The Morning Formation Podcast

From Military Spouse to True Crime: A Case, A Calling, A Community with Rietta Boksha

• KP

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We trace the unresolved death of Heather Turner through verifiable facts, while exploring how a military spouse-turned-host balances advocacy, intuition and family life. Along the way we talk stress, functional medicine, compound grief and why facts must lead feelings.

• military life rhythms and finding stability during moves
• origins of the podcast and pivot into true crime
• how a suspect narrative unraveled under scrutiny
• key inconsistencies in timelines and 911 details
• rural connections, power dynamics and an open investigation
• advocacy through TikTok using only sourced facts
• safety, boundaries and trusting intuition
• stress, trauma and links to health and burnout
• functional medicine and root-cause thinking
• ALS, family proximity and compound grief
• facts before feelings in public discourse
• writing books, viral moments and next creative steps

Resources Mentioned

Killing Chaos Book
https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Chaos-Veterans-Didnt-Fighting/dp/B09RM4BTYJ

Follow Rietta on Instagram and TikTok
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rietta_books_truth_vibes/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@riettaboksha


Support the show

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SPEAKER_00:

Warriors fallen. It's time for formation. Welcome back to the Morning Formation Podcast, where we dive deep into the stories of resilience, service, and transformation, stories that go beyond the struggle, celebrate those who went from hardship to hero, and highlight the mindset of survivability. I'm your host, KP, Army Combat Veteran, former law enforcement officer, and lifelong student of leadership tactics and the human spirit. Today I'm honored to welcome back a great friend of mine, Rietta Bokcha. She's a military spouse. Her husband is in the Marine Corps, and he's currently just got promoted to warrant officer, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. He's a gunner, yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, you've uh since I've met you, you started off in Hawaii and now you're living on the East Coast. You're truly living the military lifestyle, the military spouse lifestyle, uh, where you're constantly moving. But you've had some some uh I guess settle residents there on the east coast, right?

SPEAKER_02:

That's the hope. Um, I've pretty much told my husband at this point, because he just hit 15 years, and because our son's gonna be going into high school, I'm like, if you get orders to go somewhere else, I love you, but I'm staying here.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I met you uh like four years ago on Clubhouse.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think it was Clubhouse. Is Clubhouse even around anymore?

SPEAKER_00:

It is. I still have the app saved on my phone, and I logged in the other day just to check it out, and there's people still on it.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay. Well, good to know. Maybe I need to go back there. But yeah, I'm pretty sure it was Clubhouse. We were just we both happened to be, I think we were in a room about podcasting.

SPEAKER_00:

Hmm. Yeah, I made a lot of really deep connections on that. Um, for those of you that don't know, Clubhouses, Clubhouse is an app that became popular during the pandemic, and it was an all-audio app. There was no video. So the only thing that you heard was somebody's voice. And what's odd about that is that I found that I made deeper connections with people, even like the nonprofit space with ACNOEcation that I'm still a part of today, and it's been what four or five years? And even Rietta here, who I've been in contact with over the years. So that's uh I don't know why that app died. I really don't. I think we just got shallow again and needed to have video.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, if you don't know, I certainly don't know. I honestly didn't even know if it still existed. I might have to pop on there just for for shits and giggles. But yeah, it's kind of funny you say that. I think I did make some really good connections on there too. Like aside from you and actually, no, you introduced me to Robin. I was like, did I meet you through Robin? But no, it was it you introduced me to Robin. So no, it was definitely Clubhouse.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I reached out to her recently to see if she wanted to do a podcast, and we haven't been able to connect yet and get get the our schedules right. Sometimes I'm very last minute, like I was with this interview, and I appreciate you being flexible and jumping on with me because Rietta, I've been meaning to catch up to you. You've pivoted so much in the last few years, and I've been uh sort of staying in in touch and in contact with what you're what you've got going on. And can you talk to me a little bit about your podcasts? Um, and then also to what you just started recently with the truth vibes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, um, as you know, but for anybody who's new, uh, I started a podcast actually right before the pandemic, ironically, with my cousin. It started out as a joke. We just wanted to get on and talk about our crazy family because we come from a pretty big family, and uh it morphed into so much more than that. We now talk to, or well, now it's just me. Uh Connie has since become a mom and just doesn't have the time, which is totally understandable, but I wasn't ready to hang up the reins. But we've talked to so many incredible people, basically the everyday heroes of our lives, you know, the people that have literally walked through the shit and come out the other side. Uh, like you know, you've talked to John. You know, John is a great example of somebody that is massively resilient that came back for more a quadruple amputee and has since had two real arms transplanted on his body. But I've talked to cancer survivors, double lung trans recipients, people who have been through all sorts of different types of trauma. And how I ended up in the truck true crime space was it literally just fell into my lap. It was not anything that I like sought after. I mean, I've always been fascinated with it, which I know men make a lot of jokes about, like, oh, all these wives are into the true crime stuff. They're gonna, they're gonna gang up on us one day. But it was just somebody in I interviewed that actually is from the group that I think you're in too, KP, on Facebook, where you can find the guests that's got like there's like 70,000 people in that group. And he actually was in that group, uh, but his name was um, I guess an alias you could call it. It wasn't his real name. So I didn't find out who he actually was and who his wife was until after I interviewed him. And of course, I look it up and all these articles come up about what happened, and I'm like, oh my god, what did I get myself what did I get myself into? So I just hung on to the interview for a year. Um, to be completely honest, I was not in the headspace or the understanding to even know what I had with his interview. And initially I did really feel bad for him. Um, he came on to talk about how ever since his wife's passing, he had been bullied on the internet. I had recently been bullied on the internet, so I really felt sympathy for him. And then later on, once I really dived into the case, I was like, this is not this is not at all what I thought it was. Not even close.

SPEAKER_00:

So from the podcast and being in that Facebook group, you were looking for guests.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and the podcast is how to deal when the shit gets real. Right. And I I thought you and Connie made a really great tandem. I remember being interviewed by both of you, and there was a lot of chemistry between both of you, and and you were both very driven, and you understood your roles and everything, and and I understand like chapters change, and Connie became a mother. And um, I'm glad to hear that you kept it going though. And it's funny how you stumble upon certain things, like a particular guest that kind of pivots you in a new direction. Um, what was that interaction like when you first started talking to this individual?

SPEAKER_02:

So when I first started talking to him, it did feel off. And it was also, it wasn't just him, it was him and his son. So I was talking to, and I believe his son at the time was he was pretty much an adult. I think he was 18. Um and it just it did. It felt weird from the beginning. He's written a book about the whole situation. He was trying to get a movie made, and I know everybody grieves differently, and I'm not trying to judge, but it just felt weird that his wife supposedly committed suicide and he's trying to profit off that. It just it felt icky. And I'm sure probably people listening are going, What? Why? And that was exactly my initial reaction. Why would you write a book? I mean, I could see writing a book maybe as like a memoir, right, but not as a way to make income. So it just it didn't feel right from the beginning. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it at first.

SPEAKER_00:

It wasn't a book what I was feeling. It wasn't a book about coping, it was a book about her suicide and her killing herself.

SPEAKER_02:

I haven't read it, so I can't tell you for certain what it's all about, but from what I've heard, it's it's yeah, it's about her suicide, it's about everything they've dealt with after how they were, you know, getting their house spray painted and tires cut, and there's chapters written by all four children, and it's just it's very strange.

SPEAKER_00:

So when you first started talking to this guest off of the Facebook group, what was the connection? Like you think it was just you stumbled upon them and they stumbled upon you, and the conversation started, or were they from somewhere?

SPEAKER_02:

Have you looked, have you gotten guests in there? So I I kind of just made a post, and you know, and you go through all the comments. So essentially I just made a post saying, Hey, I'm looking for guests for my podcast. This is usually what we talk about. You know, if you're interested, let me know below. And actually, somebody tagged him. So he didn't even um he wasn't even the one that initially responded. He got tagged by somebody else. And I usually respond to pretty much everybody. You know, if somebody's interested and you have a pretty good story, you know, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to come on the podcast and chat. And out of all the people I've interviewed, you know, I'm 200 plus episodes deep at this point. Really haven't had a bad one. So I always give everybody a shot. Didn't really think anything of it until I was already like neck deep. And I'm going, oh my God.

SPEAKER_00:

So you you just mentioned you haven't had a bad guest. Do you really mean that?

SPEAKER_02:

I've of course I'm not gonna call anybody. I've had maybe I could think of one off the top of my head that I literally told her, I'm like, I'm sorry, thank you for your time. But I and I had interviewed, I interviewed her and everything. I just told her I wasn't gonna use it. Um she got super mad. And I was really polite, didn't say anything mean, but that was really the only one out of like the 200 I can think of.

SPEAKER_00:

I've had I have had guests before that I didn't think would be bad and they end up being really bad. I've had guests that I didn't think they would be very good, but then they surprise me. So you just really don't know. You know, it's that's true. Like on one hand, if you pick a guest that is polished and they have their story created and also polished, they have their marketing together. It feels a little artificial, but sometimes when you find a guest that's kind of in the rough, it feels a little more authentic. And it's like I it's weird because like some of my best episodes are people that have never been on a podcast before. Um and so it's it's I don't know, for me it's been really hit and miss, but to kind of stumble upon an interesting story like the one you're talking about. So basically it was someone that was tagged, and then this guy had a story where he was trying to profit off of a situation where his wife killed him, killed herself. Um which and then it sounds like you started researching a little bit more and a little bit more, and things just got kind of strange. At any point, did you have a conversation with him?

SPEAKER_02:

No, I've never I've decided not to reach out to him directly because he does not respond well. Um so this is about Heather Turner. I have no problem saying her name. Um, you'll know who the husband is right away if you look him up, but I'm not gonna give him any clout because he doesn't serve it. Um, and I'm not gonna bash him either because that's not my job. Um I do do TikToks on it, but I only give the facts. My opinion does not matter. Heather is the only thing that matters. So when I started looking into the case, it just didn't make sense. And you as a law enforcement person will understand, like so she supposedly killed herself, but she was completely nude, wet, had just gotten out of the shower with her daughter, her eight-year-old daughter in the house. I can't think of any mother that would do that. And then she also supposedly shot herself with her non-dominant hand, which again, who does that?

SPEAKER_01:

That's odd.

SPEAKER_02:

It's all very strange. And the weapon was not next to her, it was wrapped in a bloody towel next to the toilet. So if she supposedly unalived herself, you can tell I'm used to talking on TikTok. If she supposedly harmed herself, why did he move the weapon? He took off his bloody t-shirt. Why would he do that? There's just so many weird things he called his parents before he called 911. There's a 30-minute gap between when she was deemed gone and when the 911 call was made. What happened in that 30 minutes? Like there's just so many unanswered questions.

SPEAKER_00:

That's interesting. So what was the what was the verdict from the police report? Do you have any idea?

SPEAKER_02:

It's still open, it has never been closed. Um, he claims that it was deemed a self-unaliving of suicide within the first three hours, which is not true. He was confusing. You know how when everybody leaves the scene, they close the scene. He thought that meant that they closed the case, which is not what happened. It's so it's never been closed. It is still an open investigation. It's been eight years. It was never deemed suicide, and it was never deemed homicide.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, is this in a a rural location?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

That also plays a huge factor.

SPEAKER_02:

It's in Pauldon County, Georgia, which is a small town in Georgia. Um, his mother works for the probate court, so he also has connections. He has a connection to the DA. Um, the DA is different now, but when the case happened, he had a very deep connection to the DA. Um, he probably has more connections than that. So it's a good old boys situ it's a it's literally a good old boys situation down there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, people think that that's something from like the 1950s or the 1960s, but some of those rural communities with local small police departments that have strong ties, uh sometimes can be corrupt and can be very tight-knit type of communities where they cover for each other. So I mean at that point.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, something's clearly going on because he's never even been formally questioned by police, which that should have been done from the very get-go. If something ever happened to me, heaven forbid, or something ever happened to my husband, I would hope they would question me. I'd want them to question me because that's their job.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. That sounds that sounds pretty wild. So, how deep did you get into it? Like I know you say you you've done TikToks. What's been some of the responses that you've seen?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, so there's a gal that has been an advocate for Heather from the beginning. Her name is Mary. She runs the Justice for Heather Turner page on Facebook and TikTok. So um I'm become very close with her, obviously. And um she's just so grateful to have somebody else on her side. And people are usually very receptive because unlike a lot of people on TikTok, and I'm not trying to bash anybody on TikTok, I don't, I like I said, I don't give my opinion. I just I literally read from court documents, I read from newspaper articles, and just give the facts and then let people decide what they think based on what I give them.

SPEAKER_00:

So have you gotten any response from the family or anybody on the other side of the case?

SPEAKER_02:

So GBI won't respond to us at all. Um, I've gotten responses from the coroner. She's very nice. She's sent me the report. I've been able to read over the coroner's report. Um Mary talks more directly to like Pauldon County itself. I don't really talk to the police department. The only thing I did do was I sent them my interview. I sent them the podcast interview for them to look over. They never said anything. So don't know what happened with that. It's all very strange.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so you did a podcast interview with with who?

SPEAKER_02:

So with him and his son.

SPEAKER_00:

Hmm. Okay, okay. So you started looking into the case and then you had a conversation with him. Did you release the podcast?

SPEAKER_02:

I did not release the podcast, but I have released released some of the audio because I use some of what he told me in the interview, and I cross and do a cross-analysis with you know other documents because he consistently tells different stories. So what he told me will be different than what he told another podcaster or what he told the newspaper or what he told, you know, somebody else. He has so many different stories about what happened.

SPEAKER_00:

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

Like, for example, one of the biggest differences has to do with his daughter. Um on the day that Heather supposedly killed herself. In the 911 call itself, the operator asked him, Is there anybody else in the house? You know, very standard question for a 911 operator ask. And he says, Yes, my daughter's here. She asked him where he where she is. She's asleep on the couch. When I interviewed him, he said he heard a noise, wasn't sure what it was, ran to go see, and him and the daughter met at the bathroom door, and he opened the door and you know, he saw the whole thing. She supposedly only saw like her mother's legs, and then he grabbed her and ran her out of the room. So those are two very, very different stories.

SPEAKER_00:

So has this led you down a path to take a look at other cases?

SPEAKER_02:

I've had people ask me, I haven't yet. Um stuff like this, especially because Heather's case has gone on so long, I've tried to just focus on Heather and until we can get an answer, even if it's not necessarily an answer we want. I actually have a dear friend who just told me about her sister, and her sister's case is wild too. Um I did start reading about it, but I haven't started making like videos or anything on it yet. I don't really like, I mean, you know me, I like to do a lot of different things, but with stuff like this, it just it feels like one case at a time is how it should be done. You know, one case deserves like a full attention.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. It's not time to move on yet. The uh what about Heather's family?

SPEAKER_02:

I've talked to her Aunt Cindy once. She's a sweetheart, but she's understandably absolutely heartbroken. Uh, she viewed Heather as a daughter. And you know, you it's a heavy thing for her to carry to not have an answer. So I I don't reach out to her too much. I don't want to constantly be that reminder. Um, but they know they know that I'm working on it and that I have good intentions and that I'm here for them. But it's hard. That's one of the reasons that I do keep working on this and at least want an answer because I can't imagine how they feel not having answers about Heather.

SPEAKER_00:

Have they started any type of like fundraiser or anything like that to hire like a private investigator?

SPEAKER_02:

From what I remember, because again, I came into this way later. Uh, they did hire a private investigator at one point and it just they didn't it didn't result in anything. And like I said, Mary's been working on this for seven and a half years since she's been in it, and it's just it's been an uphill battle. We can't get sell on answers, they'll only release so much information. I was able to get a report that nobody else was able to get, so there was that, but our hands are kind of tied and we're just doing the best I can or best we can, and that's why I just I keep putting it on TikTok. And recently I started going all the way back because he was married once before and started giving a full breakdown of his history because it shows a clear pattern of abuse, of manipulation, of lying to law enforcement, of criminal activity. So I went all the way back and we're just I'm running through the whole timeline to just show he's been like this long before Heather.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's the one thing is like consistency over time versus like having one event happen is usually some form of guilt in in a sense. Like when you show consistent I guess characteristics, crimes, things like that. What's your husband? What's your husband who who's in the Marine Corps? What what does he think about all this?

SPEAKER_02:

Um he he's such a good support of me. I'm sure sometimes he's like, this girl's nuts, but he's such a good husband, he's so supportive. Um, he always is supportive of everything I do, which I'm very blessed. And uh he's probably just happy that I'm busy doing something.

SPEAKER_00:

You know what? Hey, I don't know how it was. Well, I know how it was back when I was in the military, but it seems like military spouses today live healthier lives because they're involved in things that are actually progressive. Whereas like when I was in the military, I felt like, you know, prior to us having the social media that we have today and we're able to connect with like-minded people uh before we had this, you were kind of stuck with whoever you were surrounded with, and that was it. And a lot of times the influence on some of the bases were not positive, they were pretty negative in a sense of getting into just stupid shit. Like um, but today I know a lot of military spouses that are like running businesses are making connections, even you and I making a connection like four four years ago. I can't even believe that. Um during the pandemic. I mean, it's been it's been positive. So it's it's good to see that turn with military spouses uh like yourself that are doing positive things and and living healthier lives. And also, too, like I don't know outside of you just talking to you and stuff, but it seems like you and Kyle have a really strong because military life, a military family is hard, like but you guys have a really strong relationship, a really comfortable, strong, supportive uh relationship where he's going on TDY deployments and things like that, and you're holding it down, but then you're also getting involved in positive things like this. So um it's refreshing to hear that. It's refreshing to hear like military spouses are now getting involved in more positive things than when I was in, I think. Um with any of the stuff that you've been doing, do you fear anything? Do you fear that there might be somebody out there that will be like this girl? Let's let's stalk this girl.

SPEAKER_02:

You know what? If you asked me that a couple of years ago, I probably would have said yes. Um but now no. Uh nobody can hurt me unless I allow them to. And I'm not gonna allow them to. Uh that was actually one of the first things that Mary said to me when I started helping with this case. She's like, he might come after you. And I was like, I'm not worried about it. He can't touch me. And if he does, it's just gonna make him look more guilty. Because why why is he gonna come after me? For what purpose?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I think I think about that sometimes when people cover like cold cases or true crime cases that are unresolved and they get a lot of information. Um in today's world, I can tell you as a person who has been stalked before, that it is scary when you find out that somebody was watching you and somebody was aware of where you were at different times. I've had to get restraining orders before, uh, just once. Restraining orders, just restraining order. I don't want to be clear about that, but I mean Yeah, just one. And it was when I was finishing up my college and had just gotten commissioned into the army, uh, and it was a it was another um fellow National Guardsman that had some mental issues and had had gotten several of our names off of an alpha roster that was sitting in front of an orderly room and just one day went cable guy on everybody. Just started calling or just started calling people. And at first Yeah, at first we thought that it was just oh, this guy's you know, reaching out for friendship or and that quickly turned into like Jim Carrey cable guy, like you're my best friend, and borderline like fatal attraction. It was weird, man, like and it was embarrassing at the same time. And you know, I had just gotten commissioned into the army and I had to tell the professor of military science what happened. I had to file like a because like it went as far as like I got my car vandalized, I got followed, had to like drive to a police station the whole nine yards. So that experience has caused me to be a little more guarded, and uh since going into law enforcement stuff, um it's I I'm also protective in a way, but I'm not worried anymore. But um, I always wondered if true crime people ever thought about that.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean it's understandable, especially because it's already happened to you that you're a little more about it. But I just uh I just stay positive. I say in my mind, like I you you've talked to Robin. I don't know how in depth you've talked to Robin, but Robin talks about you create your own reality. So if I'm creating my own reality, I'm not creating any scipos in my reality.

SPEAKER_00:

That you know, I wanted to ask you about that because I know what Robin does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Robin's amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

So what she is very amazing. Like it I think it's really interesting what she does. Uh have you uh counseled with her about this?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, not about this in particular, but I've worked with Robin. Robin actually has be has become probably one of my dearest friends. Uh I talk to her pretty regularly, and she runs, she calls it a VIP group, and I was a part of it for a while, and it actually was exactly what I needed at the time. Um very empowering. Uh I don't wanna I know you're gonna talk to her, so I don't want to take away from everything she does, but it's just if you're familiar with like Dr. Dispenza, Dr. Joe Dispenza, or like Naval Goddard, or even Bashar or all these names might be completely going over your head, but it's all some people think of it's woo-woo. There is definitely a balance between like science and woo-woo, but it just essentially you're just taking control of your own life. It's just different ways to phrase it. And like I said, I'm not if somebody's not meant to be in my life, they're they're gone. I'd boundaries. I mean, I used to let people walk all over me. I was the biggest people pleaser. I would do anything for anyone, and I still will if you're my people. But if you're not my people, you can go. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So uh how would you describe what Robin does?

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh, that's kind of hard because she does a lot of amazing things. Um, I guess probably some people would call her a life coach, but I think it's it's so much more than that. I feel like life coach is not a yeah, she's a spiritual coach. She teaches you how to get out of victim mentality. Are you you know I think a lot of us get stuck in like everything's happening to me. And she essentially gets you out of everything's happening to me and everything's happening for me. So that's a very big switch of mindset.

SPEAKER_00:

No, she is fascinating. I remember she used to do the tarot card reading. That was wildly successful on TikTok.

SPEAKER_02:

And tarot is a very small portion of what she does. Like what she really does is amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I've been I've been meaning to get her on the on the podcast at some point. It just haven't been able to connect yet and make that make that date and time.

SPEAKER_02:

But um Yeah, I've actually interviewed her three times. Um we have another one that's gonna come out, which is gonna be a really nice and I think important one is like she's talking about what it's like to be the person with the illness. Because as you know, she has she has cancer.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

And then I'm talking about what it's like being the family member of somebody with an illness.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I also want to give a shout out too, because Robin was a Marine. Is a Marine.

SPEAKER_02:

Robin was a Marine. Yeah, yeah, always a Marine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

She doesn't she doesn't say much about it, and I've told her before, like, you need to like let people know that you're a Marine.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, she and she's a badass. Like, she really is. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So what do you think the next uh next steps for the overall like true crime or or what's like what do you think your next pivot's gonna be? Are you gonna stick with the how to deal with the shit gets real podcasts, or do you think truth vibes is gonna take over, or are you gonna stick to this case until you come to some resolution, like or it gets settled?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm definitely not gonna stop with Heather until we get some sort of resolution. Um I'm a firm believer in that, like I got this this happened for a reason, you know. Like I interviewed him for a reason, I found out about this case for a reason, like it came to me for a reason, whatever that might be. I'm not sure yet, but clearly it was meant to be. So I'm gonna work Heather's case until it gets resolved, whether it's the answer we want or not. Um, I d I do love true crime. I still will probably always I mean it's always gonna be how to deal when the shit gets real. That can still be true crime, right? It could still be me talking to people and doing true true crime. Um I mean, look at look at like Bunny XO. She talks about all sorts of things. So I think that's what's beautiful about this new generation that's coming up. You know, we were always told you have to niche, you have to niche. You can only do one thing. But it's really coming out now that like you can you can do whatever you want. And if I'm pulled to do two crime one week, I'll do it. If I'm pulled to do something else another week, I'll do it.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Plus it keeps it interesting.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, as long as you have that bandwidth and willingness to do it for sure, and it it's pat it's a passion for you. Um I I also am a believer of like the woo woo and science and all this stuff because one thing that I've learned over the years, especially with social media, politics, all this other stuff. The answer is always somewhere in the middle. It's never Democrat or Republican. It's never science or woo-woo. It's like when you say woo-woo, we're talking about the the the I guess the sort of paranormal, right? Or like the spiritual side of things.

SPEAKER_02:

Spiritual, yeah. I mean, you could even call it paranormal. Like I brought up Bashar, which a lot of people are probably like, um, Bashar is a channeler. Um, if you don't know who he is, um, and he is said to be channeling um an entity, you know, like a I don't want to say alien. I don't know exactly what he calls it, but it's an entity not in this world. So a lot of people automatically are like, this guy's a he's a quack. But if you listen to what he's actually delivering, whether you believe in his channeling or not, the message is still powerful.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's somebody on TikTok.

SPEAKER_02:

He's all over the place. I'm surprised you haven't seen him. He's really big, but yeah, he's on TikTok, he's on Instagram, he has his own page. People go and see him in person. He's he's really big. He talks about synchronicities, which sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. He talks about synchronicities, which is how I feel about Heather. A synchronicity is like he calls them red light and green light synchronicities. So green light means like you're on the right path. And a red light is like maybe something stops you. And it's not necessarily saying that you're not meant to do it, it just means you're not meant to do it right now. You can come back to it later. So when I got Heather's case, that was a synchronicity for me because it just aligned that it came from somebody that was coming from my podcast that I had no intent of talking to, and it turned into this true crime case, and clearly I was meant to work on it. So that's why I followed it.

SPEAKER_00:

I truly believe things happen for a reason. Truly believe that. Especially if you're the type of person who is progressive and really willing to get things done. And I I truly believe, because I was told this once, and actually I think Robin told me this too. She said Robin told me that that I have a little bit of um, I don't want to say psychic, but I personally have a little bit of spirituality. And we had that conversation, and she talked about that sometimes when you're a child and you experience uh a lot of trauma, that your mind and your brain develops like this almost like sixth sense. So when you meet someone, you can almost tell who they are within the first minute of meeting them. Like you can see their soul almost. And the reason why your mind does that is because your mind develops this protective part where when you're a child, you don't know what's gonna happen when that door opens. You don't know if it you're gonna get smacked or if you're gonna witness something. So your mind to protect itself develops almost like a third eye. And Robin had mentioned that that I had that. And and I do feel that sometimes. Like I do feel like I can sense things from people. Something's wrong, and I'll I'll ask them, be like, is everything okay? And they're like, Yeah, why'd you ask? And they're putting up this mask, and I can tell it's there, and I'm like, because I can sense something's wrong. Like I need you like, is everything okay? And then later on they'll they'll pull me aside and be like, Yeah, actually things aren't okay. And it's weird that you asked me that question right now at this time. And I was like, something about you is telling me that like you just have this aura surrounding you that's like not right. And and I've heard that before prior to Rob and me saying that. Um, but it makes sense. Have you heard anything about about that before? About childhood.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean we Yes, absolutely. Robin has talked about that, and we're all intuitive. We all have intuitive type abilities. It's just we forgot how to use them. We we get so caught up in just you know the day-to-day and the daily that we forget to trust ourselves, essentially. Your intuition is really trusting yourself, right? And how many times a day do you hear that little voice and you're just like quiet.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But most of the time that little voice is what you should be listening to and not all the yammer out here.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So Gavin DeBecker writes a really good book called The Gift of Fear, and he talks about intuition. And that's the word I was looking for. Intuition. You you can you I had a feeling it was a stronger intuition. I was describing like third eye and all this weird shit. But like uh, I was actually talking about intuition, and he writes a really good book where he talks about intuition and how it's been developed over the years, from the time we were like cavemen and cavewomen, you know, avoiding the the giant predators out there, the totality of the circumstance is sort of pulled together in your mind, and then it's telling you, run. But in today's society, we're too afraid to be stereotypical, discriminative, or any of that stuff that like we we tell our intuition, like, shut up, like I'm okay. Like you're walking down a dark alley and you just feel like something's not right, and then your subconscious is telling your intuition to shut up, basically. And so a lot of a lot of it is that's what it is.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's that it's also we have stressed ourselves out so much, and we're doing so much that we are constantly in a state of fight or flight, which we're not meant to be in. We're not meant to constantly be in fight or flight, and that's why so many people now experience burnout, experience whatever else that they might be having, sometimes it comes up as autoimmune diseases because we're just constantly in this state that we're not supposed to be in because we're stressing ourselves out. Even animals, animals are a great example, they have fight or flight too, right? But if a deer gets chased by a wolf one or whatever it gets chased by and it runs away and then it's gone, it goes right back to eating. It forgets it's done with that. It that's a memory, it's done with it. We're like we stay in that for sometimes years, and then we wonder why we're so sick all the time. It's it's kind of crazy. We just need to get back in touch with ourselves.

SPEAKER_00:

You're a thousand percent right about that, because when I was 23, I developed uh an autoimmune disorder with my um intestine. So I I ended up getting ulcer of colitis at 23. And I would go to the doctors and they would give me medicine. And I would I would go back to the doctors and say, well, this medicine gave me dry mouth, this medicine made me do this, and then they would take it back and then they would give me another one. And then I would go back and give them the feedback, and then they would take it back and give me another one. And I noticed a trend, and I was like, I'm a lab rat for these guys. Like, they don't know how to fix what I have, which a lot of the intestinal autoimmune diseases from diverticulitis to ulceropcolitis to Crohn's, they no one can really explain why it happens. But the one thing that I've learned is that, as a matter of fact, prior to me deploying, I was really concerned because I was not well all the time. I would have these flare-ups at random times, and um the army back then in 2004, they gave me a big box of like medicine and just gave it to me and said, Good luck, good luck, kid. You go down range, if you have any issues, just go uh go to the nearest sick call. Fortunately, when I was there, I didn't have really any any major issues. I was able to control it. But what I did learn is what you what you're talking about right now, and I have a buddy right now that has diverticulitis and is having terrible terrible flare-ups uh to the point where he can't work. Um the one thing I did learn was that stress is the underlying cause. If you have, I was talking to my niece about this, if you have issues inside of you, tr trauma that you're internalizing, your body and your mind has a way of slowing you down. And I think that's why you either hair falls out, rashes, um, or you end up just having some autoimmune disorder, something will happen to you and your body will like try to wake you up and say, look, you need to figure this out.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And by that time, it's been happening for so long. Your body, like that's like your body's last stitch effort to get your attention. Um, I've actually had several functional medicine guests on my podcast. And if you haven't looked into functional medicine, um, I do recommend it at least like looking into it just for an understanding because instead of doing what you're talking about where they just give you a medicine, essentially slapping a band-aid on it, functional medicine actually tries to understand the root cause of what made you sick from the beginning. And a lot of times it is. It's that childhood trauma that maybe you don't remember or you forgot about or you never got I mean, you you don't really ever get over it, so I don't want to say get over, but that you never I don't even know what the proper word would would be, but you get what I'm saying. Like that you never just address You try to contain it as much as you can.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like a it's in this lockbox or this trunk. And the older you get, that those latches get weaker. And it will come back to haunt you.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly. And it comes out in all sorts of different ways. I had another guest that was amazing. I actually highly recommend you interview him. If it'd be something you interest he stutters brain waves and what is happening in your brain like while you're having a panic attack, for example. And he talked about how he couldn't sleep and come to find out his sleeping issues stemmed all the way back from when he was a baby. His mom didn't hold him for the first year. Like talk about making a connection that that's not even something you remember, but your body remembered.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and it's yeah. There is a lot of things that you may not you may not even realize. Um you you connected with Matt Stack at one time, didn't you?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, Matt's awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

So he he wrote the book um Something about Chaos. Chaos, yes. And I was just trying to look it up because I remember it because I it's a really, really great book. Um what's what's the what's the name of his uh of his book? Living in Chaos.

SPEAKER_02:

It's got a longer name. Yeah. Let's see if we can see if we can pull up on Amazon real quick. Hold on. Fan stack. I love his name. His name is just so epic as it is. Killing Chaos, how veterans can win the war they didn't even know they were fighting.

SPEAKER_00:

That that guy talking to him was like talking to a therapist almost. Like he touched on so many things, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, he's a wealth of knowledge. Great guy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, killing chaos. It was um, and what the one of the one of the things he talked about was if you grow up in chaos and you become an adult, you have the tendency to recreate that chaos, even if it doesn't exist around you. So it affects your relationships for the rest of your of the rest of your life if you don't figure out what's going on. And a lot of veterans, I you know, I think that that book is a really healthy book because it it will force you to take some accountability of yourself.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. And uh, I mean, the old saying, chaos breeds chaos, it's absolutely right. And it's one of the reasons like I keep my house neat because if my house is dirty, then my anxiety is out through the roof. You know, you gotta find your ways.

SPEAKER_00:

You gotta be self-aware and you gotta be accountable for sure. Um just talking talking to Matt. And it's it's a short book, by the way. And I want to make sure that I remember to put the links for everything that we're talking about during this interview um in the podcast notes.

SPEAKER_02:

But um I thought you were just over there writing shit about me, writing.

SPEAKER_00:

I was just drawing, I was just doing a portrait of you, like drawing it's like a stick figure. And uh no, I'm I I know I love I I like taking notes and coming coming back to certain topics that that uh talking about. Cause I I like forget and I and I move on. But uh who did you mention? Who who who was it that you said that studies brainwaves?

SPEAKER_02:

Like I said his name, and actually I'll uh I'm I'm just because I've interviewed so many people, I don't always remember. Let me say that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yeah, I will definitely I'll definitely be interested in that because there's a whole there's a whole because I personally went through it myself. Um I think that a lot of veterans need to take more accountability and be more self-aware because I've seen more times than not veterans, especially combat veterans, say, Well, the world just doesn't understand me. They don't understand me, they don't understand me. But the thing is, is flip it, flip it the other way. Do you understand them? Like, do you are you meeting them halfway in the middle of the pasture so that you can understand them? And I that's what changed my mindset overall when it comes to uh mentally being tolerable to sit at the Thanksgiving table next to other people that have never experienced the stress and anxiety that I've experienced through combat and through like growing up in a broken home.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. Yeah. Um his name is Jeffrey Cole, just so I don't forget to tell you, but Jeffrey is spelled with a G. It's almost like G O E.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh C O L E.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, C O L E. Yep. His middle initial is A. I think he gives the middle initi because I because I think there is somebody else out there that um has a similar name. He also goes by G he goes by just G sometimes. Um but I can I'll send you some links for him. But that's I mean, I've talked to a lot of people, but that's one of the most I learned so much for him. I've gone back and listened to that episode myself a couple times just because he's got so many great little nuggets and is just fascinating. I'd love to go down to I think he's in Tampa, he's in Florida for sure, and visit like their facility where they help people.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Robin's mentioned Robin and another friend of mine named Yasmin, um, who does Trend Lab, she she's also very much into the um, I don't want to call it alternative alternative medicine. It's more natural medicine, or what was the phrase you called it earlier?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, well, you might be thinking of something different. Um, functional medicine. I don't it I don't know if it would fit in the same thing that you're talking about, but we'll see. But yeah, functional medicine is, you know, like there's practitioners that they still look at like your blood work and stuff, but instead of like going, here's this medicine, good luck. Um, they try to figure out, okay, this is elevated, why is this elevated? And then they'll figure out, oh, it's because when you were 10, your parents got divorced. I don't know. I'm just throwing out examples. Like they literally try to figure out the root cause. There is also, you know, homeopathic medicine too.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, so it's more event-oriented.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. It's more, let's actually find the root cause of why you're having these symptoms instead of just treating the symptoms. Don't get me wrong, Western medicine, our medicine is fantastic. It has come a long way, but there are certain scenarios where you can't just fix the symptom. You need to find out what the root cause is, and that's really where functional medicine comes in.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the problem with Western medicine is the teeter and the teeter and the totter, I guess, of yes, you get this today, but what happens 20 years down the road? And we've seen that over and over again with Western medicine, is the the long-term results are not final. Um you'll find out.

SPEAKER_02:

And there's there are certain things that just there are certain things they can't do. Um, I haven't talked about this a lot because it's not it's not really my business, but uh my dad was actually diagnosed with vulgar ALS and there was no cure for ALS and it has been very hard to watch him just slowly decline and know that I can't do anything.

SPEAKER_00:

What are the symptoms for that?

SPEAKER_02:

So much like regular ALS, instead of it affecting like your limbs, like Stephen Hawking, you know, we saw Stephen Hawking was in a wheelchair, it starts in your throat first. Um so he has trouble swallowing, he has trouble eating, he has trouble speaking. Uh it's all the muscles that are in like your throat, your mouth, your face. So that's where it starts. It'll go into his lungs eventually.

SPEAKER_00:

How many years has it been?

SPEAKER_02:

It's hard because it's really hard to diagnose. Like, you know, some things are. It's hard to diagnose. I think uh lupus is another one that's hard to diagnose. So it took a good year to even get a proper diagnosis for him. And we're probably coming up on another year here pretty soon. So it's been about a couple years. And typical ALS, it's usually four to five years. Sulver is a little less, so Lord only knows. We just keep praying and staying positive.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm sorry to hear that. That sounds really, really tough, really difficult on your family. And that that's the family that lives in the Chicagoland area.

SPEAKER_02:

They actually moved here. That's part of the reason they move here. So my mom and dad actually literally live right behind us now. I could throw a rock and hit their house. So it is nice that they're here now and that we can help. But there's only so much we can do, and it's I'm totally a daddy's girl. I've always been a daddy's girl, so it's very hard to watch him.

SPEAKER_00:

There's worse every day. They're so blessed to have you as a daughter. I mean, you're such a good daughter to have move 'em in your own backyard. Hell, like most people don't want their parents in their backyard, but you are just such a true, authentic, honest, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, don't get me wrong. Uh, we do have, yeah, I'm assuming this thing everybody loves Raymond. Uh everybody loves Raymond. We definitely have that situation where my mom just comes over and I'm like, why didn't you call first? I love them to pieces, but I'm like.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Everybody has their everybody has their qualms and their issues with their family, but you know, what's what's bigger than that is love.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00:

And time. You can't ha you can't buy back time.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's probably one of the hardest things about this, about this diagnosis. It's liter we're literally just watching the clock tick. And there's absolutely nothing. We can there's no cure for ELF. So we're just it's like a terrible waiting game.

SPEAKER_00:

Well. That sounds really, really tough.

SPEAKER_02:

Um It is. It is. And that's uh I had another guest that talked about that about compound grief. And it is a thing, you know, it's not just grief when somebody passes away, it's everything leading up to it, you know, watching them get sick, watching them get worse, and that's what Robin and I talked about on the podcast, and now what it was like for her and what it's been like for her kids.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, we live in a very sick society in a sense of we think we're healthy, but we're taking the blood pressure pills, we're taking the things to patch it up. Um and it's like even with the cancer stuff, man, like it's you know, you you just recently, I think it was what was it, Tylenol was tied to the president mentioned that Tylenol is tied to autism. And a lot of the media out there was like, oh, you know, it that's crazy, that's insane, that's absurd. But is it?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, you never know. You never know. I'm not I'm not one to lean one. The thing I remember about Tylenol, and it actually didn't, I was I alive? No, I don't think I was alive. Um there was there was literally a Tylenol murderer in the Chicagoland area that was this was before Tylenol had, you know, the safety caps, and they were putting arsenic, I think it was arsenic, wasn't it, into the Tylenol capsules and just killing random people.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah, and then they put that seal on it to make sure that there's that's it couldn't be tampered with.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's where the that's where the seal came in, which a lot of people don't even know that.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, if you go into like medicine history overall and you look at like even coke, like cocaine, like how it was just in soda, it was in, you know, coke. And uh things like that, and and some of the like Native Americans, you know, they utilized uh what would be considered drugs today to help cure. But I think what what what a lot of that does, a lot of the drugs like marijuana and things like that, to some extent, like that stuff helps relieve your stress a little bit, you know, and so there is some medicinal use with that stuff, but a lot of it got banned, and then this other stuff came in that was synthetically made. So that's a whole nother conversation in itself, man. And I I love talking about that kind of stuff because it's it's interesting. Like people people today like to be told how things are and the way it is, versus actually putting thought into it. It's kind of like politics where you're like, let's talk about the issues. No, like I don't want to talk about the issues. I just want to fucking hit you over the head with something because you don't think like me, or you're not you're not on my side of the of the issues, or then want to call you a name or something like that, and that's just how s uh simple we are in 2025.

SPEAKER_02:

Um Yeah, gone are the days where we could have strong discussions of different opinions and just have those discussions and not have somebody end up hurt or dead. Like I don't know what happened that we can't What do we teach our children? We teach our children that they're supposed to interact with each other and understand one another and understand that we're not all the same, but that doesn't mean we can't get along. We can't love. And that's kind of what we forgot, right? We're not leading with love anymore. We're actually leading with hate.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and it's all about emotion. It's not about I was talking to someone about that recently. I said, I said, um, facts follow feelings. Feelings don't follow I mean, it you know, I'm sorry, feelings follow facts. Like you should get the facts first, then let your feelings follow that. But now they put feelings before facts, and it's more about sensationalism and more about making someone out to be a kook when let's just stop and listen to what they have to say, because the reality is is like we don't know like some of the stuff that's exactly that's been put out there.

SPEAKER_02:

So right, and that's exactly why when I talk about Heather's case, as much as I may not like her husband or disagree with him, it doesn't that doesn't matter. And me bashing him is not gonna solve the case. All that matters is that I share the facts of the case because that's what's gonna solve it, not my opinion of her husband. Do I think he's a narcissistic, crappy person? Yeah, I do. But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00:

It's about facts.

SPEAKER_02:

My opinion does not matter, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

It's about facts.

SPEAKER_00:

And there's a lot of things out there today in in today's world that people people like to just draw conclusions early on. They like to come up with you're actually fact-finding and digging and doing research, but there's a lot of things out there that's going on in the world, and the one thing I explain to people is you don't have to like it, you just have to understand it. That's two two different things. I just want to mention like Charlie Kirk, for example, and how he was assassinated recently. You don't have to like it. You just have to understand it. You have to understand that his platform, he was allowed to be there, he was allowed to set up shop, he was allowed to have a conversation, and you on the other side, you're allowed to do the same thing too. And if you're not someone who agrees with him necessarily, that doesn't mean that you have the right to kill someone or take someone out or maim or injure them. And I it sucks that in 2025 that's where we're at.

SPEAKER_02:

It does suck. And uh, exactly what you said, regardless if you agree with him or not, he has the right to your opinion, just like I do, just like you do. And uh he was a person, he was a father, he was uh a husband.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean he wasn't someone that was uh, you know, trying to be violent to get you to believe in what he believes in. It was a simple conversation, a man with a microphone.

SPEAKER_02:

And just like on social media, if you don't like it, just scroll on by.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you don't have to like it, you just have to understand it. It's a it's an opinion, and you're allowed to put it out there. And as long as you go to a campus and you get the permits to set up shop and you're allowed to be there, then what's the and I remember when I was in college, um, there was a lot of activism that would set up in the quad and they would put up huge pictures of like dead babies and stuff because they were anti-abortion. As a college student, I didn't like it, but I understood that that's allowed to happen. Um I think a lot of people have just forgotten about that. And we've been all over the place today with our conversation, but it's been interesting to me, anyways. And I want to ask you, out of everything that you've done so far, open-ended question, what's the weirdest thing that you've encountered so far? Like, what's the first thing that comes to mind when I ask you that question?

SPEAKER_02:

The weirdest thing that I've encountered, like just in my just anything that's just been weird?

SPEAKER_00:

Anything in general, like what's it could be paranormal, it could be uh something when you were looking at this case that something came up. Um, like what's the most weirdest thing that that you've had in overall?

SPEAKER_02:

Weirdest thing that's happening.

SPEAKER_00:

That's it, that's like if you had to tell if you had to tell one story.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my goodness. That is a big question, KP.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I can tell you right now, like if I if I if I because I'm not a believer in in paranormal. Like I told you about being stalked and stuff, and that was weird. I have a lot of weird stuff, but I'll I'll say this. Like when it comes to paranormal, like I don't believe in ghosts, I don't believe in spirits, all that's at least I didn't. I kind of do now. Um there was a I I had a I had a situation where me, my stepsisters were all like in my parents' kitchen and we were hanging out, and it's probably one of the rare times we're in the same room together, just talking at the kitchen table. My my stepmother's mom, I guess my step-grandmother, who I knew pretty well, and she's a sweet little woman, um, had passed away a few years prior, and it was Christmas time, and we were all hanging out in the kitchen. And this happened to me. Um I was sitting there and we were talking. Next thing I know, like out of nowhere, this like cloud of smelled like women's perfume. And it was like the Avon type, and it was the type that she wore. Because I remember she always smelled like this. It like surrounded me. And I I looked around and I said, I said, what the hell is that smell? Like, what is that smell? Did you guys spray something on me? And I was like looking around, nobody was sitting around me. Next thing you know, like it moved all around the room and it surrounded everyone at some point. And it was like a hug. And that's so sweet. Then all of a sudden, like, and everybody looked at each other like, what is that? My parents weren't even in the living room next door. They were like way back in the bedroom somewhere. And I thought I was being pranked. And the only thing I can describe was that the situation where we were all in the same room together, it was Christmas time. Um, because we all I live far away from them, so I'm I'm rarely home. But yeah, I mean that that kind of makes me believe that there is something after this.

SPEAKER_02:

No, I agree with you. And something that popped in my mind while you were talking about that, so we'll just go down this road, is um I've always I've been trying to work on no, I work on to try to better myself every day. And that includes trying to connect with what I think is like my higher self. Some people believe it as your spirit guides, your ancestor guides, God, whatever you call it. And I was actually working on Heather's case. I'd asked her for a sign. And literally the moment that I did, my left ear started ringing. You know, kind of like when if somebody had shot a gun and you'd got tinnitus, like it literally was in my left ear. And she got shot like right by her left ear. So it was really trippy. I was like, Thank you. Thank you for the sign.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's funny how like even my my uh mother-in-law just passed away recently, just a couple weeks ago.

SPEAKER_02:

And uh sorry to hear that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. She she was uh she was up there in age, but still very sweet woman. Um when she passed, I think she was ready to go, but um some family members have had like experiences where they've they've they feel like she's reached out to them in in some way. And sometimes you think it's kind of mumbo jumbo, like you're just looking for something, but then there's other times where it's kind of like there's really no explanation for it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. When our grandpa passed away, um Connie, he's my Connie, uh literally said the night before that grandpa came to her in her dreams and was like, everything's gonna be okay. And obviously at the point, you know, at that point she didn't understand, and then you know, the next day we found out that he had passed away.

SPEAKER_00:

So Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

There's definitely things I believe out there that we just we can't explain.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm really excited for you in this pivot. Like I said, I do believe that everything happens for a reason. For those of you out there that aren't following. Um I'll make sure that I post the Instagram and the TikTok. What what did you change your name to?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh I actually I recently changed it to uh so it's Rietta. It's Rieta, it's my first name, so it's Rietta, and then it's Books Truth Vibes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah, I I noticed that when I when I went to see your content recently, I was like, oh she changed it.

SPEAKER_02:

So I did. And then I went freaking viral on Instagram and I don't even know what to do right now.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you're almost to 10K, man.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, that's all because a goop I made a goopy skeleton skit and it literally got five and a half million views. It's wild.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. Wow. So what's next for you?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, more books, because I do love writing. I know we've got to do that, but I do still love writing. I'm at seven, so number eight should be going to my editor next month, but I need to probably start writing it.

SPEAKER_00:

You're telling me before your books are like four hundred pages easily, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you're much like my husband. You probably have more of an analytical mind. So for you guys that have like analytical minds, when you say like, I wrote a hundred thousand words, you're like, oh my god, that sounds like a nightmare.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh just for folks that don't know what type of genre is it?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh so I'm mainly romance, romance, rom-com. I did write what would be considered romantic, so it's fantasy. But if you like, you know, Nordic um mythology, so that would be like if you're a fan of Marvel, Marvel used Nordic mythology, that's like Odin, Thor, Loki, like that's Nordic mythology. Well, a very small portion of it. Um, and I'm hoping I'm hoping to write a psychological thriller this month. Um, my mom has been begging me to write, well, I don't want to say begging, but she's been asking me to write one because that's one of her favorite things.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah. Yeah, I really wish I could get in the books more. I was so glad that Matt Stack's book was like 150 pages long. Because I'm like, wow, I didn't even like to read books when I was in college, man, like or high school, I hated it. But um, when it's something that touches your life or something you're passionate about, it's an easy read for sure. And I'm really proud of everything you've done, man. You've you've been a great part of my circle, or maybe I'm a part of your circle. I mean, I mean it. Like it's it's refreshing to know people that are out there writing multiple books, doing positive things, and I know the difficulties of living a military life. Um, so it's it's like I said, it's refreshing to hear like you know, you and Kyle just making it happen, whether it's in Hawaii or it's on the East Coast.

SPEAKER_02:

Um we're trying. I mean, we're definitely not perfect. No couple is.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

If they try to tell you are, they're they're lying their ass off. But you know, that's the thing is if you try to make it work or not.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. Understanding that no matter where you're at, you're always gonna have some complications, some issues. The grass is never greener.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh two people are never gonna see eye to eye all the time. That's just it's not reality.

SPEAKER_00:

It's not reality. There's so much more we could talk about. I mean, I love having conversations with you because I I don't know. For some reason, I feel like we could sit and talk forever. Uh maybe one of these days we can actually meet in person.

SPEAKER_02:

Um that would be amazing. Yeah, I'd love that. Uh, give me an excuse to go back out to California.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Let me know. We have beautiful weather out here, but this place is insane.

SPEAKER_02:

Um Yeah. I wasn't a huge fan. No offense, Californians. That just was not for me.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm not a huge fan either. Um, maybe maybe one of these days we can get out to a podcast convention or something like that. I've been looking into that maybe next year.

SPEAKER_02:

So let me know. I actually honestly didn't even know that was a thing. So if you find one that's cool, send me a link and uh we'll go.

SPEAKER_00:

There's a few out there, but I guess they'll have to go and check it out to figure out if it's if it's uh worth it or not. I'm sure it is, because at the end of the day, to connect with folks. When I used to go to the Military Influencer Conference, um, it was great to connect with real people and actually meet them in person and and see who they were and and get to know them like uh you know, so many folks that I've I've met when they were out here in Vegas a few times. But so for everyone out there, uh make sure you follow Rietta on Instagram, TikTok. Are you on YouTube as well or what other platforms?

SPEAKER_02:

I am actually. Uh both, I mean, I don't use my private one very often, but the podcast, the podcast is on YouTube.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh are you in season right now recording?

SPEAKER_02:

So I'm pretty much always putting up new episodes. I just probably much like you, I don't record during the summer, but I had batch recorded before that, so I was still releasing during the summer. I did go to bi-weekly. I will be back to weekly now that school's back in session. So every Friday, an episode goes up every Friday. So tomorrow, a new episode will go up tomorrow. I don't know when you're earning this though.

SPEAKER_00:

I miss those days when I used to uh be able to produce every week and publish every week, but I do it every other week now, whether it's a solo one or it's just with a guest. So I really appreciate you connecting with me four years ago and then keeping in contact with me over the years. And I it's been great catching up. That's all there is to it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for uh having me, and it's always a pleasure to uh chat with you.

SPEAKER_00:

For folks out there, make sure you follow Rietta on her social media platforms. I will uh put those down in the show notes if you're listening to this on a podcast or if you're watching this on YouTube, just scroll down there to the bottom and click on the links and add Rietta, follow her. Let's find out, you know, if there's any resolution or any final verdict with Heather's case, um, as well as where Rietta will be pivoting to here in the next few months. I mean, this woman sitting in front of me is literally authored eight different books. She's a military spouse. Um, she's run running this TikTok that's helping with true crime, and then she also runs a podcast as well that talks to amazing people with that uh overcomes trials and tribulations of life. So amazing person, Rietta.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you, KP. You're sweet.

SPEAKER_00:

For everyone else out there, as always, thank you for tuning in. And I want you to always stay tuned, stay focused, and stay motivated. Warriors, fall out.