SisterVibes
A podcast hosted by three sisters in their 40s with a lifetime of stories and insights to share. From growing up in Japan to now living across three continents, we've gone through life's twists and turns. Join us as we dive into our cherished childhood memories, offer our unique perspectives on a wide range of topics, and recount our humble experiences living in different parts of the world. Despite long distances and scheduling conflicts that have kept us physically apart for years, we're here to give you a glimpse of what it's like to have sisters, regardless of the miles that separate us. Are we still the same as we used to be, or have we grown and changed along the way living in diverse locations? Stay tuned; we hope you’ll be entertained!
SisterVibes
22. True Crime Conversations: Cases Across Borders
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What drives seemingly ordinary people to commit horrific acts? In this episode, we uncover the dark psychology behind notorious true crime cases—from a deadly Tokyo subway attack and a shocking family murders to years-long captivity of three women. We examine how cult leaders manipulate even the most educated minds, the unsettling contrast between criminal justice systems in the U.S. and Germany, and why our fascination with these stories reveals deeper truths about human nature, morality, and vulnerabilities.
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Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2279605
Big shoutout to Allison Gray for generously granting us permission to feature her song, "Off My Mind" (from Ep 05).
True Crime Podcasts and Documentaries
Speaker 1I gotta get you out of my system. I gotta get you off of my mind. But how do I move on when no one compares? They only keep me occupied. I gotta break these chains that bind me. I try to shake them off so desperately, but you pull them tighter, string me along. It's sad, but I'm so gone.
Speaker 2Okay, you guys Question what do you think is the most popular type of podcast?
Speaker 3Out there. Yeah, personally well, I listen to politics, but aside from that, I love to read and listen to crime stories.
Speaker 2Yeah, so it's true crime. It's interesting because I feel like that kind of blew up in the podcast world.
Speaker 3Really.
Speaker 2I don't personally listen to them, but I've read someplace that it was. Do you know anything about it? Any of these true crime podcast shows?
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, I think I've listened to a couple. Isn't it like actually aired online, but then they just air what was aired online through podcast? It's not, or is it geared towards podcast?
Speaker 2I think it's geared towards podcast like podcasting I wonder why that is.
Speaker 2Netflix has tons of these true crime docu-series. I started watching it I think back like 10 years ago. Stephen Avery case came up and we kind of got hooked. There are two seasons. The first season took place, I think, in 2015 and then did a follow-up for season two. But basically he was wrongfully accused of murder and I think police officers were in on it and so he got out and then he went back to jail and I think he's still there. Oh, so no one was able to get him out. I think I mean they showed like several trials um on the show. But yeah, he's still there.
Speaker 2What was he being charged for? Murder? And what's interesting also is that his nephew got somehow wrapped up in it. Also, like he confessed although they say that he's mentally disabled that he didn't know what he was saying. Like you know, during interrogation it gets quite intense and I think he got nervous or something and he wrongfully said, admitted that yes, he helped out in this murder, but what his lawyer said was that you know, it was that spur of the moment thing that he felt guilt and that he had to just kind of say that he did it, although he didn't do it.
Speaker 2So anyway, that was back in like 2015 when it came out and I feel like after that, like I think that got kind of blown up. It was quite big. I remember watching it and I feel like after that or so, all these different shows started to show up. It's always in my queue because I think I watch it often and I don't know why it's so fascinating, because my husband's always like why are you watching these? I don't know why, because you know my husband's always like why are you watching these?
Speaker 3I don't know. Why are we drawn to crimes?
Speaker 4Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 3It's just in our nature. I guess it's like mystery, good storytelling perhaps. Yeah, maybe because it's so far from our world I can't relate whatsoever that it makes us so curious about it. Why do these people do these crime, will commit these crimes, like why it does? Why, like curiosity, right, like I can't relate at all. Why do you think this way? Why? Maybe that's where it stems from yeah.
Speaker 2So you said you have no interest no what? Yeah, I think for me too is a curiosity, like like movies if they're like made-up stories, I can watch them but.
Speaker 4If it's based on a true story, then I don't really like to watch them yeah, I think it's like reality shows, right.
Speaker 2I feel like I know that some people love it. It's one of those things like guilty pleasure kind of things. It's not a crime, but I, tomo, you were talking about somebody disappearing at OSU. I don't think I was there while this happened.
Speaker 3You still lived in Ohio at the time, but I was technically still a student at Ohio State my last year. Yeah, it's like mystery Brian Schaefer, who went missing. He went to the bar Ugly Tuna on campus, ohio State campus. For who went missing? He went to the bar ugly tuna on campus, ohio state campus. He was seen on surveillance camera arriving at the bar but was never seen leaving the bar. His friends had no idea where he went. Nobody knew where he went and still to this day it's not been resolved. That was 2006. So, and then the next day he was supposed to take a vacation with his girlfriend and he obviously didn't show up. And you know a lot of red flags. But it's not like his body turned up either. That's the weird thing.
Speaker 2You know, do you think the ugly tuna is still there? Probably not.
Speaker 3I have no idea. And where was it? It's on campus. Where, oh it was? On high street, okay, like South or North or South, okay, south, okay, south campus, south campus. I've heard of it and I used to frequent there, but not the day that he went missing, I don't think yeah, wish you has changed so much.
Speaker 2I'm not sure if it's still there.
Speaker 3Yeah, I'm not sure it was a newer bar at the time. Yeah, ugly tuna, yeah that's an interesting name.
The Tokyo Subway Attack
Speaker 2Yeah, anything that you guys can think of that's sort of got stuck in your head. Any bigger crimes? That's happened.
Speaker 4I did a deep dive in one of the notorious crimes in Japan, which is the Tokyo subway attack.
Speaker 2That was like decades ago, right. I feel like we were teenagers.
Speaker 4It was in 1995. Wow.
Speaker 2Forever ago, so that was a couple years after.
Speaker 3Moved to the.
Speaker 2US. Yeah, I just remember this cult leader. I still can picture his face like his mugshot. He had long dark hair that was split in the center and he had very narrow eyes.
Speaker 3Okay, but can you describe the crimes to me?
Speaker 4Yes, so this attack was a chemical. Domestic terrorist attack was perpetrated on March 20th 1995 in Tokyo, japan, by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. The perpetrators released it's either sarin or sarin.
Speaker 4I'm going to go with sarin yeah sarin gas to, which is a highly toxic nerve agent, on three lines of the tokyo metro during rush hour, which ended up killing 13 people, severely injuring 50, some of whom later died, and causing temporary vision problems for nearly 1 000 others. The attack was orchestrated by Shoko Asahara, the leader of this cult, and the members of the cult believed in an apocalyptic vision and sought to trigger a global war which they thought would bring about a spiritual salvation.
Speaker 3Right. Is he still alive to this day?
Speaker 4No, they executed him.
Speaker 3Oh, okay.
Speaker 4Over 200 members were arrested, including Asahara. 13 of the senior all management, including Asahara himself, were sentenced to death and later executed, and many others were given prison sentences up to life.
Speaker 2Oh, the members. So execution in Japan is I think it's only one method right Hanging. Oh really, that's where the floor opens. Opens up oh wow, you know, I kind of remember this when this happened and now that you talk about it a little bit more in detail it kind of brings back memories. It was unheard of, it was such a big deal, international news, yeah so just to give you a little overview of this cult national news.
Speaker 4Yeah, so just to give you a little overview of this cult. The name Aum is a sacred syllable in Hinduism, buddhism and other Indian religions. Shinrikyo roughly means teaching of supreme truth. It was founded in 1984 by Shoko Asahara. His real name is Chizuo Matsumoto. Wow, okay, I don't know if that's necessary, but it was founded in japan, but it also had branches in other countries, such as the us and russia, really, yeah, and apparently it was renamed to aleph in 2000 after being outlawed okay, oh so even after he.
Speaker 3So he was the founder, yet he was able to reach people globally, apparently before internet. I don't know how he did it, and it was still ongoing after he died.
Speaker 4That's interesting, yeah to give you a little background of this asahara guy. He studied various religions and claimed to be a figure related to the messiah.
Speaker 2He claimed he was christ, the lamb of god and the only fully enlightened being since buddha, but aren't the, aren't the cult leaders usually like worship me, yeah, like narcissistic and have this tendency?
Speaker 4he, he claimed that the world would end in a global nuclear war between the us and japan and only his followers would survive to rebuild it. But um, he was apparently very charismatic. Um he, he attracted many young, educated, educated followers, including scientists, doctors and engineers who later helped him produce siren and other nerve agents.
Speaker 3So he was very influential. He would have done real well in today's world with TikTok and stuff, huh.
Speaker 2Probably. I feel like it's like. Charles Manson in the US. Charles Manson in the US Because I think in the late 60s this also happened where Charles Manson had a cult and he had a family of these young followers, I think mostly female and, yeah, they worshipped him and somehow he brainwashed them to.
Speaker 3I wonder what his background was like his childhood. Was he an only child? I don't know. Were his parents present?
Speaker 4I don't know about his childhood, but he also apparently well. The reason why he has so many followers is because, like what Cody said, he used brainwashing.
Speaker 4He forced drug use and violent rituals, and his followers practice strict disciplines, including fasting, meditation, as well as sleep and sensory deprivation Wow, disciplines including fasting, meditation as well as sleep and sensory deprivation. And so, for example, they would isolate you in dark or silent rooms for a long period of time, sometimes using blindfolds, earplugs, full body restraints, and, as part of their spiritual training, members were subjected to fasting, sleep deprivation and sensory deprivation simultaneously, and, of course, the goal was to obviously break individual willpower and create psychological dependence on the cult and its leader, which Asahara.
Speaker 3He's a savior.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 3Wow, when you were talking about that, it just made me think of the ex-Japan singer. He was a high-profile figure in Japan. He fell into cult and then ended up leaving the band that was so successful for this cult.
Speaker 4Yeah, they say he was brainwashed.
Cult Psychology and Brainwashing
Speaker 3He was brainwashed, obviously completely, and it was very similar story, Like he was deprived of sleep and food a lot of times. And you know he said he fully believed that he was doing good things in the world. But he was brainwashed for 12 years and he was a very successful X-Japan was a very successful band at the time and he left that band.
Speaker 2Yeah, even in the US they've done concerts too.
Speaker 3Oh, x-japan, yeah, yeah I mean he was successful.
Speaker 4He's on TV shows now these days.
Speaker 3Really Well. I'm so glad he left that cult and it was scary. I remember him talking about how he left the cult and he was beaten. He tried escaping multiple times and every time they would find him bring him back, beat him up and just brainwash him completely all over again and I don't know. It's just crazy.
Speaker 4Yeah, apparently the methods that this Asahara guy used. They caused psychological trauma in many members, so some remained loyal even after the Tokyo attack Right, but others who escaped described their experience as brainwashing and psychological torture.
Speaker 3Yeah, the singer he mentioned, like even if you escape the cult mentally, it was hard for him to break it, the cycle of like what he believed in all those years. He said he went through a lot of trauma and flashbacks. I don't know what it's like to be brainwashed, but that's going to be hard.
Speaker 4I feel like I could easily be brainwashed. You think what? I think I could be easily brainwashed.
Speaker 2I feel that these people know who to target right, Because not everyone can be brainwashed.
Speaker 3Yes, I hear that it's really weaker people target vulnerable people.
Speaker 2So not everyone can be brainwashed. These people know who they're looking for.
Speaker 3I heard that it's kind of similar to hypnosis. Sometimes hypnosis doesn't work on people that are like really strong willed.
Speaker 4I actually once got hypnotized by a YouTube video.
Speaker 3Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2How do you know that you got?
Speaker 4hypnotized. Well, my friend introduced me to this hypnotizing video and she was like try it out, Like it didn't work on me but it might work on you. And I was like, okay, like whatever I'll do, try it out. Like it didn't work on me but it might work on you. And I was like, okay, like whatever I'll do it, it's not gonna work on me. And then it it worked, like I couldn't. My thumb and my index finger got stuck together. Are you serious? And you can separate them.
Speaker 3Yeah, and I can separate them. Wow, that is funny yeah, okay, I thought you meant like you fell asleep and then you woke up and you were somewhere else or something Somewhere else, oh my gosh, no, that would be scary.
Speaker 2Yeah, oh, my gosh yeah.
Speaker 4So I also looked into other tactics that were used, include forced drug use, electroshock therapy, psi headsets, which apparently are devices that allegedly transmitted Asahara's brainwaves. Oh, my goodness, whatever that means Okay, and members were constantly monitored and harshly punished for disobedience.
Speaker 2Wow.
Speaker 4Yeah, and aside from this Tokyo subway attack, the cult was also involved in other criminal activities, such as the Sasaran attack in Matsumoto in 1994, which killed eight people and injured hundreds.
Speaker 2So this was before the Tokyo subway station situation Okay.
Speaker 4One year before they kind of tested it out on that, and then, production of chemical and biological weapons, arms trafficking and attempts to acquire nuclear material, kidnapping and extortion. So why did he commit these crimes? In summary, he wanted to force their apocalyptic vision into reality. He wanted to avoid prosecution. He wanted to prove their power, and he wanted to well. The cult wanted to elevate Asah. Wanted to prove their power, and he want to well. The cult wanted to elevate asahara as a global savior, which obviously all failed. And regarding its impact. So the attack exposed vulnerabilities in public transportation and led to increased security in japan. It prompted changes in laws related to chemical weapons and religious organizations, and it deeply shocked the japanese public and remains one of the most notorious acts of domestic terrorism in history.
Speaker 3Well, when you mentioned about weapon, it did make me think about. In Japan guns are not allowed as many other countries, so crimes are not usually. Unless it is a makeshift gun, it's always usually with a knife, or I guess in this case it was gas, but chemical.
Speaker 2Yeah, true, okay. So I looked up his childhood like what he was like. Let's see if we can figure out why he became a cult leader. So it says here that he was born in a very poor rural family of tatami mat makers.
Speaker 3Okay, like the Japanese bamboo mat.
Speaker 4It's made from sewn together rice straw.
Speaker 3Rice straw. Okay, okay, so his parents did that.
Speaker 2He was born with infantile glaucoma. He was blind in one eye and had limited vision in the other and I think that's why, like I thought, he had narrow eyes. But that's right Now that I read this. I remember he had some kind of issues with his eye, Attended a school for the blind, often bullied and showed signs of manipulation. Early on he was described as controlling and aggressive toward weaker students. He wanted to study medicine but failed to enter university. So I think all of this added on to his persona Interesting. It says here that in his youth and early childhood he began exploring Chinese medicine, yoga and mysticism, and his physical disability, poverty, academic failure contributed to a growing resentment and desire for power yeah, so he had resentment towards society in general and people in general.
Speaker 3yeah, okay, that makes sense. Well, one of the crimes that I was I mean there's so many crimes that you know they publicize in the U S over and over, and currently it's P Diddy Um it's not a laughing matter, but yes, no it's not, it's really not.
Family Murders and Missing Persons
Speaker 3But, um, I mean he has so many names puff Sean Combs, what, what is that Diddy? I mean he has so many names Puff Sean Combs, what is that Diddy? But one of the ones that I was really, really intrigued was about Chris Watts' case. He raised his family in Colorado. He killed his wife, pregnant wife Shanann, and his two young daughters. It was very, very intriguing for me at the time because, first of all, he looked like a normal guy. He went on television asking for public's help. He didn't seem too flustered or worried or anything. He just looked very calm. And he killed his two daughters too. They were young. So obviously me having two daughters, I was like what makes a person want to do anything like this? His motive was, you know, he had a mistress and he was secretly seeing her, dating her and talking to her, had a relationship with her and all this stuff.
Speaker 4Why didn't you just get a divorce, so stupid?
Speaker 3I know I don't, I don't understand.
Speaker 2I think he wanted to or something like this, and I got into this like fight or argument.
Speaker 3He claimed that his wife was always controlling. Still, no reason to kill her, but that's what his defense was that she was controlling. Yeah, he felt like he wasn't allowed to do whatever he wanted, or that drove him to want to get rid of his family. Yeah, he felt like he wasn't allowed to do whatever he wanted, or that drove him to want to get rid of his family.
Speaker 2Yeah, he suffocated her, I think with his unborn son. What he?
Speaker 3suffocated her with his all and inside of her is what she means. Okay.
Speaker 2Yeah, he buried her. Yes, I think the girls were young, right, the two girls. Yeah, I buried her, yes, and I think the girls were young, right, the two girls yeah. I think he also suffocated both of them and then I think he dumped both of them in a separate oil tank and I think that's where his workplace was. Yes, that's where he worked.
Speaker 3Oh gosh, yeah, and I heard that like he even had to. I mean, they were already dead before he shoved them in, but the hole of the tank was small and he had to break their shoulders and stuff.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh. Oh you mean that I think the tank itself was big? Maybe the actual hole, the hole for it? Oh jeez.
Speaker 3So crazy.
Speaker 3But I was so intrigued with this story Obviously sick, sick into my stomach but at the same time.
Speaker 3But I just didn't understand, like, and you know, he just looks like a normal person, like a nice father, and they showed a lot of videos of him playing with his girls and his wife used to say how blessed she was because he was such an amazing father, amazing husband, and used to always praise him.
Speaker 3But days leading up to her murder she was messaging her best friend, you know, saying like he hasn't been acting right and all this stuff. Her best friend was the one that actually called the cops because she couldn't get a hold of her. She knew her friend is pregnant, also was on medication and had doctor's appointment, and I believe she was supposed to go with the friend to the doctor's appointment or she was just following up to see how it went or something, but she couldn't get a hold of her friend. So she went to her house and and this was only hours after she was killed by her husband her best friend went and knocked on her door. She looked inside and didn't see anything, but she became very, very worried and called the cops. I have a question. And then the husband showed up from work yeah, was his mistress involved in any way?
Speaker 3so she claimed she had no idea, but I mean so many. There were so many different angles to the story, like there were some that speculated she was involved, that she was aware that she was in on this as well, but I don't believe she was um convicted of anything. Some say she was a mastermind behind this and no one could prove anything with her.
Speaker 2I've read this crime online and then I think I watched it on Netflix in a series called American Murder. So there's one about Shannon Watts, there's one about Gabby Petito I think this is more recent where her boyfriend ends up killing her. He kills himself later on, and there's one about lacey peterson. I don't know so much about her case, but I know that her husband, uh, was convicted.
Speaker 3I think she was also pregnant yeah, and then they ended up digging his previous wife's body out of the ground too to an autopsy, second autopsy or something, because they thought, okay, he, I think, was linked to her murder or it was a homicide.
Speaker 2Yeah, there are tons of Netflix shows Like Dahmer case.
Speaker 2He also what's his first name? Jeffrey Dahmer. He sounds very normal. He looks normal. He doesn't look or sound like a killer. If you watch his interviews.
Speaker 2He was a womanizer, right? No, he killed many men, young men. He lured them in to his house and he killed them and he tortured them. He also ate some of their organs. He wanted to create a shrine with their body parts. Yeah, very messed up, and there were younger men, so he was like a psychopath Mm. Hmm. But you know, I've seen his interviews documentary and he sounds normal and I mean he's admitting to everything that he's done. He's very honest about it. I think he also had a very lonely childhood. His parents got divorced, I think while he was in high school. He lived by himself. After he graduated, his father left the house. His mother took his younger brother. They also left the house, so he was left alone in the home and I don't think his dad knew about that. Like, how old was he? I think he was in high school, like 17, 18. Okay, and his first murder was done at the house and he didn't mean to kill him, this man that he killed, but he had obsession with a certain type of man? Was he gay?
Speaker 3Is he alive? I don't even know.
Speaker 2No, he got killed while he was in jail.
Speaker 4He got killed by other another inmate, one of them.
Speaker 2Well, he said that because he was so lonely, he didn't want him to leave. He was a hitchhiker. This man he killed, he picked him up on the road, he brought him home and he wanted to hang out. And so, you know, the guy was going to a concert, some kind of outdoor concert or something like this, and he didn't want him to leave. So he ends up killing him, because then if you kill him, just get a pet. If you kill him, then he can have full control of this dead man.
Speaker 4Quick question Going back to Chris Watt's case. What was his sentence? I think he's still in jail.
Speaker 1I remember.
Speaker 3Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, it wasn't too old. It's not too old.
Speaker 4Is it life?
Speaker 3So yeah, he was sentenced to multiple life sentences.
Speaker 4Okay, so he's not getting out.
Speaker 3Okay, never getting out.
Speaker 2The Menendez brothers is also big right. I don't know that one. Do you know about it? Yeah, it's these two brothers. They've been in jail for I think I want to say 30 years or something for killing their parents. However, they're claiming their innocence because they say that they were abused, especially by his father, and it was them protecting themselves. I think one of the brothers shared that he was getting abused by his dad and I know that both of them were, but I think one younger brother he was abused a lot longer for self-protection.
Speaker 3So they killed both of them.
Speaker 2Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3Why did they have to kill the mom too?
Speaker 2I feel that I think again. I saw a Netflix show and I think they said that she wouldn't have been able to live without him or something, brother, so she had his back basically yeah, so was it a lighter sentence, I wonder. No, they've been in jail for 30 years or something.
Speaker 3What was the nature of death? What did they?
Speaker 2do they shot them both. I think they're going to retrial because again this Netflix show got big and people were talking about it and I think that kind of initiated it. So I think they're going to go through trial again. After all these years, there was this guy near Cleveland, cleveland Ohio. Yeah, cleveland Ohio.
Speaker 3Ariel Castro, that's his name. I remembered it now.
Speaker 2Yes, there were three ladies. I think he also had a daughter. One or some of them were his daughter's friends or someone that they knew in high school. I think he was a bus driver and he, one by one, lured these girls in and I think he held them captive for over a decade. That was a huge news that also stands out because it's happened in Ohio.
Speaker 3So it says between 2002 and 2004,. He abducted Michelle Knight, amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus and held them captive, I believe.
Speaker 2Or he lived in Cuyahoga or something.
Speaker 3I don't know where he lived. Yeah, and then he killed himself in prison, oh right, but yeah, yeah, him hanging himself with best sheets in prison hill. The first one he kidnapped was michelle knight. So she was held captive alone, I think for a year, before the others joined, and she was on her way home from work like she worked at a fast food restaurant. She got pregnant with with him. He few times right Times, I believe. Yeah, he kicked her and aborted the baby. The second one he kidnapped, amanda Berry. He took a liking to her when she was pregnant. He let her have the baby, so the baby was born in the house.
Speaker 2Never seen outside, though, because they were all in the basement the entire time.
Speaker 3The girl was allowed to be outside, I guess oh, you mean daughter, okay yeah, so the neighbor used to see sometimes a little girl like running in the yard and it was her mom that had escaped, I think right and called for help yeah, yeah year was this?
Speaker 2I remember hearing this too.
Speaker 3So between 2002 and 2004 is when he kidnapped all three. When were they found. At least a decade ago 2013. Okay, may 6, 2013.
Speaker 2Yeah, this was also in the news. I remember. Yeah, that was also in the news. I remember. Yeah, that was pretty big, yeah, so in Germany I don't really know so much of these crimes happening, or I feel like the crimes that often happen seem to be more in the US that I know about.
Speaker 2But there was one case, and I think I found out about this again through US media, not Germany, because in Germany when you commit a crime, the legal system here places a strong emphasis on protecting personal privacy, especially criminal investigation and trials. So there's a lot of things that are held from the public right. So like their full names are never exposed. Usually only the first and the initial of the last name are published, same for both suspects and convicted criminals, especially in the early stages, if the case is not or overwhelming public interest, and the aim is to protect individuals from long-term damage, particularly if they're acquitted or not yet convicted. And same goes for photos, usually a blurred mask and you won't be able to see what they look like or anything. And photos are only shown if the person is convicted or has given explicit consent or if there's an urgent public interest, like if there's a manhunt or something.
Speaker 3But I thought you said even if they're convicted a lot of times, their privacy is protected. Their faces are still blurred.
Speaker 2No, Right, and the background information. So pretty much you will not be able to find out that much about the person. Because, again, pretty much you will not be able to find out that much about the person because, again, the background information is also concealed, so details about the person's past, including family, background, employment, psychological history. They're also treated carefully. So you don't find much about the person.
Speaker 3In Germany, when you apply for a job, do they not do background checks?
Speaker 2So in Germany, employees are not legally required to conduct background checks. However, they may request certain information under specific conditions, provided they have the applicant's explicit consent and their request is relevant to the position. For instance, a criminal record check might be justified for positions in finance. That is so crazy. Okay, but there is criminal record. Applicants can provide a certificate of conduct if relevant to the job. Employers cannot request this document directly from authorities.
German Privacy Laws in Criminal Cases
Speaker 3yeah, so it's not mandatory in germany that's crazy, because even in the us, like in the us, even if you're just volunteering obviously it depends on where, but a lot of times they'll do background check. If you're volunteering at school, if you're volunteering at church, you know they want to put people that you can trust around their children, or whatever. Yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 2Anyway. So I don't know much about crimes here, but you may have heard and I've read this again through probably articles Someone named Anna Delvey. She is a German woman, I think she's in her mid-30s now. She posed as a wealthy New York socialite to fraud banks, hotels and individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. You know, you've heard of it and individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Speaker 2You know, you've heard of it, yeah. So between 2013 and 17, she posed as a heiress with a $67 million trust fund. She convinced banks, hotels, individuals to provide services and loans which she never repaid. Her fraudulent activities included attention to secure a $22 million loan for a private arts club, defrauding a private jet operator of $35,400, convincing a friend to pay a $62,000 bill for a trip to Morocco, using fake financial documents to deceive institutions. So in 2019, she was convicted of all of this and she was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison in the US and ordered to pay restitution. After two years, she was released on parole, but was later detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for overstaying her visa Because she's technically German.
Speaker 3I was just going to say she's probably not here anymore with Trump's administration she's probably gone In 2022,.
Speaker 2She was released to house arrest under strict conditions, including wearing an ankle monitor. No, I think she's still detained in the US, and I read also that she was in Dancing with the Stars with her ankle monitor. No, I think she's still detained in the US, and I read also that she was in Dancing with the Stars with her ankle bracelet. I don't know what year, but it must be somewhat recent. So, sumi, you know her, you've heard of her, did?
Speaker 3you read about her.
Speaker 4No, they were doing a TV documentary about her In Japan Just recently. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and how she's like an influencer or something. Now, right, yeah, that's crazy. How about speaking of influencers? What's that girl? Gypsy, gypsy, rose Blanchard. Oh yeah, you guys know.
Speaker 2Yes, she murdered her mother.
Speaker 4Right.
Speaker 2Murdered her mom? Yeah, because I think she was medicated for some illness she didn't have, so like her mother was drugging her, abusing her that way, right?
Speaker 4Yeah, and she went to prison and she was recently well, not recently, maybe a couple years ago, I don't know Released, and she was recently, not recently, maybe a couple years ago, I don't know released and now she has her own reality show. It's in the.
Speaker 2US right. Yeah, this is the American way.
Speaker 4Yeah, it's crazy what other crime stuff there's so many.
Speaker 3Oh, madeline McCann or McCain, however they pronounce it. Madeline McCain, the British girl that went missing when she was on vacation with her family. She was only three at the time.
Speaker 2Is she the blonde girl?
Infamous Crime Cases and Media Coverage
Speaker 3Yeah, blonde girl, and she had twin brothers, younger brothers she was only three. Brothers and her were sleeping in a room, hotel room, while the parents were dining with friends nearby at a nearby restaurant, or like at the restaurant outside at the hotel and where they could see the door to their hotel room, I guess and um, so the kids were asleep, but the three-year-old girl was abducted. She's still missing. She's still missing, she, she's still missing. She was never found. That was in 2007, one week before her birthday. So I think she was supposed to turn four. But yeah, it was the. It was the most heavily reported missing person case in modern history. They were vacationing in Portugal. They kept her story alive for a long time, many so I mean, what is that crime that comes up every year?
Speaker 2uh, not crime that comes up every year. The show that that takes place around new year's.
Speaker 4It's not a show that comes around towards the end of the year. It's they just do like this, is it reporting? Yeah, so I don't know how many years ago this was, but some years back there was this crime where this person they've never been caught, so we don't know if it's a man or a woman. It's apparently a guy. But this person went into house, a family of four, killed all of them, right, and yeah, he got away. He got away with the world like he's never been caught, and each year around new year's they just do a follow-up on this incident like they retrace what they think happened yeah, right.
Speaker 2Right In detail.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 2I think when we were there this past Christmas New Year's, I watched it a little bit and I think either you or our dad told us that this comes back up every year because it happened around that time Christmas or New Year's yeah.
Speaker 4And it's weird because, like apparently after this guy murdered the entire family, he spent like a couple of hours, maybe longer, in their house. That's right, he ate ice cream from their fridge. He surfed internet and just hung out for a while.
Speaker 3So bizarre Shows, there was no remorse.
Speaker 2Maybe he just wanted to use the internet and eat the ice cream. Oh my gosh, I've read that statistically the victims usually gets killed by somebody that they know.
Speaker 3Yeah yeah, usually it's somebody you know. Thanks for joining us today. Don't forget to review Sister Vibes and make sure to subscribe on the app of your choice so you don't miss our upcoming episodes. Until next time.
Speaker 1Ja ne of your choice, so you don't miss our upcoming episodes. Until next time, johnna. I've been waiting for so long. Bye.
