresh from the bakery or deli or whatever. Are they better? They must be better. They are
Matt Molinaro:a million times better. And I know this is like a thing of trope. I think people say about bagels on the East Coast, specifically, New York.
Enn Burke:But it's true. It's so true. It's so true. We
Matt Molinaro:go to a bagel shop when we moved here. We went like almost every day. And then we're like, okay, we need to stop because we're gonna be 100 pounds and broke more than we even are. Yeah. But yeah, they're just the best. There's nothing like
Enn Burke:it. Yeah, I I need to try one at some point.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, when you visit or what brings them to you when we visit? Oh, okay. So but yeah, no, you're not gonna hold a bagel hostage for me make me do a task for you. Just give me the bagel, right. But we have this great bagel debate. And then there's our phone call and we hear that six patients at Hogan Hays hospital were killed last night. Yeah. The opening credits began and I realized I had some time on my hands. So I decided to enroll in the competitive tickling sport.
Enn Burke:Oh god, get out goodbye.
Matt Molinaro:So I bought a bunch of like loose feathers and tickling sort of items. And I'm like all set up to become the next competitive tickling champion. was like oh, no, I'm gonna I'm gonna make a league. I was gonna pitch the ask you just kidding. Absolutely not. I'm not I actually hate being tickled, saying I am so ticklish. Why would anyone subject themselves to that that's not enjoyable.
Enn Burke:Also, something that somebody once said to me is that tickling like where we tickle people, or where people are ticklish tend to be places where our where our body is, like storing tightness or pain. And so like the tickling is just like a very subtle activation of like pain receptors or something like that. And so that's kind of like why our body reacts in that way is it's actually a pain thing. That's really interesting. I'm gonna Google that while you're talking, just to make sure.
Matt Molinaro:Okay, well, we come back to the episode and we're at the hospital. Logan and Briscoe are on the scene. And they're chatting with a doctor who says, Well, you know, I know you heard there were six deaths, but they're actually only two. And they were both from hypoglycemic shock. And they're like, Well, what did I that's not what our tipster told us. And he was like, well, there were four others that had a code blue, three of them were in a coma one has been recovered. And they're like, that's kind of strange, right? And he's like, Well, it's a diabetic hospital, we basically treat diabetes here, only this is a clinic. So things happen. And one of the deceased patients names was Claire Daly. And she had come in literally the same day as she died. So less than 24 hours. And apparently, there's a law, I wonder if this is still a law, but the doctors were supposed to report this to the N E at the police station, because if someone dies within 24 hours of being admitted, it could be a crime. And then, you know, they're basically there's a crime scene, and there's evidence that needs to be taken care of. Yeah. And so they're like, did you do that? And he's like, Well, there's only a few hours before 24. What's the big deal?
Enn Burke:Um,
Matt Molinaro:what do you mean, what's the big deal to human being as died? Right? But hey, what's the big deal? So little suspicious? Yeah. So in the next scene, they visit a man whose name is Arthur. And we find out that his father was the other patient who passed away. And he's, he's just sort of forlorn. He says that, you know, my dad was on a six month waiting list. This place was supposed to be the best. And I don't know what happened. I talked to him that morning. He was fine. And you know, he was doing well there for a while. I don't know what could have happened. They said that it was heart failure. And they're like, Well, you know, it, was that something you were expecting? And he's like, No, he he is his blood sugar had actually evened out after being there. And then the heart failure was due to low blood sugar. So figure that out. No. Next they go to talk to a man on the street, who tells which I'll talk. They talk to this man on the street, who tells them that his wife was one of the patients that's in the coma. She she was actually quite healthy. She had a very minor case of diabetes. I don't know what the exact words are for it. But he basically said she was there for like a maintenance program just to make sure everything was okay. Yeah, so for her to be in a coma is really unusual. I mentioned that this is a man on the street, because law and order so far, has done this thing where we're meant to believe that this is a world where people are being questioned by detectives about like life and death situations or homicides, or like slaughters or white collar crime. It's so common to people that it's like an inconvenience for them, like, Oh, God, you're bothering me. So like, the police show up on the scene to talk to somebody. And they're like, You know what, you can only talk to me if you're gonna, like, be in between my art gallery clients, or, you know, you have to follow me as I'm on a run. And like, get your sweat band on or like I'm cooking and you're gonna have to like,
Enn Burke:chops. Nobody ever has time to just like, stop and talk
Matt Molinaro:to Oh, it's like the, the police officers are literally like, literally chasing them down and across rooms. Just trying to get a word out of them. Yep. So they talked to this guy and that's the guy in the street. He's he was hailing a cab. There's a lot of that in this episode. So they follow up with craigan Back at the police station, and he wants them to check out the clinic and see who actually was giving the shots to these patients. So they go talk to an RN whose name is Hillary? And she said, um, zero for 50,000 on mistakes. Okay.
Enn Burke:Yeah. Yeah, I mean, she talked about how she had given insulin to people for like the last 30 years and has never made a mistake.
Matt Molinaro:And she says all the nurses are like on the staff administer insulin pretty regularly and they checked blood sugar before they do it to make that decision. So everything was normal. And they were like, well, all six patients who are in crisis or who have passed? They were given double the amount of insulin before their code blue. So what is that about? Right? And she's like, well, we check the blood sugar. And if it's low, we give them juice. If it's high, we give them more. And they, they all appear to need more. Everything was on the books up and up. So they're like, Okay, so they gotta check with one of the nurses that we saw at the beginning. He's too busy taking out trash. So they're like, following him back and forth, as he's like lugging trash to trash cans. Right, again, can't be bothered. He says that he was late to work that day, but his friend punched him in on time, which by the way, he would be fired probably. Yeah, instantly. So might want to keep that to yourself, sir. Yeah. He says his buddy Rodriguez was there already. That was the other nurse we saw at the beginning. And they're like, Well, what about him? And he's like, no, no, he's, he's a good guy. He's actually a doctor. And then they're like, Well, why isn't he performing surgery? And he says this because this degree is from the Dominican Republic, and the state won't recognize it. Right. But the guy confirms that Rodriguez was a, you know, was a skilled doctor in his own right, and that he saved to patients that night. So he's not the bad guy. You're barking up the wrong tree. Right. But our detectives are of course unconvinced. And they sort of like, assume he's like a Lisa Rinna, munch. housands kind of guy. Maybe he's like, making the patient's sick, so he could save the day. Yeah. And they bring him to this station for questioning. This kind of bugged me. Because all of the other suspects and people that they've spoken to have been like, Oh, can you get a word in while you're throwing garbage out? Or can I talk to you for a second?
Enn Burke:Oh, this was the scene where they were just screaming at him.
Matt Molinaro:Right now we have a person of color who was in who was a suspect. Let's bring him to the station in the interrogation room. And at scream out, green Logan is losing his mind. Like, with no provocation. The guy's totally just like, chill. He's not like trying to like get under their skin. He's like, Oh, I'm just he's just totally normal. And there's no yeah. And we don't even know if someone died on unlawfully yet. Right?
Enn Burke:Exactly. He went from like, why are we even investigating this case to screaming at somebody
Matt Molinaro:screaming and it's very uncomfortable to show his face while he's screaming. It was like,
Enn Burke:yeah,
Matt Molinaro:he wants him to run down minute by minute his day, which he can't. But while this whole tantrum is happening, craigan calls them out of the room and says, Well, you probably want to apologize to this guy, because three people at the hospital just wanted to shock while he's here. So he probably not him, probably not him. So Logan and Briscoe look at each other like, oh, man, but do we ever see that apology? No. Yeah. As a matter of fact, do we ever see this guy again? No.
Enn Burke:You know what's funny? I don't know that I've ever seen an apology on lawn order.
Matt Molinaro:With a regular one. Certainly not. Yeah. All right. So they go talk to a doctor, and they try to run through scenarios of what could happen. And in this conversation, the following narratives have been myth busted. The insulin wasn't bad. So the insulin is fine. The machine was calibrated and working that checks blood sugar. Staffing was fine. Staffing was different for each event. There were no grudges against the place. All these different things they're going through. Could it have been a threat from somebody like who was be smashed by them? space aliens? Killer Tomatoes. So the actor clearly stuff by the way, oh, my god, the actor and then in the scene, he stumbles his line and they just leave it in. Did you notice that? No. He's talking about one of the doctors and he's like, Doctor watch so and so is an expert in. And then he says the word like kind of searches for it. And it's not like natural.
Enn Burke:Right? It's not like the real person. Like the character forgetting the word. Like he actually forgot his next line. They're probably
Matt Molinaro:like, we're not shooting this again. Yeah. So they're like, Okay, let's figure let's go see, we don't have anything, nothing is coming up with anything. Everything is on the up and up. So maybe it's a target. Maybe the patients have something in common. So they go back to the station, and they have all the patients data up on the chart, this chalkboard and here's the connection. Get ready for some real techy stuff coming in from this. Yeah, each patient had the digit to in the day in the day field of their date of birth.
Enn Burke:This this pattern that they somehow noticed that actually led them this writing was so sloppy like this was such a massive jump in logic that I was shocked.
Matt Molinaro:It was because like, oh wait, all these patients have a two in their birthday. And then from that really unusual reasoning causes craigan to say, maybe someone programmed the machine to have all the patients that have a to in the day field of their date of birth to read as having higher blood sugar than they do. How sophisticated Do you think these machines have been in the 1990s? Number one, number two, they don't even know. I don't even need to go into how bizarre this is for where we are. Yeah. So they're like, Okay, let's look into that. They go to the clinic, and we have the most silly, early 90s computer talk I've ever seen in my life. I felt like I was going to like, a Learning Annex class. For How To heaters for dummies? Yeah. How to use a mouse. Yeah. Oh, that reminds me, have you ever seen I'm sure I've shown you this video before. It's one of my favorites. In sort of the vein of the other ridiculous videos I show you. Uh huh. It's called Computer kindergarten. And computer computers don't really okay.
Unknown:Is that SNL? No? Okay, so
Matt Molinaro:there's this video from the 90s is probably early 90s asked to be and it was a real video. That was like a tutoring thing for I think adults using computers for the first time. Uh huh. The star of this video, she calls herself Kim Commando, I think, okay. And she's like teaching computer kindergarten, and someone made a I'll send the link to you. Someone made a mash up of it. Just like hot takes it and put it together.
Enn Burke:Oh, I have to watch that. So good. I realized I still haven't sent you the video Melisandre at the baby shower from last week. So we need to do.
Matt Molinaro:Okay. Okay. So this is sort of where we are. We're in this computer kindergarten, they go talk to a computer guy at the clinic. Like he's he works with the computer machinery over there, I guess. I forget. And he says maybe a virus was uploaded. And he's talking about how you call in a virus, which may be called in to a computer. Yeah,
Enn Burke:I don't think the writer is understood how computers work? I don't think
Matt Molinaro:so. I think even early computers didn't. Yeah, so I
Enn Burke:mean, they could have they would have still been using dial up. Maybe that's what he was saying. Sure.
Matt Molinaro:So yeah, a virus might have been called in at 3am That day, and just unnoticed. I know, there wasn't like anti virus software back then. But I mean,
Enn Burke:I think there was there had to be some sort of like McAfee. I mean, whichever. McAfee I almost covered as a as a case one day, because his life story is really fucking weird. Really? Yeah, like really strange, like fleeing the country kind of stuff. But McAfee was 1987. So it could have been anyway, doesn't matter.
Matt Molinaro:Who there was there? Doesn't there's a hospital with people's health information in it. And you don't have anything? A right. Anyway. So if there could have been a virus called in at 3am. And so they go back to the police computer lab to talk to their guy, and their guys very, like, Ooh, I got it. I solve this. And he goes over to his IBM, and he shows them how this program works. Program. I'm calling this a program, even though what is on the screen is not a program. It's literally just words on the screen.
Enn Burke:Yeah, they opened up like Notepad and started typing into it. It doesn't
Matt Molinaro:even have like a frame. Now of like, it's not even like a DOS screen. It's just words. So the program shows that when a two is in the day field in the date of birth for a patient, so they put briscoe's information because he's got to convenient to and his birthday. It originally was show the blood sugar correctly, which was 81. But then randomly with nothing happening. No button click or anything. No stroke, it just changed to 324 in front of their eyes. Well, yeah. What? And they weren't testing anything from him. They just put his information in. Right. So if you let's say that is how it works. If you worked at the hospital, what you'd be like, Why did that just change in front of my very eyes? Yeah, but in no sense, but he's able to break into the virus code and he finds Scholes and thunderbolts, which is the calling card of the Department of do.
Enn Burke:Yeah, they kept saying DOD and I was like, the Department of Defense is killing people. I mean, well, I mean, but like with insulin.
Matt Molinaro:So we learned that this is a group of hackers. Hackers in the early 90s.
Enn Burke:Yeah, so like, they also just learned that word in the writers room. They were like high fiving
Matt Molinaro:you So now we get what looks like a real computer program for a second. But wait, but wait. So this is the context, they go to the house of an early message board moderator for the DOD. And he says he's like a teenager, young guy. He's like, Oh, well, anyone on the forum could have asked for the code. So you have no evidence at us. And, you know, they're like, Well, did anyone ask about the code for medical devices? So he's like, Okay, I'll show you. So he goes to his computer to show the forum. Like, I'm guessing it's like a message board type early style message board. You're right. If you pause the screen for just a second, which I did, because I really wanted to see what this program was they were using because this time, we have like a start menu sort of thing that he opens up. He selects on the screen from this program that we're meant to believe is like accessing a message board. Uh huh. He select the command, select slideshow. Oh my god. So we now know everything happening on the screen after that is just a slideshow happening in front of Oh my god. And then he's like pantomiming typing and things are popping on the screen with no keystrokes happening just like frame by frame. No effort. Why would you let that field anyway. So through all this, we find a guy on the message board named
Voiceover:striker one.
Matt Molinaro:And the hacker extraordinaire guy is like got this like shading going on. And he's like, I can get into his inbox and we'll see his messages, messages from this slide show. So he goes into those messages. We see a slideshow of like just words on the screen. One is from Zardoz looking for basketball tickets. Then we get a message from hat trick. Looking for the answers to Mickey Mr. Mickey's algebra test? Yeah. Wow, that's the second time I've said algebra today. And then it was not planned. Algebra. That's kind of a weird word. All right. Have you seen it? I haven't said algebra in a while. Algebra. I'm going to name my first child algebra.
Enn Burke:Let's not call them out.
Matt Molinaro:Anyway, so that would never do that. I hate algebra. So they go to the school to talk to this Mr. Miyagi, because they're like how many Mr. McGee's? Could there be? Probably a bit but they find him. He's totally checked out. He seems like he doesn't care at all. And he just says, if I remember five of my students names at all, I'm lucky. They're like, well do it. This is another ridiculous moment. Do any of your students like hockey? Because I guess hat trick is like a hockey term sports? I don't know.
Enn Burke:I didn't know that either. I got a hat trick was a magician turbo.
Matt Molinaro:Do any of your students like magic? Does any of us do? You know what it would have been just as ridiculous because the next thing he says is like, well, maybe one of my kids brings his skates to class all the time. Who brings their ice skates? To class? A hockey player who is I have never in my entire academic career. seen someone walk into a classroom with a pair of ice skates. Oh, now the skates slung over. It's not like a baseball bat. Or like granted,
Enn Burke:like, Oh, I was teaching in Southern California. So there's no ice here.
Matt Molinaro:There's ice here. Never. Those are heavy and annoying and clunky and dangerous. And you probably wouldn't be allowed to have them in class.
Enn Burke:Apparently, a hat trick is doing something successfully three times in a row. So it's like, oh, it's a hat trick. I don't know where the hat part comes from, though.
Matt Molinaro:Well, I'm sure there's some sort of history to it. But they made it seem like it was specific to hockey here.
Enn Burke:Oh, okay. In 1858 H. H. Stevenson was playing cricket. And he took it literally says he took three wickets, which I don't know what that means, with consecutive delivery. And the fans held a collection for him and presented him with a hat bought with the proceeds of the light collection. So that's Patrick. Well, one more you know,
Matt Molinaro:what a great prize now.
Enn Burke:Thanks for the hat. Yeah. What if you didn't like it anyway? That's the trick. Yeah.
Matt Molinaro:I say this is ridiculous, because it would have been equally as ridiculous if this was a magician's thing. And this is anyone in your class like magic. And he says, Well, someone times someone comes down with a rabbit, or AWHONN
Enn Burke:a rabbit. You're right. That was the right choice.
Matt Molinaro:So they go to talk, they go to try to find this kid who likes hockey. In this case to class. He's riding his bike with a hockey stick case around his neck. His name is Andre. He got an A plus on the test and they kind of roughed him up unnecessarily on the street. and give them like you know get them scared and say You better tell us who gave you the you know who's striker one yellow striker what is what you know your ad trick says it's a guy classmate named John Cook. So
Enn Burke:they go to John Cook like an explorer.
Matt Molinaro:Um I don't know when you know how like different our minds work this is funny this just shows who's the academic here when you hear John Cook you thought who that might be an explorer when I heard John Cook I thought was that an American Idol contestant? Oh god,
Enn Burke:okay James Cook. It was a British explorer.
Matt Molinaro:Okay, it was David Cook who was by the way the American Idol contestant, but I literally saw that I was like, oh, what's his name?
Enn Burke:Which one was David Cook? What season was that?
Matt Molinaro:I think he actually won his season he was like a rah rah guy. Yeah, he was the same. David Archuleta I remember the to David's
Enn Burke:he's got just terrible hair or he did in that scene. It was all the Jonas Brothers hair you know that haircut? It was
Matt Molinaro:a I was like Jonas Brothers hair mixed with panic just didn't go there. Oh, yeah. panic because it had a little like faux hawk ish. Yeah, vibe. He was really cute though.
Enn Burke:The early 2000s were quite a time for fashion and hair.
Matt Molinaro:Oh my god. Alright, so they they go to find speaking of hair speaking of hair they go to find date. John Cook striker one striker one. And they go to his place. They have a warrant. And his mom okay. Do you know whose mom was? She's on?
Enn Burke:She was the priest woman on Orange is the New Black. Did you also recognize the other two people in this episode?
Matt Molinaro:Okay, I only recognize two people total one was okay. This woman who her the actresses name is Beth Fowler. Love her on orange, the new black. The other one was the defense attorney. Yes. She's the only other one I recognize though.
Enn Burke:Oh, wait. defense attorney. Yeah. Well, okay.
Matt Molinaro:So later on, we'll get to her. But there's a defense attorney we're going to get to later whose name is the actresses name is Joanna Merlyn, I had to look up the name I recognized her because she ends up becoming like a Law and Order SVU like regular character later on as a judge.
Enn Burke:So the two people I recognized were actually men. The first one was, let's see what was his name Kenny. And he was played by Harold Perrineau who played the the dad on last whose son was abducted by like the other people on the island or whatever. And he was Mercutio in the 1995 Romeo and Juliet.
Matt Molinaro:Oh, I love that movie. Oh, I didn't even recognize him. That's the cut. I sorry for screaming but have you watched last? Yes. Do you remember his whole season was suspended screaming wall
Enn Burke:I recently it's so funny we've just brought up last because I recently watched the Honest Trailer of loss just for five and they talk about how like they took my son was like the only line of dialogue he had for like two seasons so
Matt Molinaro:accurate. It was just that and screaming waltz name. And yeah, in the dark. Yeah. Who was
Enn Burke:the other actor? The other one. He was another lawyer and I can't on IMDb. I couldn't find which one he was and I never caught his name in the episode. But I'm pretty sure he played Richard on Sex in the City
Matt Molinaro:of Seattle March Texan in the city, so I wouldn't even know who to tell you. So there Stryker one's house John Cook. They push past his mother, orange, the new black lady, and they pull him off the computer, literally. And he's like literally screaming and yelling, and he's acting like, honestly, he's acting like any teenager who has been told to get off the computer in the 90s. Fair, like throwing a fit. There's, ya know, they bring them out. And in interrogation, they literally like try to feed him what to say. They're like, maybe you did this, right. Maybe you did that. But he's giving quiet. And meanwhile, traces of the virus are found on his computer. So I rested. And we move on to the order side. He's with stone and Robinette. He's accompanied by his mother and his lawyer, and he says he's innocent. And when Robin asks if the virus got in his hard drive by magic, he says, Yes, counselor, there is a tooth fairy, too. And they show his mom's face shocked. Like Stone says, you know, you're up against murder charges. He should take this seriously. But he doesn't seem to care. And he says that I used to be with the DOD. And this is the start of it. They're gonna go further with this scary. So the attorney convinced his stone to hold off on charges because if he does, then his client will help them kill the virus for them. And I thought to myself, I think if they have experts, they could probably do that themselves now that they know you would think the virus exists. We saw a whole roomful of experts before. Yeah. So then they talk to a hot attorney. And the next thing mean for like, he just shows up in the scene for no reason to explain viruses to the DBAs. Team, it's about it, then we discover that the evidence from the defendants computer or from the hacker who got into it earlier is not going to be admissible in court, because it was illegally obtained, because you know, they use the hacker to do it. So we're back to square one, because they literally have nothing to present in court. So the charges are dismissed. So Schiff actually share something pretty mean meaningful in this moment, he tells Stone, who is busy pouting about this, that the Bill of Rights was not written to make their lives easier canntrust illegally obtained evidence and then be mad. Yeah, it's not how it works. So no, he also gives them a pretty interesting tactic. And he says that if they prove through a new investigation, that they would have inevitably discovered everything in evidence anyway, maybe it'll be admissible. So let's work backwards. So they go to the medical malpractice board to see if there are any complaints against the hospital. And they talked to an employee who is outfit, she looks like she had taken the heaviest drapes, she could have off of like a showroom floor, and like a Victorian home or something, and just tossed it on her body. It's just like a, it does not look like clothing, showing that it's the material. So the woman pulls out a file for the hospital to see if there's any complaints. And it looks like there's literally literally like 100 pages or so. But the top page has Robert Cook's name on it. And I like cook. That's a familiar last name. And he seems to be very upset because he went in for something diabetes related. He was treated by Dr. Hogan. It didn't work. And now he's going blind. So they're like, Okay, how is he related to the other cook? And it's his dad. It's literally the kids dad. Yeah, this was never looked into at all. So anyway, there's this is like a very obvious connection. When Robin Hood interviews the dad, he's furious. And he says that, you know what, I'm kind of enjoying this. Because he says for six years, he's basically been ignored by every entity. And now they need him the and his response to the Rabina is, quote, well, you could just pucker up counselor and plant it right here.
Enn Burke:And smacks his ass. Yes.
Matt Molinaro:So now stone is with the mom. And she says that, you know, kids will be kids basically. And it's not his kids fault, her kids fault because her ex husband infected Johnny, with this vendetta and this obsession with revenge about the malpractice. And then we see the dual meaning of the rotavirus. He has been infected by the idea. Clever, so dumb. So they bring the whole thing to a new judge, they fail again, it almost felt like pointless. There's a lot of chat that amounts to basically nothing. But basically, we eventually get to a point where the DHS team digs into the cook family a little bit more. And they discover that during the divorce, everything was amicable at first and the joint custody agreement was fine. And eventually over the past few years, Mrs. Ms. Cook or former Mrs. Cook sued for sole custody, because her husband her ex was not spending any time with their kid. And he basically every time John was over his house said he was a burden. Yeah. So they somehow find an email that proves that the dad knew what was going on, or approved that his dad at least knew that his son had access to the computer system at the clinic. And it also looks like the virus was built off of John's father's blood glucose profile. Right? It doesn't really make a lot of sense, of course, but they basically say okay, you know, he had access to his dad's blood glucose profile from the clinic and he knew it. So maybe we can convict the Father. And, you know, convince the son to confess out of guilt, right? Schiff eats a sandwich and tells them not to do it. Right. Stone is very resolute about it. So Schiff, basically just shrugs and takes another bite and says, go ahead. And then we're in court with the defense attorney. That's the guest star I was talking about earlier. And they both interview some people on the stands and interrogate them. It kind of goes nowhere. It's like back and forth. Like stone has leaked, and she dismisses it. And basically we learn it could have been anyone who hacked a computer. How do we know it's the kid? So in the hallway, the defense attorney approaches stone and says, This is shameful. You know, he didn't do it. Let's just cut a deal because my client is really fired up about all this. He's been dreaming of the day to get his tinfoil hat rent out. And I don't think he's going to come off. Well, if he goes on the stand, and it's not because he's guilty, but the jury will not see it that way and he'll get confit. So like, Let's avoid that stone doesn't care. Nope. On the stand, the dad, in fact, get on there. And he's taking the moment to air all of his grievances about the doctors about the lawyers, but everyone that's been working against him. And you know, he has a point for some parts of it, but that he kind of goes off the rail and starts talking about how everyone's against him and then the doctors work against him first. And then other doctors he tried to get a second opinion for that weren't related to the hospital, gave him the wrong answer. So he thinks they were against him, and then the courts against them, and yada, yada, yada. So it's not looking good for him. Right? Stone is convinced by Schiff to try to make this right, because it was a big disaster in the courtroom. He decides, Okay, I gotta try to make this right. So he calls the whole family into chambers before sentencing or anything. And he says to John Cook, the kid who's got the very 90s skater hair. He says, he says to him, if we go back in court, your dad's gonna go to jail, basically. So help them out. And the defense attorney for the dad agrees also, which makes the dad think she's on the whole thing. Yeah. And then the kid finally breaks. And he says that he did it. He wanted to ruin the doctor because the doctor ruined his family. And he says to his dad, I got even for us, pop I got even for us, and it's this very tearful scene. It's really uncomfortable. And then we learned that the 16 year old John Cook will be in jail for at least the next 30 years. And they talk about at the end in it basically, about the infection of his mind, and how he's infected with this. Like his dad's beliefs and stuff now and how sad it is. And yada yada and that's the end.
Enn Burke:Yeah. Oh my gosh, what an episode what a virus.
Matt Molinaro:The amount of computer terms they threw in there just
Enn Burke:randomly. It was very kitchen sink. Wise.
Matt Molinaro:I'm surprised no one said that. They were like surfing the web or
Enn Burke:navigating. Navigating. God All right, well, are you ready to hear the true crime?
Matt Molinaro:Oh, please do? Yes. Okay.
Enn Burke:This episode was not based on any specific crime so I got to pick one and I do I don't know if this happens to you when you're when you get to like pick a crime there are times when I'm just like, I really don't feel like reading about like some awful murder. So the the story I'm going to tell you does involve a crime. But it's more of a story of like, What the fuck? So that's the vibe we're gonna we're gonna have with this true crime. Okay,
Matt Molinaro:I totally get it. That's why last week I wanted to do a survivor story.
Enn Burke:Yeah. Oh my god. I told Myles about that. And he instantly want to he instantly made us watch the documentary, which is really good, by the way. That is
Matt Molinaro:right. I mean, it's it's very, it's got a very specific vibe to it, but I really enjoyed it.
Enn Burke:Yeah. So we begin in a small town in the state of Victoria in Australia. The town is named Sylvan si lvhn. Victoria is the second smallest state in Australia, but it's the most densely populated. But Sylvan is a pretty small town, the population is only about 1200 people. So pretty rural area of the state of Victoria. Okay. The family is named the Trump family like Trump but with an O. And the father's name is Mark. He's 51 years old and his wife is named. I think it's pronounced jakka. It's like Jacob with an A at the end. Jacumba maybe Jacob Patrick Koba. Anyway, I'm gonna say Jack about she was 53 years old at the time of this, and there are three adult children lived with them. In the family home, the the Trump family had a pretty successful farm, where they grew red currents. And they also had an earthmoving business. So kind of a family business. The three kids lived with them at home to like, help them with the farm. The three kids were named Rihanna, she was the eldest. She's 29 Mitchell, the middle child is 25 and Ella is 22.
Matt Molinaro:How funny Briana and Ella, Ella, Ella.
Enn Burke:Get out A A. Okay, so on Tuesday, August 30. The Friends of the Trump family became worried when they were unable to reach any of the Trumps by phone. So when like most of that day had passed and they and they couldn't reach any of them. They contacted the police. So the police went to the Trump farm. And this was on August 30. And they went to check on them and see like, Mark is everything okay? Because nobody could reach them. When the police got to the Trump family home, the Trumps were nowhere to be found and the house was in a state of disarray.
Matt Molinaro:Okay, I'm sorry. And remind me what year is this?
Enn Burke:2016 Okay, okay, thanks. So pretty recent story. So nobody their house in disarray When the police arrive. So it looked to them as if somebody had like, kind of been searching for something in the house. Because they found what's in many articles is described as piles and piles of business and financial documents. And they were kind of like spread out around to the home. But they were like, neatly arranged so kind of strange. They also found all of the Trump family's passports, all of their credit cards and all of their mobile phones inside the house. So to police, they looked at this and was were like, this family has, like disappeared, and they've left all of their kind of like important things behind. And it looked to them, like all of the things were kind of like pulled out and put into, kind of like they were all placed on a table sort of thing. Like they had all pulled out their passports all pulled out their mobile phones, but they were all just left there.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, like it was kind of all potentially placed. Yeah, exactly.
Enn Burke:So the only thing that appeared to be taken from the family home was cash. And the only cellphone that was missing was Mitchell's, the police when they arrived found other cars. Like above, I guess the family had multiple cars, which makes sense, there was five of them. And all of the cars were there, except for one. And all of the cars had the keys in the ignition. So the police were kind of mystified by this, they they sent out notices to try and locate the Trump family. And by the next morning, the police. So I'm going to kind of give you the story in in one way. And then I'm going to go back to the beginning kind of like explain the things that I just talked about. Does that make sense? Yeah, love it. Okay. So the next morning, the police receive a phone call from Rihanna and Ella, the eldest and youngest of the Trump children, and they reported their parents missing to police. However, they weren't calling from their house. And what's interesting is I couldn't find any articles that talked about the content of that phone call other than that they were reporting their parents missing. But like they didn't tell police where or why they weren't at home. And my
Matt Molinaro:two daughters, correct. There's a son also, right? Yes, he's a middle child. He is not reported missing just the parents,
Enn Burke:just the parents. Okay. So the following morning. The police are still at the Trump family home and the youngest daughter, Ella, arrives back to the family home and was greeted by police at the home. And then her brother Michel arrived back at the home the following morning. Police reported that both Ella and Mitchell seemed totally fine. However, they said that they were just as confused about the family's sudden disappearance as the police were that day. So this is the day that Mitchell came back. So I think about two days after their disappearance, a truck driver in a town called Goulburn went to get inside of his vehicle and like started driving. And then he found the youngest Trump daughter Rihanna in the back of his truck, what she was in some kind of catatonic state, like he could not get her to respond or acknowledge him in any way. So he called the police and Rihanna was taken to a hospital in Goulburn to be treated in the psychiatric ward. Whoa, still missing at this point are the parents Mark and jakka. And this kind of resulted in a I'm not sure if it was a statewide or like countrywide search for them. But they were looking for both of the parents and they identified the missing vehicle as a silver. I don't know how to pronounce this properly. It's it's a brand of car that I know only from Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it's the one that Giles drives. Its P E U G OT. Peugeot.
Matt Molinaro:Hey, listen, if you're checking anything luxury, not me.
Enn Burke:I don't think this I don't think it's a luxury car.
Matt Molinaro:I don't know I never heard that word.
Enn Burke:Okay. So they were looking for Mark and jakka. In the missing silver, I'm gonna say Peugeot. And it was that car was actually LS and it was the one that was missing from the family home. So they were unsuccessful in locating them that day, but the following day, so this is now I think, four days after their disappearance, the police received a phone call about a woman wandering the streets in that in a town called Yoss. Ly HSS. And they When police went to talk to this woman, it was jakka Trump, the mother of the Trump family, and she was in a highly agitated state, according to police, so they escorted her to the hospital. And there she was reunited with her daughter Rihanna, because they were both being treated in the psychiatric ward. Meanwhile, Ella and Mitchell Trump, who are the middle and youngest children appeared on the news to say that they were very confused by their parents behavior. And they were pleading on the news for their father to return home. That night, at about 10pm A young couple was driving around an area called or a town called one go, Radha. And they were driving and all of the it's so funny the things that articles like specifically retail, they were playing Pokemon Go. And they were driving and they reported to police later that they were being tailgated by somebody who was like driving very dangerously and erratically. They said that the car was so close to them that they couldn't see the headlights of the car. And it was like driving really kind of dangerously in a radically scary so this other car pulled over as well. And they saw a man get out of the car and he like ran into the middle of the road and stared at the young couple in the car and then ran off into a nearby park and disappeared in the area of one grata. Around this time, a series of breaking enter thefts were committed and they were believed to have been caused by the father, Mark Trump. That man who like was driving erratically and then ran into the middle of road and stared at people randomly was the Father Mark drum. Okay. Six days after the family's disappearance, Mark was found wandering the roads in an area called Wangaratta. near the airport, police went and picked him up and he was evaluated by a mental health professional and then was released into his brother's custody, who is a police officer. And at this point, the case had been getting a good amount of media attention because, you know, the whole family had vanished. And then like individual members had come back at different times. And others were in a psychiatric ward and appeared to be not doing well. So they were got a fair amount of media attention. So then, the when he was being taken away from by his brother to, you know, like take him home. There was a lot of reporters and apparently as they drove past Mark Trump, like gave them all the middle finger, which he ended up later apologizing for. So here is what actually happened, according to reports from the Trump family.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, I'm really like a lot of question marks.
Enn Burke:Yes, it's so weird. So the family decided to flee their home and began driving north. Michel was the only one who brought a cell phone, but the family forced him to throw it out of the car window when they were about 30 kilometers away from the home because they were convinced that it was being used to track the family. But they drove all through the day in the night, and arrived at a city called Bathurst. And at 7am. That morning, Mitchell decided to separate from the family. Reportedly, he was like really frustrated by everybody's behavior. And he was just like, I'm out of here and left on his own. The remaining family kept driving, but this time they headed east and they were heading toward a location called the Jenolan Caves. Je n o la N which is a popular tourist destination. Okay. When the family arrived in Bathurst, the two daughters Rihanna and Ella also decided to separate from their parents. And so they stole a car and drove to the city of Goldberg, which is where they then called the police to report their parents missing. And that's about two hours south of Bathurst where the where they had all been together and it's not a was kind of doing some Google mapping, just to get a sense of the sense of the geography. And if you were driving from Bathurst back to their home and Sylvan. This is not a route that you would go like it was less expeditious.
Matt Molinaro:Okay. So out of the out of off the beaten path. Yeah. So, so wait, so let me make sure I'm with you here. Okay. So at this point, in this telling, we have the jack Abba and Mark, Mark, jakka and Mark are together, allegedly, and the all three children have left them now first Mitchell, and then the two daughters. Correct. Okay. And the daughters went to this other town, and this is probably a reported, they sold a car and then they reported their parents as missing people. Yes, exactly. Audit.
Enn Burke:So they're in this town of Goulburn. And it's at this point that Rihanna and Ella decide to separate from each other. And this is when Ella returned home in the stolen car and arrived home on the 30th Rihanna when they separated, broke into that man's truck. And he had driven like a few kilometers, when he felt a kick on the back of his seat and looked back and saw Rihanna like on the flight floor of the truck bed behind him. And in her like catatonic state, he said, and this is a quote, I turned around and saw two legs stretched across the the back between my seat and the floor, she was lying on the floor, I got an extreme shock, which, honestly, seeing another human inside of your car must just be instant terror. I'm Oh, my God, that would be so scary to me
Matt Molinaro:the other day that not even less than two weeks ago, I was sitting in my car outside, in my own parking spot in our apartment complex, just like letting the car warm up before I left. My passenger, I was going someplace alone. So Davy was not coming out of the house or anything. Suddenly, my passenger side door just opened up what and an older, older man in a jacket, like began to like, like, lower his body and look in the car as though he was about to get in. And I gasped, so like, scared, and because I was like, not even paying attention. I was like, looking at my phone or something. And I looked up, and I was like, hello, hello. And the guy was like, oh, sorry, sorry. And then he like, shut the door. Oh, my gosh, what the hell? So I went to go, like back out. I was like, let me get the hell out of here. And I saw the guy. He had called, like, an Uber or Lyft or so. Okay, I was gonna say, I bet that was what it was. Yeah, it wasn't like even the same color car or anything, though. So it's like, Oh, I was freak. If I turn around to see someone in my vehicle, I would have I would have crap.
Enn Burke:I Yeah. So as I said, she was in a catatonic state. So he tried to ask her details about like, who she was, why she was in his truck and could not get any responses from her. So that's when he phoned the police. And she was taken to the psychiatric ward. Mitchell, as I said, arrived home the next day, and told police that he had taken the train from Sydney to Sylvan, but again, Sydney is not like, it just geographically was very strange. Like, I don't know why he went all the way to Sydney. Yeah, to get back home. And less like there. That train system is kind of like he didn't have a car because the parents were they still have the car. So maybe it was the fastest way. I don't know. It just seems strange. So they, this family was in like five different towns over the course of like those three days, those first three days. So he arrived home, as I said, told them that he had taken the train. And at this point was when the police had kind of like started their search for Mark and Jakob. And they found out that what had happened is that when they got to the gentleman caves jakka and Mark separated jakka went north and was taking public transportation, while Mark remained with the car. And it was that evening that the young couple were followed by the car driving erratically and Mark jumped out at them before running into a park and disappearing for a couple more days. So on Thursday, the first Mitchell spoke with CHANNEL NINE NEWS and said of his father quote, he's scared that people are after him. He's not in a good state of mind. Mitchell was unable to explain who like they were like they're after him. Right? But he said quote, I've never seen anything like it. It's really hard to explain or put a word on it but they were just fearing for their lives and then they decided to flee. A week after he was picked up by the police. Mark Trump gave a statement to the to the news saying, quote, I am conscious of the burden these events have placed upon our extended family, friends and the community resources devoted to our aid without reservation I apologise for the hurt and concern caused by the events. But he did not elaborate on what happened and added more than anything my family and I need time to recover and receive appropriate assistance, including mental health services. So because there was very little explanation for the public on what had happened with this family, there were tons of theories as you can imagine, some people thought perhaps the the family farm like they used a chemical that like induced psychosis on all of them. Others thought perhaps they were fleeing debt collectors. But I based on later reports, that does not appear to have been the case, police were never able to locate any threats against the Trump family. So this like fear of like they're going to come get us did not appear to be based in reality in any way that police were able to verify. And none of the family members exhibited any signs of drug use. And then some people also thought like, maybe they were in a cult or some like fanatical religious group, and that was why they disappeared, or were behaving strangely. But that also was not the case, when all of these theories were ruled out. Police did not comment further on the cause of the incident. But Detective Sergeant Knight described this as quote, the most bizarre case he's ever seen in three decades as a police officer. Wow. And so everybody was still left questioning like, why had they all like, why had they fled? And why was it all of them? Yeah, so the most commonly accepted theory is that the entire family experienced Foley ADO which you have probably heard from a lot or not a lot order a my favorite murder episode. Do you remember the episode about Sabina Erickson and her sister? They like ran into traffic? Yes. Yeah. So folly adu is where multiple people share a delusion. The direct translation is up folly of two or like a madness of to when there's multiple people, it's like full folly of whatever the French words for like three, four or five are. Okay, so typically what happens in folly adu is one person goes, goes into a state or an episode of psychosis, and they develop this delusional belief that they then impose on another person. So like, very rarely will more than one person in a Foley abuse situation. Be in a psychotic episode, it's typically like one person that then like shares the delusions with other people, and they like get swept up in it essentially. Okay. And the person who is kind of the initiator of that psychotic episode won't realize that they're causing harm to the other people, they, they believe that they are like helping that person to see the truth like so most likely, what had happened is that like the father, or possibly the mother, it's never fully explained, experienced that psychotic episode, and then like, became convinced that people were after them. And the whole family needed to flee and they kind of like got all swept up in it. Yeah. Wow. So Foley do commonly affects close family members and couples. And typically, it requires treatment involving separation, anti-psychotics individual and group therapy. And it's a phenomena that happens more frequently in isolated communities or isolated families. And I think the explanation for that is you have fewer people to challenge whatever the delusion is that everybody is getting swept up in. Yeah, right. So that isolation makes sense. And the family lived in a pretty small town remote area.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah. Also need to feel like that makes sense. Because if you're in an isolated area, the people that you do have contact with you probably have a bigger amount of trust in them.
Enn Burke:Yes, exactly. Exactly. So it's pretty rare for all members of a family to experience the folly of do phenomenon, but when it is, when it does happen, it's called my brother took French and he's probably going to listen to this and be like, Your French is so awful. folly of FAMU, I think, which is family. So in the 2017 interview, Rihanna Trump, the eldest daughter made statements that implied that this folly adu phenomenon was the explanation and the cause for the family like fleeing and vanishing and kind of like separating at various points across the state. She said that a buildup of stress had caused her father to have sort of a mental breakdown, and that it was such an intense thing that it caused him to fear that people were after him. And that he wanted to flee. And she said, quote, you do start thinking the same, like you have a few things and they do build up and she says, You can get sick in some way. So it really fits without Foley a do. phenomenon. Yeah. Ella and Mitchell Trump would later tell reporters that the whole incident was hard to explain, and that they had never seen or experienced anything like it before. LSU said, quote, it's very confusing. I still feel confused. I think our state of minds weren't in the best place. And yeah, I can't even really, there is no one reason for it. It's bizarre. Mitchell said that he did not share in the fear that the whole family had shared when they all got into the car. But he he said, quote, I just had to go with the family because I wanted to see where they were going. I couldn't just leave them. He said, But yeah, it was tough to see your family like that. And I've never seen anything like it. But the main thing is, they're okay, now, everyone is safe, everyone as well. So we can go just go back to being the family again. He said it was, quote, a buildup of different normal, everyday things, just pressure and it slowly got worse as the days went by. But following the event, the Trumps have returned to a normal life, there have been no other similar incidents since and Ella because she did steal a car was charged with vehicular theft. But when the owner of the car like kind of like learned what had happened, they kind of like asked police to drop the charges because they were like, they were not doing well. So those charges were withdrawn. And the Trump family has just gone back to normal life. And that is the story of what is referred to on the internet as the Trump family road trip.
Matt Molinaro:Wow, that's so bizarre.
Enn Burke:Isn't it so strange. I when I was like looking, I came across like 8000 different cases. And I would like start reading about it and kind of go like, this is like a little too. Like, emotionally charged or kind of like, intense. And then I was reading the story and it was just like, so confusing. Like why like why did they all leave together but then start like separately coming back and with no explanation very strange. Yeah, I wonder
Matt Molinaro:who who would they believe was we're after them for the very like, Who did they? Yeah. Government thing or was it I wonder who they believed? Yeah. After them in the first place that was so dangerous. And I I wonder why several of them were in such a strange catatonic state when they were found. Yeah,
Enn Burke:I am assuming it was just like probably a combination of like, fear, lack of sleep, confusion, like it was probably really a disorienting experience for everybody to like, have your father or your mother, who, you know, has been like, calm and even keel and trustworthy your whole life suddenly be like, we have to go people are after us. Like, if my mom said that, to me, I would probably believe her. And then as the day went on, and things got weirder and weirder, it would probably be really disconcerting and overwhelming. So there are some phenomena that are kind of similar to this where there's like, outbreaks, there's a really interesting story. I can't remember exactly where it was, but there's like outbreaks of similar behavior that's inexplicable. Like there was an entire school of girls somewhere in Africa, I believe, where like, all if the girls could not stop laughing, and it was like, even though they were like, separated from each other, there was nothing triggering it. They couldn't stop but they like, all couldn't stop laughing. And so they they talk about this kind of like weird, sort of like shared groupthink kind of thing that can happen to kind of like feed into strange behavior. But it's it was just such a strange, really weird case. To read about that. I just thought this is a fun one. This is a this is not quite as as intense as some of the other stories that we've covered. So yeah, wow, that
Matt Molinaro:was wild. I kind of similar to the episode a little bit though, you know. Okay, so the mind what's anything what's funny
Enn Burke:is I didn't watch the episode until I had finished researching the case. And then at the end of the episode, they started getting into like, the infectious thinking of people influencing each other. And I was like, hey, it actually kind of ties it semi decently. Yeah. So pure luck on that, though. Well, that
Matt Molinaro:was great. That was great. I feel like I've heard like, part of that story or similar type things on like those like top 10 weird things. Yes, but I never knew any details.
Enn Burke:There's another case the folly of do is the Sabina Ericsson one where they like run into traffic is one but then there's the one where they were both made It's and they killed like the Do you remember that was yeah, it was like in the 1800s or like early 1900s or something like that and they murdered the woman and it was that one. I neither of us have covered that, right. No, because that one I remember being like, really, really brutal.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, that was. Yeah.
Enn Burke:So anyway, very strange phenomena. Fun story. What would you rate the episode? Wow,
Matt Molinaro:okay, well, I found the episode entertaining even though it was preposterous and all the computer stuff, so I'm gonna give it a b minus,
Enn Burke:I'm gonna give it a c minus I thought it was pretty boring. And I thought like the whole, it just seems seemed like one of those things where somebody ran into the writers room is like we have to write an episode about a computer virus. I've got a great idea, but it's like, just kind of cheesy.
Matt Molinaro:Oh, big time cheesy.
Enn Burke:What about how it dealt with? Topic?
Matt Molinaro:Um, I think the way to deal with the topic, so I'm gonna give it like an F. Because it was it was nothing made any sense. Nothing about the crime. Nothing made any sense about the actual virus that they're talking about? There were no repercussions for anybody who really did anything wrong, or was like part of it. And there was a totally unnecessary like, racist storyline at the beginning that went nowhere. So yes, can you give it an F?
Enn Burke:I think all agree with you on that. Oh, boy.
Matt Molinaro:What a what a trip. Ah,
Enn Burke:yeah. Viruses
Matt Molinaro:felt a little bit like like what you would expect to see in a like goosebumps or are you afraid of the dark episode I
Enn Burke:kind of that it does kind of feel like a full.
Matt Molinaro:Listen, everyone. I know that posting comments on the internet can feel like screaming into the void sometimes. Tell them tell me about it. But writing a review for our podcast is really, really helpful. It makes it more likely that people will find our show. So try it out now.
Enn Burke:Yeah. And also people find a podcast when somebody recommends it to them. So if you like our podcast, tell a friend.
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Enn Burke:Yes. And while you're online, head over to ripped headlines pod.com Because you will find the link to our Patreon there where we have lots of fun content. Matt and I are about to record a review of the spectacular movie showgirls. So if you want to hear us review movies, play games and talk about other inane things, you should subscribe to our Patreon you get free or not free, you get new content every week.
Matt Molinaro:That's right, and a percentage of our Patreon proceeds gets donated to the Equal Justice Initiative. So by supporting us, you're also supporting positive change in the world.
Enn Burke:Yes. And also if you want you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee.com/n and Matt, and thanks so much for listening to rip from the headlines where you get the facts and some fiction.
Matt Molinaro:We'll see you next week and until then, stay out of the headlines. Bye