July 28, 2026

First Responder: The Killing of Melissa Lamesch

First Responder: The Killing of Melissa Lamesch
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Season 11

Melissa Lamesch was just days away from becoming a mother. The 27-year-old EMT from Mt. Morris, Illinois, was full-term and scheduled to be induced any day. On November 25, 2020—the day before Thanksgiving—her home went up in flames.
Firefighters forced their way inside and found Melissa dead on the kitchen floor. At first it looked like a tragic accident. Then the autopsy told a different story: no smoke in her lungs, normal carbon monoxide levels, and clear signs of strangulation. Someone had killed her before the fire ever started—and then tried to burn the evidence.
The investigation zeroed in on Matthew Plote, a firefighter-EMT and the father of her unborn son. What began as a relationship full of promises ended in a calculated cover-up. DNA under Melissa’s fingernails, a web of lies, and a secret Plote was desperate to keep would eventually unravel everything.

Timestamps
02:38 Melissa’s Final Days
09:57 The Father Revealed
18:18 Racing to the Scene
29:57 Questions After the Fire
53:20 The Autopsy Changes Everything
1:12:36 Clues Start Adding Up
1:23:52 Charges and Conviction

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Unspeakable, a true crime podcast. Or I tell

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stories of real crimes with real victims whose cases are

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so shocking that many are left wondering, how is this

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even real? I use my experiences in law enforcement corrections,

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and combined with my years as a criminal justice educator,

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dig deep into complex cases of evil acts, some so

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evil many feel they are unspeakable. Warning Unspeakable as intended

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for mature audiences. If you are easily offended, then I'm

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not your girl. Listening discretion is advised. Hey y'all, kJ

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you're back with another episode of Unspeakable. How's your week

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go in? What is what is happening in your life?

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I've been getting messages of people that are just having

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like these big life events and having babies and moving

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into new houses, and then the next message is this

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horrible story coming out of their hometown and all of that.

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So a lot going on, but I'm here to help

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you celebrate your wins. And then, if there are these

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amazing cases that you think I need to look into,

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please keep sending them to me. I want you to

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know that I do read them. I may not always

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get to respond. Sometimes I'm writing it down and I'm

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researching it, but I'm never ignoring you. And I appreciate

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that you think enough of me to send me these

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these articles, are these stories because you think that I

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would do a good job telling those stories. Keep sending

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me this stuff, and I just really look forward to these,

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these messages and these suggestions. So it got me thinking

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though about how you know everyday life. Okay, how often

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do we say this next line? I'm about to say,

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it was just a normal day win, or it was

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just a normal day until and all too often when

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I'm watching true crime shows or you know, telling a

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story or hearing someone tell a story, that's the way

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they start, right before tragedy strikes. You know, it can

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be just the beauty of a warm, sunny day in spring,

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and it can instantly become one of the darkest days

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in memory when you hear horrible news or you get

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a phone call that something tragic has happened, and just

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in an instant, your life can change. And I think

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that's partly why so many people are drawn to true crime.

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It's because you know, when these victims are in these

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cases and they can no longer speak. If they could,

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I guarantee you they would start out by saying, guys,

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it was just a normal day until it wasn't. And

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that fragility and that vulnerability that it could be any

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of us makes everybody's story so real to me because

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it was just a normal day. And that's gonna be

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the case yet again in this week's episode. And this

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one's gonna take us to Mount Morris, Illinois, and this

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is where twenty seven year old Melissa Lamish lived in

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November of twenty twenty. Now, just who was Melissa, Well,

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I'm gonna start out, I'll tell you and you she

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was actually a two for one human being at the

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moment this story is going on because she was proudly

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expecting her very first child. This was gonna be a

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son who she would be holding in her arms in

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less than forty eight hours. And if you have ever

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been pregnant, I'm included, Okay, raise in my hand. You

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know that those last forty eight hours are the most

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measurable yet anxious two days of your life. Right, you're

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just over it, but you're just wanting to meet this

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baby that you have been so tied to and you're

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drawn to and ready to meet for the last nine

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months it's just been the excitement of your life. Well,

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that's where Melissa was. She was waddling, and she was tired,

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and she was so ready to get this little dude

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out of her body. But at the same time, y'all

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just beyond excited to see his little face for the

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very first time. What would he look like, you know,

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would he favor her brother Carl or would he have

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his father's eyes? Who knew? Nobody knew, right, it was

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just a weight and see. And it was almost time,

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and it was November and the day before Thanksgiving. As

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Melissa was hardcore nesting in her own home. And I'm

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going to tell you something real quick. Nesting is real.

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If you have ever had a child, you know what

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I'm talking about, Like, all of a sudden at the

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end of your pregnancy, you just feel this desire to

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wash all of the clothes and everything's got to be

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in order, and you want to make sure that the

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curtains are hung. Or at least that's how it affected me.

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But I was just like nestling in and getting ready

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for this baby. Well I say it was her home,

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let me just be clear, it was actually a home

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that she shared with her daddy because it was his house,

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but it was her home nonetheless, and Melissa was not

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married to the baby's father, nor were they in a

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formal relationship so to speak. So moving in with her

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daddy felt like the best move at the moment for Melissa.

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She was young, she was single, she was a brand

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new mom to be very very soon, and so she

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needed and she wanted that male figure to make her

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feel safe and not alone. And who better than your

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daddy to be that man to help you. Melissa's parents

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were divorced, but both were overwhelmingly supportive of their daughter

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and their grandson who would be changing all over their

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lives in just two days, the longest but shortest two

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days that ever existed at that moment. The baby bed

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was bought, the clothes were washed, newborn outfit was ready

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to go for little man's grand debut. And his room

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y'all so special because he would be taking Melissa's own

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childhood bedroom to be his room, and then she had

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moved into what was her childhood brother's bedroom, and so

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it was just like something new mixed with the sentiment

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of days gone by, and Melissa just could not wait.

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And you know, right as I'm recording this. I have

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a very good friend whose daughter is expecting, and I

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just looked at her baby shower photos, the huge smiles

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as the gender was revealed, and the pure excitement, but

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Loki probably just a little bit of fear in the

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eyes of these young first time parents, you know. I

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was looking at that and experiencing it literally as I'm

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writing this episode, and I thought about the fact that

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Melissa was single, you know, having this baby. But yet

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she was prepared, y'all. She was prepared to do this alone.

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And regardless of the fact that she knew going into

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this she was going to be a single parent, there

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would be no less love in the home. Her son

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would be surrounded by cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents,

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and there was more love to go around than you

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could possibly ever imagine. It was going to be wonderful.

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But here's the kicker. No one in the family knew

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what the baby's name was going to be. Melissa and

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her sister, Cassie, they had talked about possibly naming him

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Emmett in some past conversations. That double letter in the

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spelling of the name. It was just too cute. But

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Melissa was going to surprise everyone with the official name

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on the day that he was born, So just something

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adding to that excitement, that mystery and what was to be.

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But regardless of his chosen name, he would want for

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nothing as far as this tight knit family was concerned. Melissa, y'all,

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don't even play about her being worried, because you know

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she had enough spunk for the both of them. Okay,

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she was happy. She was a go getter in hell.

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I mean she was prepared already to be a mommy

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because putting on band aids and kissing booboos, that would

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be nothing compared to her typical days that she spent

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working as an EMT. That's right. She was in the

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medical field and she had seen her share of pain

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and suffering, so this would be a welcome labor of love.

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And with every tear and every cry and every diaper change,

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she was ready to be the very mama that her

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baby needed. And while this would be Melissa's first human baby, Okay,

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I would be remiss if I didn't mention her feline

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son that she already had named Antonio. And Antonio was

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a girl's best friend. He was all black and he

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had those piercing green eyes. His purr was enough to

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bring comfort to anyone whose lap he snuggled in, but

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due to his own anxiety, he actually wasn't much of

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a snuggler. He didn't even like to be around other people.

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But Melissa he loved, and that was her baby. And

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this was really rather comical, just so y'all know, because

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she got the damn cat to help with her own anxiety.

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But together they both had anxiety and it just became

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this hot mess, but a great duo. Nonetheless, Melissa had

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rescued him from this animal house shelter, which she was

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a huge supporter of because they were a no kill shelter.

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They had a no kill policy and that was something

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that she just loved. So hopefully Antonio the cat would

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take well to her new baby and give nothing short

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of snuggles. But I'm gonna be real here for a second.

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There'd probably be a few unwanted little bibity pats or

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two on the baby's head with his little paws as

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he was kind of showing that baby who was boss.

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But it was all good. They were gonna all learn

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to coexist, Melissa was sure of it. So who was

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the baby's father. Though, I don't want to skip over this,

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but when I say the next thing, I bet you

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it's not going to be shocking to a lot of people.

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But if you have ever worked around public safety before,

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there is this strange pull, this phenomenon between certain groups

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of responders. And I'm laughing because if you are a

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first responder, if you have worked in the fire or

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police or medical realm, you know what I'm about to say.

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Because cops, Okay, for example, cops, for some reason, they

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cannot resist a tatted up single mom who is a

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nurse with a mild anger management problem. Okay, I know

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that sounds oddly specific, but it's funny because it's true.

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And you know who you are if you're listening to

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this right now. This cop nurse dynamic is weird. Okay.

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And firefighters you know who they love? Your wife. I'm

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just kidding. I'm kidding. Don't come at me, fire don't

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come at me. I'm just kidding. But there's just this thing,

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you know, this joke that goes around that first responders

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seemed to find companionship with either other first responders or

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teachers or nurses. It's weird, but it's true. So whether

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it's fire, police or medical, they tend to run in

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the same circles, which probably has a lot to do

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with it, and they have these same odd schedules, and

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there's just this attraction or this draw between these people

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that are experiencing something together over time. Well, in this case,

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Melissa was an EMT and her baby's father was none

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other than a firefighter. Now, his name was Matthew, and

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he looked the part of your average firefighter. He was

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six foot tall, he had blue eyes, but nothing necessarily

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to write home about. I'm just trying to give you

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the vibe here. They're just kind of like your average guy.

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But what's kind of interesting or funny is that they

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didn't actually first meet on the job. They met at

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trivia night, and that is what would initially bring them together. Because,

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as the story is folding, the two had known each

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other for a long time. I believe it was like

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twelve years total, but their connection when they got tight

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again was more of a friendship. They reconnected in college,

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but years back, when Melissa was hosting trivia night at

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the local Applebee's, Matt had been a frequent attendee there

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and that's whenever their friendship really had sparked back up.

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But I want to be very clear, y'all. It was

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just that. Okay, come on, we're all adults here, and

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this relationship was one that they both knew was not

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destined to be something long term. They weren't looking to

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be an exclusive relationship with one another, but they just

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appreciated each other's company from time to time at night

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when things would turn romantic. All right, But then again,

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neither one of them was looking for commitment with the other.

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It just was what it was. Okay. I know her

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mother would probably not like me to say friends with benefits,

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but I don't say that in a derogatory way. I

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say that in two consenting adults recognizing the enjoyment of

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each other's company from time to time. How's that? Okay,

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no shade at all. Okay. But when Melissa unexpectedly found

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herself pregnant, it was like a huge oops, because that

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is not what they were planning for. That oops, however,

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was instantly something that she was in love with, and

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it was what it was. She understood it, and they

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were going to be having a baby together even though

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they were not in a relationship. But Matt however, was

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00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:44.919
not so easygoing. Thrilled with the situation. When she broke

229
00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:48.080
the news to him, his immediate thought was, okay, well,

230
00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:49.759
what are you going to do about it? As in, like,

231
00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:53.120
are you going to terminate the pregnancy? And Melissa was like,

232
00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:56.799
absolutely not, that's not something that I want to do.

233
00:13:57.240 --> 00:13:59.960
She made it very clear that she was gonna have

234
00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:04.120
the baby, but also she made it crystal clear, I

235
00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:08.559
expect nothing from you. Okay, it's fine, I will do

236
00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:11.320
it all on my own. You can walk away. You

237
00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:14.960
do not have to be a part of this baby's life.

238
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:18.879
And she genuinely didn't care, as I said, because this

239
00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:21.639
had been not a relationship. It was just, you know,

240
00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:26.679
just no strings attached situation. So since she made that

241
00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:32.519
abundantly clear, Matt was relieved and he followed suit. No harm,

242
00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:35.639
no foul, right. You know, they spoke periodically, but their

243
00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:39.840
communication was very limited after the pregnancy was realized and

244
00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:42.519
he just kind of went his way and she went hers.

245
00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:46.279
But nine months had now passed and she was ready

246
00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:50.240
to give birth. But there was another huge event taking

247
00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:53.600
place at that very moment, and we all know about

248
00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:57.480
this very well because it was that damn thing called COVID, right,

249
00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:02.000
it justugh, it interrupted everything. I would say. We all

250
00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:04.240
would agree it was just the worst time for you

251
00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:09.320
to ever have anything great happen because the social distancing

252
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.320
and you know, it sucks that the very first time

253
00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:15.279
you're ever going to have a baby, your child's birth

254
00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:18.639
is going to happen during social distancing season and just

255
00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:20.720
boo on all of it. You know, you couldn't be

256
00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:24.200
around people. We didn't know exactly in the throes of it,

257
00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:27.080
how COVID was going to affect different people, and it

258
00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:32.039
just put a damper on the day. The meeting of

259
00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:35.720
the baby would be limited. Everyone wouldn't be able to

260
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.200
storm the hospital in droves, as you know typically happens

261
00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:42.360
when there's a new baby and everybody is excited. Plus,

262
00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:47.320
her sister Cassie wasn't feeling too well herself right around

263
00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:50.360
this time, and Melissa was worried. Look, girl, I think

264
00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:52.440
you might have COVID. I wouldn't say worried, but she

265
00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:54.639
was like, you might have COVID. You know, your symptoms

266
00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:58.840
are kind of along those lines. And so that now

267
00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:00.480
was also going to put a little little bit of

268
00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:03.320
a damper on the Thanksgiving holiday, which was going to

269
00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.879
be the following day, and so the tight knit family

270
00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:09.840
wouldn't get to have the usual hustle and bustle of

271
00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:12.679
this holiday with kids screaming and everyone stuff in their

272
00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:14.840
bellies full of food and just the fun feast of

273
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:18.080
the holiday. Now this year was going to be a

274
00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:21.320
little different. It's going to be a lot less, very

275
00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:26.120
low key event because of everything I just explained. So

276
00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:28.720
everyone was really going to do their own thing, but

277
00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:32.440
all out of love for Melissa and the baby. There

278
00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:36.440
was no reason to take unnecessary risks. And this year

279
00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:39.320
for Thanksgiving, Melissa was just going to spend it with

280
00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:43.039
her daddy because they lived together, and she was tired

281
00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.039
and she was swollen. But Daddy, he was ready to

282
00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:48.639
eat all right. He was going to make a meal.

283
00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:52.120
And so the morning before Thanksgiving, Dad got up. He

284
00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:54.159
did go to work for a few hours, hoping that

285
00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:56.399
he could finish up some loose ends before heading to

286
00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:59.440
the grocery store to get some fixings for the next

287
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:03.799
day's feast. Well, Melissa was up whenever Daddy left. She

288
00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:06.559
was at home doing her thing when the phone rang,

289
00:17:06.759 --> 00:17:09.359
and she was thrilled that it was her sister Cassie

290
00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:13.119
on the other end, and so they chitchatted for a while,

291
00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:16.440
and they were even discussing the fact that it was

292
00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:19.839
their little sister's birthday that very day. There was a

293
00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:23.519
lot going on in the next few days, including that

294
00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:27.160
current day full of celebrations. Their little sister was turning

295
00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:29.680
seventeen while they were talking on the phone, and then

296
00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:32.519
they had Thanksgiving, and then the next day she was

297
00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:36.759
going to be having that baby. So they had just

298
00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.440
had that baby shower for her too in just previous weeks,

299
00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:43.240
and it was amazing. Everyone that came brought beautiful gifts.

300
00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:46.680
Melissa was well stocked, and she was, you know, looking

301
00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:50.559
about the baby's room and kind of organizing some things

302
00:17:50.599 --> 00:17:54.000
as she and Cassie chit chatted on the phone. One

303
00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:58.279
of the most beautiful and meaningful gifts, however, was one

304
00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:01.640
that her little niece had given her, which she smiled

305
00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:03.680
at as she was talking on the phone and looking

306
00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:07.920
It was a hand drawn picture of Melissa and her baby,

307
00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:11.359
which she was too proud to display in his little room.

308
00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:15.640
It was perfect, the perfect gift that costs nothing but

309
00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:19.200
time and love from her little niece. What a beautiful

310
00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:22.519
gift to receive. So as Dad was at the grocery

311
00:18:22.519 --> 00:18:24.640
store and he was walking down the aisle. He was

312
00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:27.680
looking for those last minute ingredients. He looked down because

313
00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:30.480
his cell phone rang and the ID on his phone

314
00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:33.160
showed it to be the local sheriff. But y'all, he

315
00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:36.160
wasn't alarmed or anything, because the two were actually very

316
00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:39.359
good friends. They saw each other every week. They would

317
00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:41.599
meet up for a basketball game at the local gym.

318
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.279
And so Dad answered the phone, what's up man, as

319
00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:49.400
it was ringing, But the answer on the other end

320
00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:55.440
wasn't that playful banter between two men. Instead, he heard Gus,

321
00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:59.480
where are you? And he said, I'm at the grocery store.

322
00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:02.880
Why And he said, look, man, there is a fire

323
00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:04.960
at your house. I need to know now is there

324
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.279
anybody inside? And mister Guss said, what, there's a fire?

325
00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:11.480
He said, yes, your house was on fire. He need

326
00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:13.200
to know is there anybody inside? And he said yes,

327
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:16.319
Oh my god, Melissa. Melissa is in the house. And

328
00:19:16.359 --> 00:19:18.079
he said, okay, well where is her room? Where would

329
00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:19.400
she be? Let me know, we're going to go in.

330
00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:21.680
We got to try to get her. And so Daddy

331
00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:25.240
Guss explained the home and kind of the layout to

332
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:29.319
the responders, who then jumped into action trying to locate

333
00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:32.920
Melissa in the home, and really the big hope was

334
00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:35.799
that maybe she wasn't inside as they were trying to

335
00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:40.440
make entry. Now, the focus of the fire did seem

336
00:19:40.519 --> 00:19:42.960
to be in one part of the home, but it

337
00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:46.039
had spread quickly and it was burning extremely hot. There

338
00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:48.319
was smoke and flames coming out of the roof, out

339
00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:51.400
of the rafters, and so when the firefighters initially attempted

340
00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:53.359
to make entry to the home, they found that a

341
00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:55.960
little more difficult because not only were all of the

342
00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.559
windows locked that they checked, but all of the doors

343
00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:01.160
were locked. So in order them to even get in,

344
00:20:01.400 --> 00:20:04.759
they had to force entry through the doorway, which they did,

345
00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.960
and working through the home, they made their way into

346
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:11.519
the kitchen area and they were scanning for Melissa when

347
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:15.599
a firefighter caught glimpse of a foot on the ground

348
00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:20.160
in front of the refrigerator, and as they approached, it

349
00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:22.559
was determined that this was in fact a person, and

350
00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:25.240
it was determined to be a female. She was lying

351
00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:28.119
on the kitchen floor on her back. There was debris

352
00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:31.880
on top of her, and she wasn't moving, but her

353
00:20:32.039 --> 00:20:36.480
massive pregnant belly was an instant giveaway that this was

354
00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:39.839
in fact Melissa, and the town where this home was

355
00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:44.799
located was very small. Firefighters from multiple agencies had actually

356
00:20:44.839 --> 00:20:48.599
responded to the fire, and this meant that a lot

357
00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.880
of them actually knew who Melissa was. They knew her personally,

358
00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:55.920
they knew mister Guss personally, and most people, I would argue,

359
00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:00.160
don't consider that reality, but it happens. You know, seeing

360
00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:03.000
the unconscious body of someone you know and feeling that

361
00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:07.240
drive that everything depends on you is a stress like

362
00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:11.559
no other when you know these people. So the firefighters worked,

363
00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:13.319
I think there was three of them, and they worked

364
00:21:13.400 --> 00:21:16.799
quickly to kind of get Melissa up, and they worked

365
00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:19.440
to get her out of the home to remove her

366
00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:22.440
into the front yard as they also were fighting to

367
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:24.920
put out the blaze. So they carried her out and

368
00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:27.160
they placed her carefully on the ground and hopes that

369
00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:30.920
they could get her revived and get her breathing. And so,

370
00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:34.759
as Melissa was checked for signs of life, the somber

371
00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:38.880
look on the faces very quickly told the truth long

372
00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:43.200
before it was vocalized, and that was the reality that

373
00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:48.000
Melissa was dead. She was already gone, so making her

374
00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:51.680
death even more traumatic was that she had been in

375
00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:56.519
the home deceased longer than just a few minutes, and

376
00:21:56.599 --> 00:22:01.200
so that meant that her baby boy was all already gone.

377
00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:05.359
Without the continuous oxygen and blood flow from his mama,

378
00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:08.599
there's no way that he could have survived more than

379
00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:11.880
you know, a minute or two at best, before he

380
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:17.279
too would have passed away. So in the moments that

381
00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:22.400
all of this is happening, a crowd of onlookers had gathered,

382
00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.640
and the firefighters immediately took issue with this, as you

383
00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:30.640
can imagine, and so no one should be paraded onto

384
00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.440
their front yard dead, where the onlookers or people that

385
00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:37.039
are just passing by can slow down and just stand

386
00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:40.039
and galk and look at you. So, in a moment

387
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:45.440
of pure humanity, and in an effort to maintain Melissa's dignity,

388
00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:49.920
the firefighters created a circle around her with their own

389
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.359
bodies and shielded her from onlookers, who, may you know,

390
00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:57.720
very insensitively tried to take a photo or a video

391
00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:02.839
or anything of that nature. And about that time an

392
00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:06.359
ambulance did arrive and Melissa was loaded onto a gurney

393
00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:09.720
and placed inside of the ambulance, but it wouldn't take

394
00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:13.240
off lights and sirens, you know, blazing down the road,

395
00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:17.400
and it would actually remain on scene for a bit

396
00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:19.839
because there was no reason for it to tear off.

397
00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:24.519
The emergency, as far as Melissa was concerned, was already

398
00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:28.359
gone because Melissa had passed away. So by this time

399
00:23:28.440 --> 00:23:33.119
the fire was out, but another just as devastating event

400
00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:36.359
was taking place near the road. And that's the fact

401
00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:40.599
that Melissa's mother, Miss Deanna, had already been notified of

402
00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:45.119
the fire, and so she came flying up to the scene.

403
00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:48.480
So she actually had to park a few blocks. I

404
00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:51.240
guess she would say away because of all the response

405
00:23:51.319 --> 00:23:53.240
vehicles and fire trucks and everything, and the road was

406
00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:55.920
cut off. So she just jumps out of her car

407
00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:58.680
and she goes running up to the scene. You know,

408
00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:01.039
where is my daughter? Where is she? Oh? My god,

409
00:24:01.079 --> 00:24:04.720
where is she? But the news had to be broken

410
00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:09.880
to her that Melissa was gone. Not only that that

411
00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:13.599
you know she's in the ambulance, but you're not going

412
00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:16.039
to be allowed to go inside of the ambulance right

413
00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:18.519
now at this time. And she just begged. She wanted

414
00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:20.480
she wanted to be with her baby. She wanted to

415
00:24:20.519 --> 00:24:23.359
see her daughter and hold her hand. But they just

416
00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:26.200
could not allow her to do that. The emotion, as

417
00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:31.440
you can tell, was overwhelming. The wail of a mother

418
00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:34.680
who has been told that her daughter and her grandson

419
00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:38.440
were gone was almost too much. And so she ran

420
00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:41.519
over to the ambulance, you know, and she's outside of it,

421
00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:44.240
and she's wanting in, and they're like, I'm sorry, you can't,

422
00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:46.119
you can't. You don't want to see her like this.

423
00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:49.559
And so miss Deanna just remained outside of the ambulance,

424
00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:53.000
you know, hands on it, just never leaving its side.

425
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:55.960
If she couldn't get in it, she was going to

426
00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.759
remain right outside of it, always close to Melissa, never

427
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:03.319
her alone. She would remain right there, and y'all, she

428
00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:07.400
continued to beg and beg, but again they said, look,

429
00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:10.200
you know, you can't see her like this. You don't

430
00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:15.200
want to see this. So when the ambulance finally left

431
00:25:15.240 --> 00:25:19.960
the scene, her mama did the only thing she could

432
00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:21.640
think to do, which was to pull out her cell

433
00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:26.119
phone and hit record, and she filmed as the ambulance

434
00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:29.799
drove away from her and got further and further down

435
00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:33.160
the road, in just a mix of shock and this

436
00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:35.519
feeling of goodbye. It was like she wanted to just

437
00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:40.559
film until the ambulance was out of sight, and so

438
00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:43.519
she sat there just taking in the gravity of what

439
00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:46.920
is the house is burned down? You know. Melissa was like,

440
00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:49.599
everything that's being told to her is just out of

441
00:25:49.640 --> 00:25:53.240
the box, unreal. And it was moments later that she said,

442
00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:55.759
my god, no, and she ran and she got in

443
00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:58.160
her car because she was going to go find Melissa.

444
00:25:58.440 --> 00:25:59.960
She didn't want to be at the house. There was

445
00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:02.279
no reason to be at the house. That's things. Where

446
00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:05.799
is my baby girl? And she was just now in

447
00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:08.440
denial at this point that this was real and so

448
00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:11.440
you know, maybe maybe she's alive, Maybe this isn't what's happening.

449
00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:13.559
And so she's driving and she she made her way

450
00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:16.839
to the fire station where she knew that the ambulance

451
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.720
had gone, and so she pulled up and she stopped

452
00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:22.440
and she's just staring through her windshield and at this

453
00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:26.160
point she's watching as they're using a hose to wash

454
00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:30.880
off the ambulance, and that's when it was realized. She got,

455
00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:34.240
you know, oh my gosh, Melissa's been transferred to another vehicle.

456
00:26:34.680 --> 00:26:40.000
And that vehicle was now driving off and so as

457
00:26:40.039 --> 00:26:43.160
it made its way to the hospital with her daughter inside.

458
00:26:43.720 --> 00:26:47.039
Miss Deana was right behind it and she followed it

459
00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:51.160
turn for turn until it made its way to the hospital.

460
00:26:51.880 --> 00:26:55.559
And once that car parked, she sat in her own vehicle.

461
00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:57.599
She put it in park and she just sat there

462
00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:02.279
watching it, hoping, maybe, you know, maybe Melissa's alive. Maybe

463
00:27:02.279 --> 00:27:05.839
it wasn't her. Maybe that's why we are at the hospital,

464
00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:07.839
you know. And she got out of her car and

465
00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:10.759
she walked up to the vehicle, and not knowing what

466
00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:13.839
to do, she just started circling it, just walking around

467
00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:17.200
the car, her hands on the vehicle, just wanting to

468
00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:20.440
see Melissa, but she couldn't. But she knew that she

469
00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:24.759
was in that car, so she made the decision. She refused.

470
00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:28.519
She refused to even leave the parking lot. She stayed

471
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:33.079
right there until it was clear that Melissa was safely

472
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:38.079
inside of that building. She wasn't leaving. It didn't even

473
00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:41.160
matter the condition of her daughter, she was not leaving

474
00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:44.960
her alone until she was safely inside of that hospital.

475
00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:48.880
Back at the house, as the firefighters were walking through

476
00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:51.640
the remnants of the home, you know, they're ensuring that

477
00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:55.319
no flames remained and that the fire was actually fully

478
00:27:55.400 --> 00:27:59.079
put out. They had to notify the Marshal's office, the

479
00:27:59.079 --> 00:28:02.279
Fire Marshal's office, that this had happened, and so they

480
00:28:02.279 --> 00:28:03.839
could come and they could do a report, and they

481
00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.319
could determine the cause of the fire. But when looking

482
00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:10.720
at the structure, the home wasn't a total loss in

483
00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:14.880
terms of the physical structure, but the smoke had destroyed

484
00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:19.519
everything that hadn't burned, so it was a total loss,

485
00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:22.559
but it wasn't because it burned completely to the ground.

486
00:28:23.400 --> 00:28:27.359
So the Fire Marshal would come eventually, and that would

487
00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:30.279
take some time for all of this to be done.

488
00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:36.839
So as the day passed, Melissa's beloved cat hadn't been found.

489
00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:40.160
So the family decided that they were going to return

490
00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:43.279
back to the house the next day and they were

491
00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:45.079
going to search the neighborhood for him. They were going

492
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:47.400
to go through the neighborhood call him, and even though

493
00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:50.480
the cat had this high anxiety and wasn't really friendly

494
00:28:50.519 --> 00:28:53.799
with them, maybe in this circumstance they would be able

495
00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:55.400
to find him. Hopefully he was hiding out at a

496
00:28:55.400 --> 00:28:58.359
neighbor's house. Maybe someone was feeding him, not realizing that

497
00:28:58.440 --> 00:29:02.400
it was Melissa's cat, But no one had seen Antonio.

498
00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:07.519
They couldn't find him, and so at the house remnants,

499
00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.880
the family decided that they were just gonna go kind

500
00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:14.200
of look through and see if there was anything that

501
00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:20.039
could be salvaged. And it was in the baby's room

502
00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:25.480
that another straight gut punch was delivered to the family

503
00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:28.839
because while they were looking through and down and digging

504
00:29:28.839 --> 00:29:31.920
and trying to figure out what, if anything could be saved,

505
00:29:32.519 --> 00:29:37.119
that's whenever they located little Antonio's body curled up and

506
00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:42.400
lying dead underneath the baby's bed. He had tried to

507
00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:45.200
escape the smoke. He had tried to, you know, run

508
00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:49.279
away from the flames, and he went and he succumbed

509
00:29:49.640 --> 00:29:51.799
to the fire and too the smoke in the safest

510
00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:55.559
place that he could find, and it was underneath that

511
00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:00.880
baby's baby bed. So Melissa, her as well as her

512
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:03.920
beloved cat were now all gone in the blink of

513
00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:06.839
the of an eye, and the family was left in

514
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:10.720
shocked but also puzzled because how could this have happened?

515
00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:14.279
How did this happen? You know, it just it makes

516
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:18.119
no sense. Everyone's standing there just shaking their heads. Why

517
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:21.079
didn't Melissa just get out of the house. And it's

518
00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:22.920
not like they're trying to blame her. They love her,

519
00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:25.920
but she's gone. But like, why didn't she just go

520
00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:29.240
out of the house. There were multiple doors that she

521
00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:33.519
could have exited, but she ended up collapsed in the kitchen.

522
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:35.640
And like I said, the whole house wasn't a total

523
00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:39.759
physical loss. The doors were still there. Why didn't she

524
00:30:39.880 --> 00:30:42.119
just go out if the door was stuck? Why didn't

525
00:30:42.119 --> 00:30:44.319
she try to go out of a window? And it

526
00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:49.039
just seemed like a very survivable fire. So it's like,

527
00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:52.640
was she overcome by the smoke? Did she try to

528
00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:56.039
put out the fire herself after realizing that it had started,

529
00:30:56.039 --> 00:30:59.200
but stayed too long and then passed out? Just it

530
00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:06.400
just didn't make any sense. So the initial belief at

531
00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:09.279
the very start, whenever everyone was looking over everything, the

532
00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:11.680
initial belief was that she had to have died from

533
00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:17.920
asphyxiation from the smoke inhalation, because she was laying on

534
00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:22.200
the ground and her body did not have any obvious

535
00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:26.599
forms of like burn trauma or you know, she hadn't

536
00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:30.640
been burned up in this fire. She was actually relatively intact.

537
00:31:31.160 --> 00:31:35.680
Considering what had happened. The flames had ended up basically

538
00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:39.839
smoldering themselves, and the fire fizzled out before the home

539
00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:43.119
could burn to the ground, so an autopsy would have

540
00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:46.039
to be performed, of course, to confirm that she had

541
00:31:46.039 --> 00:31:49.279
died from the smoke inhalation, and that was going to

542
00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:51.519
take some time. As a matter of fact, this was

543
00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:53.759
going to hurt even more because it was going to

544
00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:57.400
take more than the average weight time because while it

545
00:31:57.480 --> 00:32:01.839
was also an autopsy, it was also going to serve

546
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:06.720
as her baby's birth, but it was also during COVID,

547
00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:11.680
so again the family would have to wait so until

548
00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:13.920
that could be completed, her family was left to just

549
00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:16.079
pick up the pieces and attempt to make sense of

550
00:32:16.119 --> 00:32:19.440
how their lives had just been changed forever, just in

551
00:32:19.480 --> 00:32:23.920
a moment. And the thing was this, The baby's father, Matt,

552
00:32:24.119 --> 00:32:27.279
also had to be notified. Obviously he would want to

553
00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:30.640
know this, but the family, no one in her family

554
00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:32.720
was very close to him, None of them really knew

555
00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:37.319
him that well at all. But Melissa's brother, her name was,

556
00:32:37.799 --> 00:32:41.200
His name was Carl, excuse me. Carl was able to

557
00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:44.039
get in touch with Matt that day, the very day

558
00:32:44.039 --> 00:32:46.599
of the fire, and he asked him, listen, have you

559
00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:50.759
seen Melissa today? And he said, yeah, I did. He said,

560
00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:53.079
you saw her you spoke to her and he's like, no,

561
00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:55.960
I saw her, and Carl said, well, then you are

562
00:32:55.960 --> 00:32:59.559
the last one to see her before hanging up the phone.

563
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:04.960
So matt was somewhat confused, like, okay, you know what

564
00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:07.559
was that about? Yeah, all right, whatever, and so he

565
00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:09.440
just kind of went about his business. He thought it

566
00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:12.160
was weird, but they were again, they weren't tight or anything,

567
00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:15.759
and so, you know, he just went about about his way.

568
00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:18.640
It was the police who would be the ones that

569
00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:23.440
would actually break the news to him whenever Matthew was

570
00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:26.519
contacted and asked to come down to the station because

571
00:33:26.680 --> 00:33:30.160
obviously Carl realized, okay, he saw her alive. We think

572
00:33:30.200 --> 00:33:31.640
he was the last one to see her alive, and

573
00:33:31.640 --> 00:33:34.079
so he told police this. So they call him in

574
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:37.720
to ask about the last time whenever he saw her,

575
00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:41.319
and that's whenever they had to break the news to him. Look,

576
00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:46.720
Melissa's dead. Melissa died. So when they break the news

577
00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:49.519
to him, he just kind of sits there for a

578
00:33:49.559 --> 00:33:52.039
moment and just looks at them. You know, he's got

579
00:33:52.039 --> 00:33:53.480
his mask on because of COVID and all that, and

580
00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:57.039
he's just staring at them. Before after absorbing it for

581
00:33:57.079 --> 00:34:02.720
a second, he goes okay, like he was not. You know,

582
00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:04.640
it was kind of like out a left field, you

583
00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:07.359
know that she's dead. So once the news is broken

584
00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:09.119
and he kind of has a grasp of the fact

585
00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:12.320
that she's gone, police went straight into questioning and they

586
00:34:12.360 --> 00:34:16.599
wanted to ask him about, you know, what had happened

587
00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:19.440
between the two of them before she had passed away.

588
00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:21.800
And what I will tell you from the jump is

589
00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:26.800
that two things were very odd to me in that

590
00:34:27.159 --> 00:34:32.679
interrogation when I was watching it at the jump. Number one,

591
00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:39.440
Matt never asked about his son. He never said, Okay,

592
00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:42.079
Melissa's gone, what about my baby? You know, is the

593
00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:45.519
baby okay? He never he never asked about his son

594
00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:50.639
at all. And number two, he never then asked how

595
00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:56.079
did Melissa die? What happened? Now, if you're a true

596
00:34:56.079 --> 00:34:58.800
crime fan, you know that that's odd. You agree with me,

597
00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:00.840
what the hell? Because the first thing everyone asks is

598
00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:03.400
what happened? And then if your baby's about to be born,

599
00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:06.119
you know, even if you don't care about Melissa and

600
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:08.159
it wasn't this relationship and you know I hadn't been speaking,

601
00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:13.199
you still would want to know what happened. So, but

602
00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:15.719
Matt did continue to answer the officers questions about what

603
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:19.079
they did that day before they went their separate ways.

604
00:35:19.559 --> 00:35:22.639
Matt said, up front, look, I have not been involved

605
00:35:22.639 --> 00:35:26.199
in this pregnancy at all. Okay, we agreed that, you know,

606
00:35:26.519 --> 00:35:28.519
we're not in a relationship. I have not been involved

607
00:35:28.559 --> 00:35:32.320
at all. But the closer that the birth deadline came,

608
00:35:33.639 --> 00:35:37.559
he decided that he really wanted to be involved in

609
00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:40.519
what was going on, and so he said he had

610
00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:43.159
called into work that day because of a knee injury

611
00:35:43.199 --> 00:35:46.039
that he had sustained while he was running, and so

612
00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:48.639
he didn't really have much to do, so he had

613
00:35:48.679 --> 00:35:52.000
made up an excuse that he had some work in

614
00:35:52.079 --> 00:35:56.039
the area where Melissa lived. He said he was installing

615
00:35:56.039 --> 00:35:59.119
hot tubs on the side. But he said he made

616
00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:01.360
up that excuse use that he was in the area

617
00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:04.559
so that he would have a reason, you know, really

618
00:36:04.599 --> 00:36:07.880
to stop by to try and speak to Melissa. So

619
00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:11.000
whenever he got there, he knocked on the door, he said,

620
00:36:11.039 --> 00:36:14.840
Melissa let him in, and that's whenever they really kind

621
00:36:14.840 --> 00:36:16.920
of just started talking. Look, the baby's going to be

622
00:36:16.920 --> 00:36:20.599
born in two days, he said. We talked about money

623
00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:23.880
and finances, what about you know, child support? What are

624
00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:27.440
we going to do about this, and he said that

625
00:36:27.480 --> 00:36:31.519
she was very clear, as was you know, her family,

626
00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:33.840
that he didn't need to pay if he did not

627
00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:35.599
want to be a part of this, they were going

628
00:36:35.639 --> 00:36:38.360
to take care of it, and that he was not

629
00:36:38.440 --> 00:36:41.800
obligated to pay or do or do anything. And so

630
00:36:41.880 --> 00:36:44.239
he said they were having all of that discussion, but

631
00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:47.079
then one thing ended up leading to another, and so

632
00:36:47.159 --> 00:36:50.320
they ended up having sex together on the couch before

633
00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:53.360
just kind of talking for a little bit more and

634
00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:57.400
then he left the house. So they're like, okay, what

635
00:36:57.440 --> 00:36:59.159
do you when you left? What happened? He was like, oh, well,

636
00:36:59.199 --> 00:37:01.280
I mean, you know, she walked me to the door.

637
00:37:01.400 --> 00:37:04.360
She said that she was about to make some lunch,

638
00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:07.440
and she i walked out, and it was kind of

639
00:37:07.480 --> 00:37:10.159
like bye, we'll talk whenever the baby's born whatever. So

640
00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:13.639
obviously detectives were documenting all of this and taking their notes,

641
00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:15.920
and then after he explained everything that he had done

642
00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:19.480
for the day, he was left to go, you know,

643
00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:22.360
release to go basically process it all and take it

644
00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:25.159
in because he had not only lost his son but

645
00:37:25.559 --> 00:37:29.920
now Melissa. So whenever detectives were checking in and wanting

646
00:37:29.960 --> 00:37:31.960
to check up on the story, they obviously wanted to

647
00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:34.559
go speak to neighbors in the neighborhood and see if

648
00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:37.760
they hadn't known anything or seen anything. And one neighbor

649
00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:41.119
was able to confirm that he had seen who was

650
00:37:41.159 --> 00:37:44.760
believed to be Matt at the house, and this was

651
00:37:44.920 --> 00:37:49.159
before the fire department arrived and the timeline and everything

652
00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:52.599
was just as Matt had said. So the neighbor his

653
00:37:52.679 --> 00:37:55.360
name was mister Clayton. He lived directly across the street

654
00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:59.159
from the Lambishes, and he had noticed some time, he

655
00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:03.280
said it was around that afternoon that there was a

656
00:38:03.320 --> 00:38:06.119
white male. He said he was probably in his mid

657
00:38:06.199 --> 00:38:10.320
twenties to his early thirties. He saw him walking down

658
00:38:10.360 --> 00:38:13.039
the street and he said the man walked right up

659
00:38:13.079 --> 00:38:15.880
the driveway. He knocked on the front door of the Lambishes,

660
00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:18.239
at which point he did see Melissa open the door.

661
00:38:18.599 --> 00:38:21.559
They talked and Melissa said or looked like she said,

662
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:24.840
you know, come on in, and then shut the door.

663
00:38:25.599 --> 00:38:29.360
But it was around four thirty PM when a different

664
00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:32.559
neighbor said she noticed smoke that was coming from the

665
00:38:32.639 --> 00:38:35.360
Lambish's house. She could hear their fire alarm or a

666
00:38:35.400 --> 00:38:38.119
fire detector going off, and she went and she looked, said,

667
00:38:38.159 --> 00:38:40.840
oh my god, there's a fire, and she called nine

668
00:38:40.880 --> 00:38:44.079
to one one. So the timeline basically that I'm telling you,

669
00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:46.639
the timeline of events was fitting with everything that they

670
00:38:46.679 --> 00:38:50.800
were being told so far. But whenever police then spoke

671
00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:57.199
to Melissa's sister, Cassie, the vibe about Matt was like

672
00:38:57.480 --> 00:39:02.519
different than what they had kind of gathered whenever they

673
00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:04.119
spoke to him. So what do I mean by that,

674
00:39:04.119 --> 00:39:06.320
Because I know vibe is kind of a funny word

675
00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:11.159
or a weird word choice. But Cassie, Melissa's sister, she

676
00:39:11.320 --> 00:39:14.639
lived almost two hours away, so she and her sister

677
00:39:14.679 --> 00:39:16.480
when they would talk on the phone, they would talk

678
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:20.559
for extended periods of time whenever they connected. In the

679
00:39:20.599 --> 00:39:24.079
morning of Melissa's death, Cassie said that she had called

680
00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:27.880
Melissa around ten am and they stayed on the phone

681
00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:32.480
for roughly two hours, so they had been talking, and

682
00:39:32.519 --> 00:39:35.000
Cassie said that the reason they hung up the phone

683
00:39:35.519 --> 00:39:39.280
was because Melissa told her, oh, Matt's here, he needs

684
00:39:39.320 --> 00:39:42.559
to stop doing this. I'll call you back shortly and

685
00:39:42.599 --> 00:39:45.400
I'll let you know what he says. And that's whenever

686
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:49.000
they hung up the phone. But what was off with

687
00:39:49.239 --> 00:39:52.480
the vibe that I'm talking about is that Cassie said,

688
00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:56.840
Melissa at this juncture, you know, in the pregnancy, was

689
00:39:56.840 --> 00:40:04.119
pretty much disgusted by Matt. She was not disgusted with

690
00:40:04.239 --> 00:40:07.039
him like as a as a guy. She was more

691
00:40:07.159 --> 00:40:11.679
hurt by the lack of friendship that he had extended

692
00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:15.519
her after she had gotten pregnant. You know, it was

693
00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:18.320
okay that they weren't together, and I can't emphasize that enough.

694
00:40:18.400 --> 00:40:20.800
This was not jealousy or anger, like you don't want

695
00:40:20.840 --> 00:40:22.360
to be with me I'm having your kid. It wasn't

696
00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:25.840
that at all. It's that Melissa was really hurt that

697
00:40:26.039 --> 00:40:29.320
he seemed to have just ghosted her, even though she

698
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:32.000
said it was okay. She just thought more of him

699
00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:35.920
just as a friend, that he would not just ghost her,

700
00:40:36.039 --> 00:40:39.360
But she was disappointed for their son. You know what

701
00:40:39.559 --> 00:40:41.480
kind of guy. I get it, you don't want to

702
00:40:41.480 --> 00:40:43.880
be in his life, but my god, you're the dad.

703
00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:46.960
You know, I want more for my baby. And so

704
00:40:47.639 --> 00:40:52.119
why the police really latched onto that was because if

705
00:40:52.119 --> 00:40:56.519
that was the case, and Melissa was so disgusted with

706
00:40:57.039 --> 00:40:59.079
the way Matt just didn't want anything to do with

707
00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:03.000
their son, then why would she have agreed to have

708
00:41:03.079 --> 00:41:07.079
sex with him when he showed up. But let's be real,

709
00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:10.039
crazier things have happened, so investigators, we're gonna have to

710
00:41:10.079 --> 00:41:13.199
continue to ask questions and talk to people. But that

711
00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:16.039
just sat weird with them that she would be so

712
00:41:16.119 --> 00:41:18.920
disgusted and tell her sister how much she was frustrated

713
00:41:19.079 --> 00:41:21.280
for her baby, but then would have sex with him

714
00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:24.960
right after they hang up the phone. Well, in the meantime,

715
00:41:25.639 --> 00:41:29.760
the family of Melissa had the heartbreaking task of planning

716
00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:33.760
a funeral. But this funeral wouldn't just be for one.

717
00:41:33.920 --> 00:41:36.960
It would have to be for two, and the baby

718
00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:42.079
would need to be buried as well. So as incredibly

719
00:41:42.280 --> 00:41:46.440
sad as this is, the baby's birth would be done

720
00:41:46.480 --> 00:41:49.280
not under the joy of waiting, as you know, labor

721
00:41:49.320 --> 00:41:53.480
intensifies and you know, someone dilates and you're getting an update,

722
00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:56.800
you know, hour by hour. This just wouldn't be that

723
00:41:56.960 --> 00:42:02.039
type of situation. It was done really in an unknown

724
00:42:02.119 --> 00:42:05.599
fashion because the family didn't know exactly when the autopsy

725
00:42:05.719 --> 00:42:09.079
would be done. And again it's during COVID, so everything

726
00:42:09.159 --> 00:42:12.800
was moving much slower than usual. But finally the day,

727
00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:17.159
the day came, but there would be no crowd anxiously

728
00:42:17.239 --> 00:42:20.440
waiting to see him born, because they wouldn't get to

729
00:42:20.480 --> 00:42:25.000
see him born. You know, he was really the mother

730
00:42:25.119 --> 00:42:27.440
was laid on the table and he was removed from

731
00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:33.360
her body in a very cold and just very very

732
00:42:33.400 --> 00:42:37.440
cold medical way, and his body was taken out of Melissa,

733
00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:39.760
and then his body was laid on a table while

734
00:42:39.800 --> 00:42:46.159
they continued to examine Melissa. The joy in every aspect

735
00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:51.440
had been robbed from this entire family, in every single way.

736
00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:56.239
And something that just hit them was that, what is

737
00:42:56.599 --> 00:42:59.679
what is our grandson's name? We didn't get to see

738
00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:03.920
him be born, we didn't get to even meet him alive,

739
00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:07.320
and we don't even know what his name is. How

740
00:43:07.400 --> 00:43:12.719
must that have felt? Nobody knew? Well, thank God for

741
00:43:12.840 --> 00:43:17.599
this family and thank God for the siblings of Melissa,

742
00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:21.480
because while they were waiting to get the results of

743
00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:25.639
the autopsy and for the baby to be born, Melissa's

744
00:43:25.679 --> 00:43:30.000
brother jumped into action. He was on a mission, and

745
00:43:30.079 --> 00:43:33.559
this mission was to find out what his nephew's name was.

746
00:43:34.159 --> 00:43:38.000
And I know it's odd, but it gave this family

747
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:44.000
something in terms of hope, in terms of gaining something.

748
00:43:44.039 --> 00:43:46.800
We're gonna learn what was his name? Supposed to be

749
00:43:47.159 --> 00:43:50.880
and it took some time, but Carl was able to

750
00:43:50.920 --> 00:43:54.159
get into Melissa's electronics like her tablet and her phone,

751
00:43:54.719 --> 00:43:58.159
and looking through her search history, he was able to

752
00:43:58.280 --> 00:44:02.719
locate searches that would break the name of their grandson

753
00:44:03.119 --> 00:44:06.480
to the family. Now, Cassie and Melissa they had discussed

754
00:44:06.480 --> 00:44:09.480
the name Emmett in the past because of the whole

755
00:44:09.679 --> 00:44:11.880
double letter thing, if you remember, they thought that was cute,

756
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:15.360
but nothing had ever been confirmed. And when the name

757
00:44:15.559 --> 00:44:21.840
was finally uncovered, everyone really smiled, this bittersweet smile because

758
00:44:21.880 --> 00:44:26.119
Melissa had stuck with that double letter thing after all.

759
00:44:26.360 --> 00:44:31.840
But it wasn't Emmett. Melissa's little man's name was revealed

760
00:44:32.039 --> 00:44:37.440
to be Barrett, little Barrett Lamish. What was his nickname?

761
00:44:37.480 --> 00:44:39.320
You know, what would it have been? Would they have

762
00:44:39.440 --> 00:44:43.639
maybe called him bear or b Man? Yeah, I guess

763
00:44:43.639 --> 00:44:46.599
we'll never know that. But these are the thoughts that,

764
00:44:46.719 --> 00:44:49.440
you know, with such immense joy of knowing who this

765
00:44:49.599 --> 00:44:53.480
baby was, this was Barrett was just instantly stripped away

766
00:44:53.599 --> 00:44:59.199
because that's all it was a baby named Barrett. So

767
00:44:59.239 --> 00:45:02.159
when the autopsy it was completed, the family was notified

768
00:45:02.239 --> 00:45:05.400
that they could come and they could see him for

769
00:45:05.480 --> 00:45:09.719
the very first time and when Melissa's mom would first

770
00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:13.199
lay eyes on her grandson. This would happen at the

771
00:45:13.239 --> 00:45:17.320
coroner's office and the moment. I want you to know,

772
00:45:17.480 --> 00:45:21.119
the coroner worked very hard in this moment to try

773
00:45:21.159 --> 00:45:24.199
to make it more than just seeing a dead body.

774
00:45:25.199 --> 00:45:28.400
And whenever a Barrett was brought out, they had dressed

775
00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:31.679
him for the occasion. The coroner had picked him out

776
00:45:31.719 --> 00:45:35.360
a little, tiny outfit complete with matching booties. It was

777
00:45:35.400 --> 00:45:38.920
a Disney themed little outfit, and so whenever she got

778
00:45:38.920 --> 00:45:41.800
to see him, it was like seeing a new baby.

779
00:45:42.599 --> 00:45:46.920
He was perfect. Now Grandma wasn't allowed to hold him,

780
00:45:47.400 --> 00:45:50.400
she couldn't touch him, but just seeing him for the

781
00:45:50.480 --> 00:45:56.719
first time filled and broke her heart simultaneously. There was

782
00:45:56.760 --> 00:46:00.320
her little man. There was the guy that she should

783
00:46:00.320 --> 00:46:04.880
have she should have met. He was perfect. Barrett was

784
00:46:04.920 --> 00:46:08.280
seven pounds and a few little ounces. And she noticed

785
00:46:08.280 --> 00:46:11.760
that his little fingers were long, and he he even

786
00:46:11.800 --> 00:46:14.800
had tiny little fingernails that they were ready to be trimmed.

787
00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:16.679
They would have needed to be filed, you know, right

788
00:46:16.719 --> 00:46:18.679
after he was born, so he wouldn't have scratched his

789
00:46:18.760 --> 00:46:23.719
little face. And most breathtaking was the fact that baby

790
00:46:23.760 --> 00:46:28.760
Barrett had his mama's nose. Melissa's nose was something that

791
00:46:30.039 --> 00:46:32.679
her mother just loved because it was cute, it was little,

792
00:46:32.719 --> 00:46:34.639
and it had this slight little upturn at the end.

793
00:46:34.679 --> 00:46:37.199
And as she was looking over a little baby Barrett,

794
00:46:37.239 --> 00:46:42.000
he was a perfect match. He had his mama's nose. So,

795
00:46:42.079 --> 00:46:45.760
after looking him over and just feeling the heartbreak again

796
00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:49.039
of what would never be, Barrett was taken back to

797
00:46:49.119 --> 00:46:53.400
the back and the family left with tear filled eyes

798
00:46:53.480 --> 00:46:57.719
because again they met and then lost him all in

799
00:46:57.800 --> 00:47:04.760
the same moment. And sadness just was not only overwhelming

800
00:47:04.760 --> 00:47:08.760
in this moment, but it was quickly becoming replaced with

801
00:47:08.840 --> 00:47:13.880
a lot of anger because from the jump, Melissa's siblings

802
00:47:14.199 --> 00:47:18.079
started pointing the finger at Matt, especially Carl. He felt

803
00:47:18.159 --> 00:47:21.599
like Matt had something to do with this. Now, was

804
00:47:22.239 --> 00:47:24.880
it this thing where maybe you know it's Melissa's brother,

805
00:47:25.039 --> 00:47:27.599
Maybe you know how brothers have that thing. You know,

806
00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:29.920
this guy got my sister pregnant and then decided to

807
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:31.880
just up and leave. Was it that he was just

808
00:47:32.079 --> 00:47:34.280
very angry and he was needing someone to blame, and

809
00:47:34.320 --> 00:47:37.440
so that's why he was pointing the finger at Matt.

810
00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:40.920
And then Cassie obviously didn't like him because again he

811
00:47:40.920 --> 00:47:42.639
didn't want anything to do with this baby. And so

812
00:47:42.719 --> 00:47:44.440
Cassie was like, he must have done it. You know,

813
00:47:44.480 --> 00:47:46.920
he's a firefighter. After all, the damn house was on fire.

814
00:47:47.000 --> 00:47:51.119
He must have done it. But Mom Deana wasn't convinced.

815
00:47:51.320 --> 00:47:53.679
You know, y'all can't just be pointing fingers at people

816
00:47:53.719 --> 00:47:55.920
we don't know when you know, we have to wait,

817
00:47:55.960 --> 00:48:00.280
we have to see what happened. Well, the police would

818
00:48:00.360 --> 00:48:02.519
really be they were going to work on this. They

819
00:48:02.559 --> 00:48:05.039
weren't waiting, and so they were speaking to a lot

820
00:48:05.079 --> 00:48:09.480
of people, and this included coworkers of Matt's. They wanted

821
00:48:09.519 --> 00:48:12.480
to go talk to other firefighters and see what they knew,

822
00:48:12.480 --> 00:48:15.079
if they knew anything about this situation. But when they

823
00:48:15.079 --> 00:48:17.599
went to go speak with the coworkers, what they had

824
00:48:17.599 --> 00:48:22.199
to say was somewhat surprising. They interviewed multiple people on

825
00:48:22.239 --> 00:48:23.920
the twenty eighth, so this is just a couple of

826
00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:27.920
days after Melissa and Barrett had died, and Matt had

827
00:48:28.039 --> 00:48:33.119
worked up until he had worked on the twenty eighth.

828
00:48:33.320 --> 00:48:37.440
But the thing was, every single person that they interviewed,

829
00:48:37.639 --> 00:48:42.920
every fellow firefighter, was shocked and surprised to learn that

830
00:48:42.920 --> 00:48:45.840
Matt was even having a baby. They didn't even know.

831
00:48:47.039 --> 00:48:50.840
Matt had never mentioned it to any of them. But

832
00:48:51.360 --> 00:48:54.639
here's the thing. Not everybody's just this open, you know,

833
00:48:55.239 --> 00:48:58.960
open with their life. You're allowed to be private with

834
00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:02.519
your life. And to that point, some of the firefighters

835
00:49:02.519 --> 00:49:04.800
also agreed that, you know, I didn't share my private

836
00:49:04.840 --> 00:49:06.800
life with him, and so he didn't really open up

837
00:49:06.840 --> 00:49:11.159
and share it with me. And that's okay, But what

838
00:49:11.280 --> 00:49:15.559
about death. Okay, so maybe he didn't want to talk

839
00:49:15.559 --> 00:49:18.440
about his private life, but like, damn, his baby, mama

840
00:49:18.559 --> 00:49:22.360
and his baby had died, you know, it was his son.

841
00:49:23.400 --> 00:49:27.599
But Matt never told anybody. He never told his supervisors,

842
00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:31.679
he never told his coworkers, and he had just continued

843
00:49:31.679 --> 00:49:35.599
to go to work and never mentioned it to them.

844
00:49:36.880 --> 00:49:42.280
That was odd. So police called Matt back in and

845
00:49:42.320 --> 00:49:44.960
they wanted to interview him some more. And this time

846
00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:46.960
the interview was going to last a whole lot longer,

847
00:49:47.039 --> 00:49:49.679
like a total of seven hours, I believe, and the

848
00:49:49.719 --> 00:49:51.679
detectives are really going to ask him things that got

849
00:49:51.719 --> 00:49:55.199
straight up into the nitty gritty things, all the way

850
00:49:55.199 --> 00:49:57.239
down to like what were you wearing the day that

851
00:49:57.280 --> 00:49:58.639
you went to go visit her, and he said, I

852
00:49:58.679 --> 00:50:01.920
was wearing jeans, a T shirt, you know, baseball cap. Okay,

853
00:50:01.920 --> 00:50:04.760
where did you park? I parked in front of her house.

854
00:50:05.960 --> 00:50:08.960
When directly asked, did you kill Melissa or did you

855
00:50:09.079 --> 00:50:13.480
hurt her? Matt wholeheartedly denied it. He said things like,

856
00:50:13.519 --> 00:50:15.840
you know, I never intended to hurt Melissa. I never

857
00:50:15.840 --> 00:50:19.199
intended to hurt anybody. And when he was confronted with

858
00:50:19.239 --> 00:50:24.679
these questions and he answered intended. The word intended again

859
00:50:24.920 --> 00:50:29.239
that just was an odd word choice to the police.

860
00:50:29.320 --> 00:50:34.920
And he also kept referring to speaking with Melissa and

861
00:50:34.960 --> 00:50:37.800
that they needed to talk because of the upcoming deadline.

862
00:50:38.599 --> 00:50:42.760
And deadline again was an odd word for the police

863
00:50:42.800 --> 00:50:46.360
because most people don't say deadline. They would say the

864
00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:50.920
baby's do date. So deadline just that term. You know,

865
00:50:50.960 --> 00:50:53.559
you don't want to hang on everybody's word, but like deadline,

866
00:50:53.719 --> 00:50:57.039
that seems like a countdown until something bad happened, you know,

867
00:50:57.400 --> 00:50:59.920
pay the ransom. You have this deadline to get it

868
00:51:00.119 --> 00:51:02.559
done or do your work, or you have this deadline

869
00:51:02.599 --> 00:51:05.000
or your fire. Deadline just doesn't have it has a

870
00:51:05.039 --> 00:51:10.719
negative connotation to it. So while Matt was known to

871
00:51:10.800 --> 00:51:15.760
be a single guy. He would admit during the questioning

872
00:51:15.760 --> 00:51:17.880
to police at this point that he had been seeing

873
00:51:17.920 --> 00:51:21.559
a couple of women over the last nine months, but

874
00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:24.840
it was nothing serious, and again that was fine. He

875
00:51:24.920 --> 00:51:27.719
was a single guy, and Melissa didn't care because she

876
00:51:27.800 --> 00:51:31.199
didn't want to be with him either. But Matt's work

877
00:51:31.280 --> 00:51:35.559
schedule was one that they wanted to look into as well,

878
00:51:35.599 --> 00:51:37.880
and when they did that, it looked like he had

879
00:51:37.920 --> 00:51:41.440
worked a normal schedule, but he had taken off the

880
00:51:41.480 --> 00:51:45.760
Monday and Tuesday of the week of the fire before

881
00:51:45.800 --> 00:51:50.760
he then called in on Wednesday because of that knee injury,

882
00:51:51.039 --> 00:51:54.079
which when they spoke to the supervisor, he confirmed that

883
00:51:54.280 --> 00:51:56.760
was true. That was real. He had taken off Monday

884
00:51:56.760 --> 00:51:59.079
and Tuesday, and then he did call in he did

885
00:51:59.079 --> 00:52:05.320
have the knee injury. Then the supervisor confirmed that Matt

886
00:52:05.360 --> 00:52:09.880
had been off for roughly ten days where he could

887
00:52:09.920 --> 00:52:12.800
grieve and deal with the loss of Melissa and the

888
00:52:12.840 --> 00:52:20.360
baby before returning. But this became somewhat controversial. It wasn't

889
00:52:20.480 --> 00:52:24.039
controversial that Matt was off for those ten days. What

890
00:52:24.199 --> 00:52:27.800
was controversial was that when they were speaking to another firefighter,

891
00:52:28.280 --> 00:52:34.000
that firefighter mentioned that he had been diagnosed with COVID

892
00:52:34.880 --> 00:52:39.280
in the days prior, and so the reason that a

893
00:52:39.320 --> 00:52:42.480
lot of them were off of work for upwards of

894
00:52:42.519 --> 00:52:46.039
ten days was because they were forced to take off

895
00:52:46.360 --> 00:52:50.159
because they were being quarantined because of his COVID diagnosis

896
00:52:50.760 --> 00:52:55.599
that included Matt and so detectives are going back and

897
00:52:55.639 --> 00:52:57.280
they're looking. They're like, okay, hang on a second. So

898
00:52:57.280 --> 00:53:00.920
he took off Monday, he took off Tuesday, he called

899
00:53:00.960 --> 00:53:05.159
in Wednesday, which is when the fire occurred. But then

900
00:53:05.480 --> 00:53:10.480
he came back to work and he worked on the

901
00:53:10.519 --> 00:53:16.000
twenty eighth, after he already knew that Melissa and the

902
00:53:16.039 --> 00:53:23.400
baby had died, but before being quarantined. So it was

903
00:53:23.440 --> 00:53:26.199
looking more like the ten days that he took off

904
00:53:26.320 --> 00:53:32.000
to grieve in retrospect, was more like a convenient excuse

905
00:53:32.840 --> 00:53:34.519
of why he was off ten days because he was

906
00:53:34.599 --> 00:53:38.519
forced to be because of that COVID diagnosis. Things that

907
00:53:38.559 --> 00:53:41.559
make you go hmm. Well, when the results of the

908
00:53:41.599 --> 00:53:46.039
autopsy came back, everyone did expect that she would have

909
00:53:46.119 --> 00:53:49.599
died from smoke, you know, asphyxia or smoke inhalation, but

910
00:53:49.800 --> 00:53:54.679
there was more found than was expected. Because when someone

911
00:53:54.760 --> 00:53:57.440
dies from smoke inhalation, you a lot of us already

912
00:53:57.440 --> 00:54:00.400
know this, but your lungs and your mouth, even off times,

913
00:54:00.440 --> 00:54:04.280
your nose and the airway that will be covered in

914
00:54:04.480 --> 00:54:07.719
soot because you've been breathing in this heavy, thick smoke,

915
00:54:08.039 --> 00:54:12.559
and the soot will line wherever the air goes. But

916
00:54:12.599 --> 00:54:15.880
the testing showed in the autopsy that Melissa had no

917
00:54:16.159 --> 00:54:21.840
soot in her lungs, but the overall findings weren't really

918
00:54:21.880 --> 00:54:27.199
definitive enough as to her cause of death. But the

919
00:54:27.280 --> 00:54:30.320
lack of soot in her lungs meant one very clear

920
00:54:30.360 --> 00:54:32.480
thing to the detectives when they were looking at this,

921
00:54:32.840 --> 00:54:36.800
and that was that Melissa was not breathing at all

922
00:54:37.159 --> 00:54:41.320
as this fire was raging, because there would have been soot.

923
00:54:41.360 --> 00:54:44.440
That's like Captain Obvious type shit. There's no way that

924
00:54:44.480 --> 00:54:47.559
she lay on the floor in that fire and didn't

925
00:54:47.559 --> 00:54:52.679
inhale any smoke if she was alive. So the house, remember,

926
00:54:52.760 --> 00:54:55.280
was a total loss, even the structure that didn't burn,

927
00:54:55.440 --> 00:54:59.599
everything was covered in smoke. But somehow she mysteriously didn't

928
00:54:59.639 --> 00:55:03.280
breathe any in no frickin' way that's not going to happen.

929
00:55:03.559 --> 00:55:09.880
So while that autopsy report was leaning towards something more nefarious,

930
00:55:10.719 --> 00:55:16.920
having happened. It wasn't very clear, and so the investigators

931
00:55:16.960 --> 00:55:19.599
were not happy basically with the autopsy. And a lot

932
00:55:19.599 --> 00:55:21.199
of people think, oh, well that's the doctor. If the

933
00:55:21.199 --> 00:55:23.199
doctor said it, that's how it's going to go. Well,

934
00:55:23.199 --> 00:55:25.960
these investigators are like, nah, I don't think I like

935
00:55:26.039 --> 00:55:29.599
this because it looks like something very nefarious here has happened.

936
00:55:29.719 --> 00:55:33.760
And any defense attorney worth their salt would argue in

937
00:55:33.800 --> 00:55:37.239
court if we were able to get somebody for doing

938
00:55:37.239 --> 00:55:40.400
something wrong that, well, how do we know that Melissa

939
00:55:40.400 --> 00:55:44.360
didn't have a medical emergency and die right before the

940
00:55:44.400 --> 00:55:46.280
fire sparked. I mean, she could have had a heart

941
00:55:46.280 --> 00:55:48.320
attack or something, and then you know she's cooking and

942
00:55:48.880 --> 00:55:51.639
the house caught on fire. And I say this because

943
00:55:51.679 --> 00:55:55.679
remember Matt mentioned that Melissa was making lunch whenever he left,

944
00:55:56.519 --> 00:55:58.400
so that argument would be, well, she had that medical

945
00:55:58.440 --> 00:56:01.679
emergency and that's why the house caught on fire. So

946
00:56:01.760 --> 00:56:04.880
as a result of all of this, the detectives were adamant.

947
00:56:04.960 --> 00:56:08.000
We won a second autopsy from a different facility on

948
00:56:08.039 --> 00:56:12.159
Melissa's body. So, as heartbreaking as this is, the families

949
00:56:12.199 --> 00:56:14.840
wanted to have a funeral, they have to wait again

950
00:56:15.119 --> 00:56:17.320
and they have to be told sorry, we need to

951
00:56:17.360 --> 00:56:22.360
send your daughter's body for another autopsy. So that was done.

952
00:56:22.760 --> 00:56:26.159
And while the second pathologists also found that there was

953
00:56:26.239 --> 00:56:30.840
no soot in Melissa's lungs or her throat, her report

954
00:56:31.280 --> 00:56:34.079
and her testing and all of her assessment seemed to

955
00:56:34.119 --> 00:56:37.400
be much more in depth than the first autopsy. Part

956
00:56:37.400 --> 00:56:44.480
of that was that this examiner really thoroughly washed Melissa's body,

957
00:56:44.559 --> 00:56:48.000
cleaned her up really, really well. And when that was done,

958
00:56:48.360 --> 00:56:52.880
it became apparent that around Melissa's face and her neck

959
00:56:53.519 --> 00:56:56.880
there was bruising. Now, if you have soot all over you,

960
00:56:57.360 --> 00:57:00.079
that might not be seen unless you're thoroughly cleaned off.

961
00:57:00.840 --> 00:57:05.320
Not only was there bruising, but there was particul hemorrhaging

962
00:57:05.960 --> 00:57:08.599
that was found. And this is a typical finding and

963
00:57:08.639 --> 00:57:11.800
strangulation when those little microvessels are bursting and right, you

964
00:57:11.800 --> 00:57:14.920
get the little blood speckling that comes to the surface.

965
00:57:15.280 --> 00:57:19.079
But the bruising on her neck, combined with this particular hemorrhaging,

966
00:57:19.480 --> 00:57:23.119
this aligned very much with what strangulation typically looks like.

967
00:57:23.480 --> 00:57:26.360
Not to mention that the doctor noted the hemorrhaging on

968
00:57:26.440 --> 00:57:31.800
Melissa's face was noted as the most particular hemorrhaging that

969
00:57:31.920 --> 00:57:35.719
pathologist had ever seen in any case that she had

970
00:57:35.719 --> 00:57:38.840
ever done. That's more than just a couple of broken

971
00:57:38.880 --> 00:57:43.039
vessels here and there. There was no doubt in that

972
00:57:43.079 --> 00:57:48.000
pathologist's mind that Melissa had been murdered by being physically strangled.

973
00:57:49.320 --> 00:57:52.159
So this doctor also went a step further and did

974
00:57:52.199 --> 00:57:55.400
a rape test kit on her, and the results of that,

975
00:57:55.480 --> 00:57:58.960
though only confirmed what Matt had said because his semen

976
00:57:59.519 --> 00:58:04.840
was present inside of Melissa. However, let's not forget a

977
00:58:04.840 --> 00:58:09.760
few things about Melissa. She was nine months pregnant, she

978
00:58:09.920 --> 00:58:13.760
was due any day. Let's also not forget that Melissa

979
00:58:14.119 --> 00:58:16.199
was telling her everyone in her family that she was

980
00:58:16.239 --> 00:58:19.880
disgusted by Matt because of his lack of friendship and

981
00:58:19.920 --> 00:58:24.599
all of that. So with that in mind, Okay, and

982
00:58:24.639 --> 00:58:27.400
I know everybody's different, but just listen to what I'm

983
00:58:27.440 --> 00:58:29.679
saying here. And this is not a judgment, this is

984
00:58:29.679 --> 00:58:34.119
an observation. Okay, her rape test kit would show that

985
00:58:34.159 --> 00:58:39.000
she had not only been penetrated vaginally sexually, but she

986
00:58:39.159 --> 00:58:43.800
also had been penetrated anally as well. Okay, there was

987
00:58:43.840 --> 00:58:48.719
also DNA underneath her fingernails. Now, listen, anyone can do

988
00:58:48.760 --> 00:58:52.480
anything you do you. I'm not hating. You can have

989
00:58:52.559 --> 00:58:55.360
sex any way you want to, You have fun, wave

990
00:58:55.400 --> 00:58:58.920
your freak flag, do whatever. But something that just as

991
00:58:58.960 --> 00:59:04.440
a woman who been pregnant before multiple times, something that

992
00:59:04.480 --> 00:59:09.639
I'm going to draw the line at in this autopsy

993
00:59:09.840 --> 00:59:13.280
is that not only had she had sex vaginally and anally,

994
00:59:13.920 --> 00:59:19.159
but she had trauma to her genitalia. There was bruising

995
00:59:19.800 --> 00:59:23.079
and there was injury to her inner thighs as well

996
00:59:23.119 --> 00:59:27.840
as the surrounding area. There was also contusions and abrasions

997
00:59:27.880 --> 00:59:33.719
inside of Melissa's vaginal vault, and these injuries, according to

998
00:59:33.760 --> 00:59:36.239
what this doctor was looking at, she felt these were

999
00:59:36.239 --> 00:59:41.119
more consistent with like sexual assault slash rape, not consensual sex.

1000
00:59:41.760 --> 00:59:45.199
And so I'm thinking about the fact that when you're

1001
00:59:45.280 --> 00:59:49.159
nine months pregnant two days before giving birth, you're pretty miserable,

1002
00:59:50.400 --> 00:59:54.280
and it just seems out of character for someone to

1003
00:59:54.320 --> 00:59:58.880
be having anal sex, vaginal sex and being this rough

1004
00:59:59.000 --> 01:00:02.760
and tom right before you're about to give birth with

1005
01:00:02.800 --> 01:00:05.440
a man that you were disgusted by. And I think

1006
01:00:05.480 --> 01:00:09.039
a lot of people might might agree with that. Well,

1007
01:00:09.039 --> 01:00:14.119
whenever the pathologist went further and was looking at her scalp,

1008
01:00:14.599 --> 01:00:17.760
she would locate a few places on the scalp where

1009
01:00:17.760 --> 01:00:21.159
it looks like Melissa had suffered blows to her head.

1010
01:00:22.199 --> 01:00:25.000
So what happened to Melissa was very clear if you

1011
01:00:25.079 --> 01:00:30.519
read the full report in totality of circumstance of Melissa

1012
01:00:31.079 --> 01:00:36.920
and her situation, Melissa Lambish was brutally raped in multiple

1013
01:00:36.960 --> 01:00:41.119
ways and she fought her attacker as best she could

1014
01:00:41.719 --> 01:00:45.000
before she was struck in the head multiple times and

1015
01:00:45.039 --> 01:00:49.320
then strangled to death. And that is what this pathologist

1016
01:00:49.320 --> 01:00:53.360
believed had happened. Police believed that as well, and that

1017
01:00:53.440 --> 01:00:56.800
afterwards a fire was started, likely to conceal her murder

1018
01:00:57.239 --> 01:01:00.760
because she had been conclusively not breathing as the house

1019
01:01:01.159 --> 01:01:04.039
burned around, you know, burned down around her. So when

1020
01:01:04.079 --> 01:01:07.320
this news was broken to her family, they're obviously now

1021
01:01:07.400 --> 01:01:12.159
even more horrified, outraged, angry, heartbroken, all of the emotions

1022
01:01:12.159 --> 01:01:17.920
that you can possibly feel. And they now also have

1023
01:01:18.000 --> 01:01:20.800
to absorb all of that. But now it's time for

1024
01:01:20.920 --> 01:01:24.000
them to have a memorial service or a funeral for

1025
01:01:24.159 --> 01:01:27.239
Melissa and baby Barrett. And I want to tell you this.

1026
01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:28.719
I didn't plan on sharing it, but I'm going to

1027
01:01:28.760 --> 01:01:30.679
share it to you just to add to just the

1028
01:01:30.719 --> 01:01:33.760
horrors that this family went through. But do you know that,

1029
01:01:34.119 --> 01:01:39.079
because Barrett was born during the autopsy, the first place

1030
01:01:39.119 --> 01:01:43.320
that the family chose to have their funeral would not

1031
01:01:43.960 --> 01:01:48.280
allow them to bury the baby in the in the

1032
01:01:48.400 --> 01:01:52.480
casket with his mama. They refused to embalm the baby.

1033
01:01:52.519 --> 01:01:56.960
It was a religious thing. So now the family's being told, oh, look, sorry,

1034
01:01:56.960 --> 01:01:59.320
this happened, but we're not going to have your final

1035
01:01:59.360 --> 01:02:01.079
wishes and we're not going to let the mom have

1036
01:02:01.159 --> 01:02:03.840
the baby in her arms. That pissed me off when

1037
01:02:03.840 --> 01:02:07.039
I learned that, and I learned that directly from Melissa's mom.

1038
01:02:07.519 --> 01:02:09.880
That is not speculation. Her mother told me that with

1039
01:02:09.920 --> 01:02:14.639
her own mouth. How dare somebody do that to a

1040
01:02:14.679 --> 01:02:17.239
grieving family? So now they have to go, Okay, now

1041
01:02:17.280 --> 01:02:19.679
we have to go shop for another funeral home. That

1042
01:02:19.800 --> 01:02:22.679
is just beyond me. Either way, they did end up

1043
01:02:22.719 --> 01:02:26.360
finding a place that would let them honor Melissa and

1044
01:02:26.400 --> 01:02:28.480
her baby the way that they wanted to do so,

1045
01:02:29.199 --> 01:02:31.960
and they were able to have the funeral and Barrett,

1046
01:02:32.039 --> 01:02:34.599
his sweet little precious self. He was wrapped up in

1047
01:02:34.599 --> 01:02:38.280
a purple blanket and a hat that Melissa's aunt had

1048
01:02:38.360 --> 01:02:41.239
handmade for him and was actually given to her as

1049
01:02:41.280 --> 01:02:45.199
a gift at the baby shower just weeks prior, and

1050
01:02:45.280 --> 01:02:47.360
of course I'm not going to let this go either.

1051
01:02:47.760 --> 01:02:50.280
Of course, that had to be washed and thoroughly cleaned

1052
01:02:50.320 --> 01:02:52.599
before he could even be wrapped in it, because that

1053
01:02:52.760 --> 01:02:56.800
too had been covered in soot and smoke and all

1054
01:02:56.840 --> 01:02:59.039
of that. But that was made for him and it

1055
01:02:59.079 --> 01:03:02.679
was special and the family wanted that to happen. So

1056
01:03:02.800 --> 01:03:05.079
after they got that done though, and they got to

1057
01:03:05.119 --> 01:03:07.280
show up, and they got to see baby Barrett and

1058
01:03:07.320 --> 01:03:10.000
Melissa for the first time together. He looked like a

1059
01:03:10.039 --> 01:03:13.800
perfect angel, laying right there in his mother's arms. In

1060
01:03:13.840 --> 01:03:17.639
the same casket, Melissa was buried with her baby boy,

1061
01:03:18.159 --> 01:03:22.719
holding him like the chance that was stolen from her

1062
01:03:23.599 --> 01:03:27.039
in her lifetime. She got to have her baby in

1063
01:03:27.079 --> 01:03:30.039
her arms. And as everyone cried and they tried their

1064
01:03:30.079 --> 01:03:32.599
best to make it through the service, there was one

1065
01:03:32.679 --> 01:03:36.880
person who notably did not show and that was a

1066
01:03:36.920 --> 01:03:40.280
man by the name of Matt, the man who had

1067
01:03:40.320 --> 01:03:44.880
created this very baby that was dead, and the man

1068
01:03:44.920 --> 01:03:49.360
that knew that the baby's mother was also passed away.

1069
01:03:49.599 --> 01:03:53.119
He didn't show up to say goodbye or even hello

1070
01:03:53.480 --> 01:03:56.719
to his newborn son, nor to show the basic respect

1071
01:03:56.719 --> 01:03:59.000
for the woman who was the mother of his son

1072
01:03:59.079 --> 01:04:02.400
passing away. But some other people didn't show up either,

1073
01:04:02.480 --> 01:04:06.760
and that was Matt's parents. They were not at the funeral.

1074
01:04:07.119 --> 01:04:12.559
Now to that point, speaking with Matt's parents later on,

1075
01:04:12.920 --> 01:04:15.039
I'm talking about the police speaking with them, that would

1076
01:04:15.079 --> 01:04:18.760
be a pretty eye opening moment because they confirmed to

1077
01:04:18.800 --> 01:04:22.920
police that they had no idea Matt was even going

1078
01:04:23.000 --> 01:04:27.559
to be having a baby. That was until very recently

1079
01:04:27.880 --> 01:04:33.039
when Melissa had broken the news to them. Now, Melissa,

1080
01:04:33.079 --> 01:04:36.159
why did she go tell his parents, Well, it's because

1081
01:04:36.400 --> 01:04:39.559
she felt like they deserved to know that they had

1082
01:04:39.559 --> 01:04:42.360
a grandson coming into the world, and she wanted her

1083
01:04:42.400 --> 01:04:45.480
son to have grandparents. It was not about Matt, it

1084
01:04:45.559 --> 01:04:48.519
was about her son. So she told them. She broke

1085
01:04:48.559 --> 01:04:51.320
the news to them, and when they found out, they

1086
01:04:51.360 --> 01:04:54.880
were beyond excited. They were over the moon that they

1087
01:04:54.880 --> 01:04:57.400
were going to get a grandson. But at the same time,

1088
01:04:57.559 --> 01:05:00.000
they had been hurt that Matt had not even told

1089
01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:02.360
told them this and this was something that you know,

1090
01:05:02.400 --> 01:05:04.320
people look forward to, is knowing that they're going to

1091
01:05:04.360 --> 01:05:07.599
be a grandparent. But either way, I want you to

1092
01:05:07.639 --> 01:05:13.639
remember they were very supportive of Melissa. They were very

1093
01:05:13.679 --> 01:05:17.239
excited to meet the baby. They also had sent gifts

1094
01:05:17.559 --> 01:05:20.679
to the baby shower because Melissa had let them know

1095
01:05:20.719 --> 01:05:22.880
about it. Now they didn't go because of COVID, but

1096
01:05:22.960 --> 01:05:26.119
they did send gifts. Okay, they were very excited about this.

1097
01:05:26.639 --> 01:05:30.320
So whether they even knew that Melissa and the baby

1098
01:05:30.400 --> 01:05:35.960
were deceased before the service was even held isn't actually clear.

1099
01:05:37.039 --> 01:05:40.559
So I want to be very clear that from all accounts,

1100
01:05:40.920 --> 01:05:45.719
Matt's parents were good and very decent people, and I

1101
01:05:45.760 --> 01:05:49.559
am in no way throwing shade at them. They too,

1102
01:05:50.119 --> 01:05:52.599
in my opinion, at this point, seemed to be another

1103
01:05:52.719 --> 01:05:59.719
casualty by association in this unfolding tragedy. It's horrible. So

1104
01:06:00.039 --> 01:06:02.280
other part of victimization too that I want to bring

1105
01:06:02.400 --> 01:06:04.280
up that I think a lot of people who aren't

1106
01:06:04.320 --> 01:06:10.519
in this world miss is that, you know, the family

1107
01:06:10.559 --> 01:06:14.960
felt like Matt was responsible for what had happened. But

1108
01:06:15.239 --> 01:06:19.079
knowing it and being able, you know, to talk about

1109
01:06:19.079 --> 01:06:20.920
it and scream from the rooftops that you think that

1110
01:06:20.960 --> 01:06:24.519
this guy did something to your daughter that became an issue.

1111
01:06:24.559 --> 01:06:26.800
And I'm going to call it another facet of victimization.

1112
01:06:27.280 --> 01:06:31.519
Because Melissa's family was asked by the police to please

1113
01:06:32.119 --> 01:06:38.280
remain silent about the investigation, not in a hurtful way,

1114
01:06:38.639 --> 01:06:41.679
but because anything that this family may have said or

1115
01:06:41.719 --> 01:06:45.639
shouted to the media or posted online it could possibly

1116
01:06:45.800 --> 01:06:49.719
impact not only the investigation, but even worse long term,

1117
01:06:49.840 --> 01:06:53.239
if Matt was responsible for this, it could affect the

1118
01:06:53.280 --> 01:06:56.599
long term outcome, possibly in a courtroom, and it's just

1119
01:06:56.679 --> 01:06:59.039
not worth the risk for that to happen. So while

1120
01:06:59.079 --> 01:07:02.920
this family has already lost everything to this point, they

1121
01:07:03.000 --> 01:07:06.480
now have to be quiet. And that is something that

1122
01:07:06.519 --> 01:07:09.599
we just if you have not been in that probably

1123
01:07:09.599 --> 01:07:12.719
don't appreciate how horrible that is. And I don't care

1124
01:07:12.960 --> 01:07:16.440
how good of a person you are. Everyone has a limit,

1125
01:07:16.760 --> 01:07:18.960
and these people had been kicked in the teeth over

1126
01:07:19.199 --> 01:07:21.960
and over and over again. But I want to tell

1127
01:07:21.960 --> 01:07:25.440
you something about this family, this Lamish family, they fell

1128
01:07:25.440 --> 01:07:29.639
in line. They may have cussed and cried and mourned

1129
01:07:29.679 --> 01:07:33.719
behind closed doors, but they remained tight lipped in public.

1130
01:07:34.320 --> 01:07:40.199
They remained a united force for over a year. This family,

1131
01:07:41.199 --> 01:07:46.920
they tread water for over a year. Imagine that a

1132
01:07:47.000 --> 01:07:50.079
year came and went with no arrest for what had

1133
01:07:50.079 --> 01:07:52.599
happened to their daughter, after they already know the results

1134
01:07:52.800 --> 01:07:56.159
of the autopsy, there was no movement in the case publicly,

1135
01:07:56.800 --> 01:08:01.480
and life for everyone else just kept going, even for Matt,

1136
01:08:02.440 --> 01:08:04.920
Even for Matt, who this family wanted to shred to

1137
01:08:04.960 --> 01:08:08.239
pieces because they felt like he was responsible. Matt was

1138
01:08:08.400 --> 01:08:12.280
just living his life. But the wheels of justice, guys,

1139
01:08:12.519 --> 01:08:16.159
they may turn slow, and then you add in in COVID,

1140
01:08:16.199 --> 01:08:18.279
and it feels like it's come to a stop. And

1141
01:08:18.319 --> 01:08:20.239
maybe it felt like the wheels of justice might have

1142
01:08:20.279 --> 01:08:25.239
been rolling through quicksand, but they were still rolling. So

1143
01:08:25.479 --> 01:08:30.760
days after day after month after months, nothing was happening.

1144
01:08:31.880 --> 01:08:36.000
Matt just continued to work, and the town was so

1145
01:08:36.079 --> 01:08:41.640
small that Melissa's sister and brothers and her parents would

1146
01:08:41.680 --> 01:08:45.199
often see Matt out and about and there was nothing

1147
01:08:45.520 --> 01:08:48.920
they could do about it. They should have been celebrating

1148
01:08:48.960 --> 01:08:52.960
Barrett's first birthday by this point, but instead they're still

1149
01:08:53.039 --> 01:08:59.239
dying inside with their mouths shut. Melissa was dead, her

1150
01:08:59.319 --> 01:09:04.079
child never even got a birthday, her cat suffocated, their

1151
01:09:04.199 --> 01:09:08.279
home and all of its contents destroyed. Thanksgiving would never

1152
01:09:08.359 --> 01:09:11.640
be a holiday they would ever celebrate again. And to boot,

1153
01:09:11.800 --> 01:09:15.920
the day of Melissa and Barrett's death, well, that was

1154
01:09:16.399 --> 01:09:21.199
the little sister's seventeenth birthday. The suffering here is just

1155
01:09:21.760 --> 01:09:24.880
unreal that this family is going through. But even with that,

1156
01:09:26.079 --> 01:09:30.079
more just kept happening. One day, Melissa's mom went out

1157
01:09:30.119 --> 01:09:32.800
to get her mail, and as she went to go

1158
01:09:32.840 --> 01:09:35.720
open her mailbox, she looks up to see none other

1159
01:09:36.239 --> 01:09:40.520
than Matt driving down the road in an ambulance. Now

1160
01:09:40.600 --> 01:09:42.840
he was an EMT as well as a firefighter, just

1161
01:09:42.920 --> 01:09:46.840
so you understand here. And when he got close, he

1162
01:09:46.920 --> 01:09:50.319
looked at her and even waved as she stood there,

1163
01:09:50.920 --> 01:09:55.479
mail in hand, just staring at him, and all she

1164
01:09:55.479 --> 01:09:58.600
could do was just shake her head. No, he waved

1165
01:09:58.880 --> 01:10:03.079
at her. Imagine the restraint. I'm gonna say it right here,

1166
01:10:03.119 --> 01:10:05.399
right now. That's one hell of a woman, my friends,

1167
01:10:06.039 --> 01:10:10.439
that is one hell of a woman. And then they

1168
01:10:10.479 --> 01:10:13.840
would realize that he was coming by a lot, like

1169
01:10:13.880 --> 01:10:16.560
they would see him pass by a lot. Why why

1170
01:10:16.680 --> 01:10:19.960
was that? No clue? Still to this day, no clue.

1171
01:10:20.640 --> 01:10:24.199
But he was seen often and Miss Deana she lived

1172
01:10:24.239 --> 01:10:26.800
on a dead end type of road, which made it

1173
01:10:26.880 --> 01:10:31.920
even more concerning one time. And I'm sharing these with

1174
01:10:31.960 --> 01:10:34.359
you because I want you to understand victimization and what

1175
01:10:34.439 --> 01:10:37.640
it's like, because it's not just what happened it's what

1176
01:10:37.760 --> 01:10:41.479
else happened. One time, her son, Melissa's brother started to

1177
01:10:41.479 --> 01:10:44.079
have a medical emergency and so they had to call

1178
01:10:44.199 --> 01:10:46.520
nine to one one. So she calls for help, but

1179
01:10:46.560 --> 01:10:51.640
then Mama Deanna runs outside standing there, you know, just

1180
01:10:51.760 --> 01:10:54.960
all bowed up because she was terrified that the man

1181
01:10:55.000 --> 01:10:57.479
that she believed was her daughter's killer was going to

1182
01:10:57.560 --> 01:11:00.680
be the very person to respond to the house. So

1183
01:11:00.800 --> 01:11:04.319
as this is happening, she's freaking out. I hope he

1184
01:11:04.319 --> 01:11:07.840
doesn't show up. Her daughter, okay, was there. Another daughter

1185
01:11:07.920 --> 01:11:11.560
was there, and her daughter, Melissa's sister has pots syndrome.

1186
01:11:11.560 --> 01:11:13.560
If you know what that is, it's people that can

1187
01:11:13.600 --> 01:11:15.760
pass out and it can be triggered and all that. Well,

1188
01:11:15.800 --> 01:11:18.960
her daughter became so upset and stressed out by seeing

1189
01:11:19.000 --> 01:11:21.119
the fire trucks pull up because the daughter was afraid

1190
01:11:21.159 --> 01:11:22.840
it was going to be Matt pulling up as well,

1191
01:11:23.199 --> 01:11:26.560
that the daughter fell out pass smooth out right there.

1192
01:11:26.680 --> 01:11:30.720
They had to call another ambulance which came to help

1193
01:11:31.479 --> 01:11:35.199
the daughter. So tell me that this family was not

1194
01:11:35.479 --> 01:11:39.880
feeling terrorized. So there's Mama Deanna out front, there are

1195
01:11:39.960 --> 01:11:42.680
multiple fire trucks, there are multiple ambulances, and she has

1196
01:11:42.800 --> 01:11:47.039
multiple children down having medical episodes. It was so wild

1197
01:11:47.359 --> 01:11:49.920
that when the supervisor showed up and got out of

1198
01:11:49.920 --> 01:11:52.760
the car, he goes up to Miss Diana and says, look,

1199
01:11:52.960 --> 01:11:55.079
I'm really worried about all these people falling out. I

1200
01:11:55.079 --> 01:11:58.680
think I need to go check your house for carbon monoxide.

1201
01:11:58.880 --> 01:12:01.600
And she looks at him and has come here and

1202
01:12:01.680 --> 01:12:03.800
as a pull him off to the side and has

1203
01:12:03.840 --> 01:12:07.760
to explain, we don't have carbon monoxide. We have tragedies

1204
01:12:07.800 --> 01:12:11.399
happening here. My son is having a medical emergency and

1205
01:12:11.520 --> 01:12:15.039
my daughter is passing out from stress because we think

1206
01:12:15.079 --> 01:12:18.720
that one of your employees murdered my other daughter and

1207
01:12:18.800 --> 01:12:22.000
might show up. We are having a hard time right now.

1208
01:12:23.000 --> 01:12:25.760
And no shade on that supervisor, because who would have

1209
01:12:25.760 --> 01:12:28.399
thought that could happen. Who would have ever imagined that

1210
01:12:28.760 --> 01:12:31.680
you cannot make this shit up. The vicarious trauma that

1211
01:12:31.720 --> 01:12:35.039
these families go through after an event is undeniable, and

1212
01:12:35.039 --> 01:12:38.319
this is a perfect example of that. But the investigation

1213
01:12:38.399 --> 01:12:41.560
had installed, y'all. It was just moving slow, and they

1214
01:12:41.560 --> 01:12:44.760
were trying to secure a solid case, one that Matt

1215
01:12:44.800 --> 01:12:47.880
couldn't beat if he had done this, and the small

1216
01:12:47.880 --> 01:12:50.760
things would become the big things. The building blocks in

1217
01:12:50.840 --> 01:12:55.560
this case, because remember that neighbor that had been interviewed

1218
01:12:55.800 --> 01:12:59.000
said that, yeah, I saw Matt arrive that day, blah

1219
01:12:59.000 --> 01:13:00.920
blah blah, so I'm going in the house. But there

1220
01:13:00.960 --> 01:13:04.199
was a few things that the police caught after they

1221
01:13:04.199 --> 01:13:07.560
had the long interview with Matt. Number one, the neighbor

1222
01:13:07.720 --> 01:13:10.359
was very clear that there were no vehicles parked on

1223
01:13:10.439 --> 01:13:13.840
the street when he saw that person walk up to

1224
01:13:13.920 --> 01:13:17.399
the Lamish's house. When Matt was interviewed, he said that

1225
01:13:17.439 --> 01:13:19.800
he parked right in front of the house. That was

1226
01:13:19.840 --> 01:13:22.680
a lie. That was a confirmed lie by other people.

1227
01:13:23.239 --> 01:13:25.960
So why you have to ask yourself would you park

1228
01:13:26.039 --> 01:13:29.399
blocks away from the house that you're going to unless

1229
01:13:29.399 --> 01:13:31.560
you're up to no good and you didn't want your

1230
01:13:31.640 --> 01:13:37.039
vehicle seene. Secondly, that neighbor was also able to describe

1231
01:13:37.159 --> 01:13:40.319
what Matt was wearing to a tea. Remember Matt even

1232
01:13:40.399 --> 01:13:42.600
told them what he was wearing. The neighbor in Matt's

1233
01:13:42.600 --> 01:13:47.720
descriptions aligned except for one thing. The neighbor mentioned that

1234
01:13:47.800 --> 01:13:51.920
the man was wearing a backpack on his back, something

1235
01:13:51.960 --> 01:13:56.720
that Matt failed to mention. How did you forget that?

1236
01:13:57.439 --> 01:13:59.000
You don't remember having a book sack? And he was

1237
01:13:59.079 --> 01:14:01.199
like oh, no, no, And they say, okay, well what

1238
01:14:01.239 --> 01:14:04.399
would have been in that bag? And he just tells

1239
01:14:04.399 --> 01:14:09.000
the investigators, I don't know. Well, to me, you and

1240
01:14:09.039 --> 01:14:11.760
everybody else, sounds like you might have had some fire

1241
01:14:11.840 --> 01:14:15.399
starting tools in that bag. He also had been wearing

1242
01:14:15.439 --> 01:14:18.800
his hat and his sunglasses, which I'll let you know.

1243
01:14:18.840 --> 01:14:21.359
When the family was digging through the rubble and they

1244
01:14:21.359 --> 01:14:25.479
found the cat, they ended up finding his hat in

1245
01:14:25.560 --> 01:14:30.680
the house. So he remembered his bag. He remembered to

1246
01:14:30.760 --> 01:14:33.640
grab that, but you didn't remember to grab your hat

1247
01:14:33.640 --> 01:14:36.279
and your sunglasses. And then when you left the house,

1248
01:14:37.039 --> 01:14:39.600
you didn't realize, ooh, I don't have my sunglasses. Why

1249
01:14:39.600 --> 01:14:41.399
didn't you just turn around and go back and grab

1250
01:14:41.760 --> 01:14:44.119
your sunglasses and get them when you realize that you

1251
01:14:44.159 --> 01:14:47.239
didn't have them. So all of this is kind of

1252
01:14:47.239 --> 01:14:50.119
putting things in place. Well. During the fire investigation, it

1253
01:14:50.199 --> 01:14:52.279
was noticed that there was an echo dot or like

1254
01:14:52.279 --> 01:14:56.039
an Alexa style device on the countertop in the kitchen.

1255
01:14:56.520 --> 01:14:59.560
So police wondered, is it possible that that device may have,

1256
01:15:00.079 --> 01:15:02.840
you know, recorded their final conversation or if there was

1257
01:15:02.880 --> 01:15:05.279
an argument or something. So depending on the device that

1258
01:15:05.319 --> 01:15:07.359
you have real fast, I'll let you know, the audio

1259
01:15:07.359 --> 01:15:09.239
can either be stored to the device, it can go

1260
01:15:09.279 --> 01:15:11.479
to a cloud. It just depends on what type you have.

1261
01:15:11.960 --> 01:15:15.560
But they cut a warrant to Amazon to retrieve the

1262
01:15:15.720 --> 01:15:19.399
last recordings that were caught on that device, so it

1263
01:15:19.399 --> 01:15:21.319
took time for that to come back. Well, when they

1264
01:15:21.359 --> 01:15:25.760
got the report, unfortunately it was found it had voices

1265
01:15:25.760 --> 01:15:29.600
on it, but it was not a recording that helped

1266
01:15:29.600 --> 01:15:32.680
in any way, shape or form, and the recording the voices,

1267
01:15:32.720 --> 01:15:34.920
it wasn't even relevant to the day of the fire.

1268
01:15:35.159 --> 01:15:37.840
So that ended up being kind of a dead end.

1269
01:15:38.319 --> 01:15:41.000
But the report from the Fire Marshal's office would finally

1270
01:15:41.159 --> 01:15:43.880
be available and the results of this would be very

1271
01:15:44.199 --> 01:15:47.479
telling because this report said that they believed that the

1272
01:15:47.520 --> 01:15:52.960
fire started in the cabinets above the stove. So you're like, oh, well,

1273
01:15:53.079 --> 01:15:55.319
the stove caught on fire or a pot and then

1274
01:15:55.359 --> 01:15:58.520
burn the cabinets, right, will No, because they did this

1275
01:15:58.640 --> 01:16:03.399
thorough investigation and found that the stove itself was not

1276
01:16:03.560 --> 01:16:07.319
on even the location of the burners, the knobs they

1277
01:16:07.319 --> 01:16:10.640
were turned to off. So it's not like Melissa had

1278
01:16:10.680 --> 01:16:13.279
been cooking fell out like would have been argued. I

1279
01:16:13.279 --> 01:16:16.520
guarantee you and the fire started, and if the oven

1280
01:16:16.560 --> 01:16:18.640
had been the cause of the fire, there would have

1281
01:16:18.640 --> 01:16:22.239
been fire damage inside of the oven, but there was none.

1282
01:16:22.239 --> 01:16:25.800
It looked almost perfect on the inside. There was no

1283
01:16:25.960 --> 01:16:29.239
cooking that was going on at any time whenever this

1284
01:16:29.359 --> 01:16:33.159
fire started. Plus it was in the cabinet where it started,

1285
01:16:33.159 --> 01:16:36.279
which meant that there was some sort of combustible or

1286
01:16:36.399 --> 01:16:39.279
gas that was used, some sort of accelerant that started

1287
01:16:39.319 --> 01:16:43.279
the fire in the cabinet. But what was the motive? Okay,

1288
01:16:44.119 --> 01:16:47.640
sure you could, you know, prosecute somebody without a motive,

1289
01:16:47.720 --> 01:16:51.720
but but that really will talk to a jury. Okay,

1290
01:16:52.319 --> 01:16:55.800
if the motive was her having a baby, he could

1291
01:16:55.800 --> 01:16:59.720
have done something for nine months. So why did he

1292
01:16:59.760 --> 01:17:02.960
do it now? Why would he wait until now? Right whenever?

1293
01:17:03.319 --> 01:17:05.439
You know she's about to have the baby? And that's

1294
01:17:05.479 --> 01:17:10.760
when the word deadline was revisited from his interview. See,

1295
01:17:10.840 --> 01:17:15.520
Matt was found in this interview to have been dating

1296
01:17:16.119 --> 01:17:19.319
another woman and her name was Katie. Well guess what.

1297
01:17:19.760 --> 01:17:23.640
He had been dating Katie for over a year when

1298
01:17:23.680 --> 01:17:29.359
Melissa became pregnant. Now, Katie didn't obviously didn't know anything

1299
01:17:29.359 --> 01:17:33.720
about Melissa or her pregnancy. So Matt now was saying

1300
01:17:33.880 --> 01:17:35.520
no no, no, no, no, I was I had planned

1301
01:17:35.560 --> 01:17:39.279
to break up with Katie on the on the twenty fifth,

1302
01:17:39.600 --> 01:17:41.840
but he just didn't. He just didn't do it. He

1303
01:17:41.880 --> 01:17:43.319
didn't get around to it. So he was going to

1304
01:17:43.359 --> 01:17:45.479
break it up with her. So I mean, that wasn't

1305
01:17:45.520 --> 01:17:50.000
a big deal. But text messages in his cell phone

1306
01:17:50.039 --> 01:17:53.520
found that Matt had had sex with another woman. This

1307
01:17:53.560 --> 01:17:57.600
woman's name was Alissa on the night of November the

1308
01:17:57.680 --> 01:18:00.399
twenty fourth. But detectors are looking at this going, so,

1309
01:18:00.479 --> 01:18:03.119
wait a minute. You called into work on that day

1310
01:18:03.159 --> 01:18:05.199
because you were too injured to do anything because your

1311
01:18:05.239 --> 01:18:07.479
knee was so injured. But you weren't too injured for

1312
01:18:07.479 --> 01:18:10.840
a booty call with a woman who wasn't your girlfriend.

1313
01:18:12.039 --> 01:18:13.840
Kind of seems like a lot, huh. Now, some guys

1314
01:18:13.920 --> 01:18:15.920
right now are like, oh, yeah, I'll have a booty

1315
01:18:15.920 --> 01:18:18.359
call with a hurt knee. But come on, guys, you

1316
01:18:18.399 --> 01:18:21.239
know this is this is child's play. Whenever you put

1317
01:18:21.239 --> 01:18:24.880
it all together, this is what happened. Matt had a girlfriend,

1318
01:18:25.159 --> 01:18:28.000
he was a dog, and he was sleeping around. Melissa

1319
01:18:28.039 --> 01:18:30.319
had no idea about that, and she ended up getting

1320
01:18:30.319 --> 01:18:33.640
pregnant during a random rendezvous with someone that she considered

1321
01:18:33.680 --> 01:18:36.840
to be a friend, and when he found out, he panicked.

1322
01:18:36.960 --> 01:18:38.960
That's why he told her to get the abortion, and

1323
01:18:39.039 --> 01:18:42.239
she flat out said no, and that's why he ghosted

1324
01:18:42.279 --> 01:18:45.760
her so as to not get caught and din and

1325
01:18:45.800 --> 01:18:48.680
distance himself from her. And the great news is this.

1326
01:18:49.319 --> 01:18:52.359
Melissa was fine with that, but by I don't need you,

1327
01:18:52.439 --> 01:18:55.000
I don't want anything, she made that very clear. So

1328
01:18:55.039 --> 01:18:58.439
he continued to sleep with other women, even though it

1329
01:18:58.479 --> 01:19:01.399
looks like he was supposedly dating this katie chick, and

1330
01:19:01.479 --> 01:19:03.760
he planned to just go on with his life being

1331
01:19:03.800 --> 01:19:07.960
a deadbeat sperm doner. But that's when Melissa told his

1332
01:19:08.199 --> 01:19:13.000
parents about the baby, and when they found out, they

1333
01:19:13.000 --> 01:19:16.960
were shocked but thrilled. So when Matt found out about

1334
01:19:17.000 --> 01:19:19.319
this and then was basically confronted by his parents with

1335
01:19:19.359 --> 01:19:21.439
the information that he was going to have a baby

1336
01:19:21.439 --> 01:19:26.119
and why didn't he tell them, he got pissed with Melissa,

1337
01:19:26.960 --> 01:19:31.680
but he didn't plan to have anything to do with

1338
01:19:31.960 --> 01:19:36.079
Melissa or the baby right Well, that's until his parents

1339
01:19:36.159 --> 01:19:38.279
started basically telling him, come on, dude, you need to

1340
01:19:38.279 --> 01:19:40.079
man up. You need to take care of your son.

1341
01:19:40.119 --> 01:19:43.239
You need to do the right thing. We have a grandchild.

1342
01:19:43.319 --> 01:19:46.640
They wanted a part of that grandchild's life. And this

1343
01:19:47.520 --> 01:19:52.000
happened very close to the quote unquote deadline of the

1344
01:19:52.079 --> 01:19:55.840
baby being born, and so that's why he decided he

1345
01:19:55.880 --> 01:19:58.960
had to do something about it before this baby could

1346
01:19:59.000 --> 01:20:03.680
even enter in to his life. Turns out this wasn't

1347
01:20:03.720 --> 01:20:07.760
a one time thing gone wrong of him showing up

1348
01:20:07.840 --> 01:20:10.920
with Melissa, because even when police tried to give him

1349
01:20:10.920 --> 01:20:14.239
an out in questioning, you know maybe that you know,

1350
01:20:14.319 --> 01:20:17.199
this was an argument that maybe didn't get out of control,

1351
01:20:17.359 --> 01:20:22.720
or you know, something happened. I spoke to Melissa's sister

1352
01:20:23.119 --> 01:20:26.439
in real life me and she opened my eyes to

1353
01:20:26.520 --> 01:20:29.720
some things that I did not know. One night, Melissa,

1354
01:20:29.920 --> 01:20:31.920
right very close to her death, was on the phone

1355
01:20:31.960 --> 01:20:34.960
with her sister, Cassie, and they were just chit chatting

1356
01:20:34.960 --> 01:20:39.039
on the phone, and Melissa was playing on Snapchat on

1357
01:20:39.079 --> 01:20:41.880
her phone. Well we all know this if we use snapchat,

1358
01:20:41.960 --> 01:20:43.960
but it has that mapping thing where you can look

1359
01:20:43.960 --> 01:20:45.680
at it and you can see which friends of yours

1360
01:20:45.720 --> 01:20:48.119
are nearby. So she's playing around on the phone and

1361
01:20:48.159 --> 01:20:50.920
Melissa just opens up the map to see if any

1362
01:20:50.960 --> 01:20:53.640
of her friends or in the nearby area, and that's

1363
01:20:53.640 --> 01:20:58.319
when she vocalized that she realized that Matt was near

1364
01:20:58.359 --> 01:21:01.560
the house. This is who has not had any contact

1365
01:21:01.560 --> 01:21:05.279
with her this entire pregnancy. The thing about it that

1366
01:21:05.399 --> 01:21:07.279
was weird was that, you know, she lived in a

1367
01:21:07.319 --> 01:21:10.560
more rural area. It was a small town off the

1368
01:21:10.560 --> 01:21:14.720
beaten path, way out of the way of where Matt lived,

1369
01:21:15.079 --> 01:21:18.199
and certainly off the path where he worked. And so

1370
01:21:18.439 --> 01:21:21.119
she said something to Cassie about that, like why would

1371
01:21:21.119 --> 01:21:24.000
he be out there? You know, we haven't spoken in forever.

1372
01:21:24.600 --> 01:21:26.520
He didn't know anybody out here, Like why is he

1373
01:21:26.600 --> 01:21:29.840
out in this area? And so Melissa texted him in

1374
01:21:29.920 --> 01:21:32.359
that moment and was like, you know, why are you

1375
01:21:32.399 --> 01:21:35.119
near my house? Like what are you doing? But Matt

1376
01:21:35.199 --> 01:21:38.279
never answered her. He didn't answer her, but she continued

1377
01:21:38.279 --> 01:21:41.000
to look at the map, and then she saw that

1378
01:21:41.079 --> 01:21:45.600
his location moved away from her shortly after she texted him.

1379
01:21:46.039 --> 01:21:48.359
But then he went and he turned off all of

1380
01:21:48.399 --> 01:21:53.199
his location where she couldn't see where he was. It

1381
01:21:53.239 --> 01:21:55.640
was weird in the moment, they felt it was weird,

1382
01:21:55.640 --> 01:21:58.399
like in their gut, and now looking back on it,

1383
01:21:58.399 --> 01:22:00.479
it really was looking like he had been planning to

1384
01:22:00.520 --> 01:22:03.680
do her something for a few days based on all

1385
01:22:03.680 --> 01:22:06.119
of the timeline events. Matt took off of work to

1386
01:22:06.199 --> 01:22:08.920
kill Melissa, but it took him a couple of attempts

1387
01:22:08.960 --> 01:22:12.199
to make it happen. So after he started pushing those

1388
01:22:12.239 --> 01:22:14.439
couple of days of wanting to see her and being

1389
01:22:14.439 --> 01:22:17.880
around her, she really wasn't that interested in him. When

1390
01:22:17.880 --> 01:22:21.399
he showed up and he knocked on that door. It's

1391
01:22:21.520 --> 01:22:26.079
my belief that she emotionally caved because she wanted her

1392
01:22:26.079 --> 01:22:28.319
son to have a dad, and if he was willing

1393
01:22:28.359 --> 01:22:30.119
to make this effort to drive all the way out

1394
01:22:30.159 --> 01:22:32.319
there to talk to her, even if it was laid

1395
01:22:32.359 --> 01:22:34.840
in the pregnancy, she was going to let him in

1396
01:22:34.960 --> 01:22:37.359
so that they could talk about the baby. Matt arrived

1397
01:22:37.359 --> 01:22:39.760
at the home around one point thirty. He parked blocks

1398
01:22:39.800 --> 01:22:42.319
away so that he wouldn't be seen, but the neighbor

1399
01:22:42.399 --> 01:22:44.359
ended up seeing him walk anyway, and the lack of

1400
01:22:44.399 --> 01:22:48.479
the car told a story. He showed up unexpectedly, as

1401
01:22:48.520 --> 01:22:50.960
evidenced by her reaction while on the phone with her sister,

1402
01:22:51.239 --> 01:22:54.279
and then Melissa let him in before she was attacked.

1403
01:22:54.600 --> 01:22:58.119
At some point. If she wouldn't abort the baby, he

1404
01:22:58.239 --> 01:23:01.039
was going to abort both of them. He cracked nine

1405
01:23:01.039 --> 01:23:03.880
month pregnant Melissa over the head and he beat her.

1406
01:23:03.920 --> 01:23:07.319
Eventually she fell to the ground where he ripped off

1407
01:23:07.359 --> 01:23:11.079
of her clothes and brutally raped her both vaginally and

1408
01:23:11.159 --> 01:23:14.479
anally while she is nine months pregnant, fighting him off

1409
01:23:14.560 --> 01:23:17.479
and trying to get away from him, and once he

1410
01:23:17.520 --> 01:23:20.399
got on top, he started strangling her until she took

1411
01:23:20.560 --> 01:23:24.279
her last breath. Once she was dead, he got his

1412
01:23:24.359 --> 01:23:26.880
fire starting stuff out of his bag. He started the

1413
01:23:26.920 --> 01:23:29.560
fire in the cabinets. As the fire grew, he grabbed

1414
01:23:29.560 --> 01:23:32.319
his bag, but he forgot his baseball cap and his sunglasses,

1415
01:23:32.439 --> 01:23:35.159
possibly knocked off while they were fighting, and then he

1416
01:23:35.199 --> 01:23:37.680
went out of the house, locking the door behind him.

1417
01:23:37.880 --> 01:23:41.720
As his child was now actively dying in Melissa's womb.

1418
01:23:42.399 --> 01:23:44.960
He walked to his car and he drove away, feeling

1419
01:23:44.960 --> 01:23:47.279
as though he had just solved all of his problems

1420
01:23:47.439 --> 01:23:50.119
and just continued on with his life for a year

1421
01:23:50.359 --> 01:23:53.760
as if it was no big deal. It took time,

1422
01:23:54.000 --> 01:23:56.960
and it took a lot of effort, but nearly a

1423
01:23:57.039 --> 01:24:00.359
year and a half after Melissa and Barrett's death, this

1424
01:24:00.520 --> 01:24:03.399
case was brought before a grand jury who issued a

1425
01:24:03.479 --> 01:24:08.960
ten count indictment against Matt. Matt Plody was arrested and

1426
01:24:09.159 --> 01:24:12.000
charged and would go on trial in March of twenty

1427
01:24:12.119 --> 01:24:15.880
twenty four, and Melissa's mama was there for every day

1428
01:24:15.920 --> 01:24:18.159
of the trial, and she had a special photo in

1429
01:24:18.199 --> 01:24:21.880
her hand the entire time, because when the funeral had

1430
01:24:21.920 --> 01:24:25.199
been held a year and a half prior, she took

1431
01:24:25.239 --> 01:24:30.039
a photo of baby Barrett, the only one that she

1432
01:24:30.079 --> 01:24:33.880
would ever have of her grandson, and his little hand

1433
01:24:34.119 --> 01:24:38.640
was in Melissa's and that photo was with Miss Diana,

1434
01:24:38.680 --> 01:24:42.760
the grandmother in court every single day as a testament

1435
01:24:43.000 --> 01:24:45.640
to her devotion to not only her daughter Melissa, but

1436
01:24:45.720 --> 01:24:50.319
also to Barrett. Two lives gone but never to be forgotten.

1437
01:24:50.880 --> 01:24:54.359
And after five days of testimony and the attorneys for

1438
01:24:54.479 --> 01:24:59.439
Matthew Plody blaming everyone but Matt, including Melissa's own father,

1439
01:25:00.079 --> 01:25:03.319
the man that loved her more than life itself, the

1440
01:25:03.399 --> 01:25:06.359
jury came back with a guilty verdict and he was

1441
01:25:06.399 --> 01:25:10.119
sentenced to a total of seventy five years behind bars,

1442
01:25:10.239 --> 01:25:12.760
and considering he was in his late thirties at that point,

1443
01:25:12.880 --> 01:25:18.119
he was effectively given life. Matt put on a uniform,

1444
01:25:18.800 --> 01:25:22.920
counting on the public to see a firefighter, a protector,

1445
01:25:23.399 --> 01:25:28.319
someone people trusted with their lives, but uniforms don't create character,

1446
01:25:29.119 --> 01:25:32.720
they just reveal it when the heat is on. When

1447
01:25:32.760 --> 01:25:38.039
the woman carrying his child needed courage, honesty, and accountability,

1448
01:25:38.279 --> 01:25:42.960
he chose lies. When she deserved a future, he stole

1449
01:25:43.000 --> 01:25:46.680
it from her. And when that innocent baby was just

1450
01:25:46.880 --> 01:25:50.279
days away from entering the world, he made a choice

1451
01:25:50.399 --> 01:25:55.640
that no uniform, no title, and no excuse could ever erase.

1452
01:25:57.119 --> 01:26:02.199
Real firefighters run toward day to save lives when the

1453
01:26:02.239 --> 01:26:09.079
heat is on. Matthew Plody created life just to destroy it.

1454
01:26:09.960 --> 01:26:12.880
I would consider it appropriate that when you hear his

1455
01:26:13.000 --> 01:26:15.840
name from this point forward, you don't remember him for

1456
01:26:15.920 --> 01:26:18.960
the patches on his sleeve or the truck he climbed into,

1457
01:26:19.279 --> 01:26:24.800
because that wasn't real. Remember him for what he proved

1458
01:26:24.880 --> 01:26:28.760
he was when nobody was supposed to be looking. Because

1459
01:26:28.760 --> 01:26:31.560
at the end of the day, he was not a firefighter.

1460
01:26:32.079 --> 01:26:34.960
He was a wanna be wearing the uniform of a

1461
01:26:35.000 --> 01:26:38.279
real man, but someone who could never earn the title

1462
01:26:38.439 --> 01:26:41.119
of what it means to be a man, nor a father.

1463
01:26:41.359 --> 01:26:43.960
And since he is obviously in the business of playing

1464
01:26:44.079 --> 01:26:46.680
dress up, he needs to shoot for something a little

1465
01:26:46.720 --> 01:26:51.399
more realistic. My immediate suggestion would be exchanging that fireman's

1466
01:26:51.439 --> 01:26:55.039
uniform for something maybe a little more feminine, maybe like

1467
01:26:55.079 --> 01:26:58.439
a fur, because with the right lighting and sitting on

1468
01:26:58.439 --> 01:27:01.399
the floor, you matt or a dead ringer for nothing

1469
01:27:01.439 --> 01:27:02.640
more than a little bitch.