HOMICIDE: Alison Parker and Adam Ward

0:06 Welcome to Unspeakable, a true crime podcast where I tell stories of real crimes with real victims, whose cases are so shocking that many are left wondering how is this even real? I use my experiences in law enforcement corrections, and combined with my years as a criminal justice educator, dig deep into complex cases of evil acts, some so evil many feel they are unspeakable. Warning. Unspeakable as intended for mature audiences. If you are easily offended, then I'm not your girl. Listening discretion is advised. Hey, y'all, it's kJ here. I'm back with another episode of Unspeakable. What's going on with you? How was your Easter? Mine was fantastic.

1:05 I had so much fun and it was beautiful and I got to wear a new dress with pockets and we all know that's a big deal. I hope that you had a great one. I got to get some shout outs here to some people, and I'm going to start in I hope I say this right with Tumpka Alabama? Did I say that right? I sure hope. So that's where missus Holly Drew is and I want to say, hey, how are you doing, Holly over there in Alabama? As well as right here now, I know this young lady in shall met Louisiana. This is Nicole Hunt. How are you doing, Nicole? I know we spoke recently and you're a therapist if I recall correctly, And she gave me some feedback on one of my last episodes about I believe it was autism. I believe, but we had a great talk and I enjoyed getting to know her. And her spouse is also Coleman, so I have to say hello to Coleman. How are you if you're listening, And I just love y'all so much for supporting me and continue to support me. I talk cold years ago. Coleman was also my student of the year, so I didn't forget.

2:05 And then I've got two people that did not give me locations, and that's okay. I'm still going to give you a shout out, and that's going to be Lacey Shelton and Bailey Garcia. How are y'all doing, guys? I hope you're doing fantastic. I'm thrilled to have you as a crime family member and supporting me, and so thank you so very much wherever you are in the world. But let's get started in today's episode. So last week I had the Dylan Roof case for you. If you haven't listened to that yet, go listen to it before you start this one, which was absolutely horrible in every way. And I mentioned at the beginning of that one that I was surprised at how two huge cases could be linked but in no way related. Well, today you're going to find out exactly what I meant by that. And I want to talk first about something called chaos theory.

2:49 I don't know if you've heard of it, but I want to bring it up for you. So, chaos theory is a branch of mathematics, and it deals with complex systems that the behavior is highly sensitive to slight changes in the conditions and basically, really really small changes can give rise to strikingly great consequences. Is the overall process behind chaos theory. And I'm no math expert, and I never claimed to be, and I never will, but I would probably actually call myself a bonafide moron if it comes down to it when it comes to math. Don't ever depend on me if your life depends on math, but the concept makes sense to me in regards to the chaos theory, and it leads to my point in today's case, because Dylan Ruf's actions in the church set off a chain of events that one would probably argue falls straight into that chaos theory category. And it made me kind of think of the butterfly effect, if you've heard of that, where the idea there is that if there's a minute localized change in a complex system, it makes it a huge change down the way. There was a movie about it too, where small thing like a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a storm or something on the other side of the world. But that's kind of what I'm thinking about when I'm introing into the one for today, because in this case, what happened in South Carolina is forever gonna change the course of people's lives in Virginia. So come with me to Roanoke, Virginia.

4:22 And this is home to the new station WDBJ seven, which covers everything from the morning commute to the arts to crime. It's all of it, and it's where people get their news. And it's funny to me how news reporters in your local area become people that you almost feel like you know them. And when I see sometimes local reporters out in the out in the wild. I stare at them for a second because I'm like, wait, I know them, and then I realize, no, I don't. I have no clue who they are in person. I just know them from TV and at least that's where it is where I'm from, Okay. I grew up locally with a station called WAFB, and I watched the news with my parents every single night as a kid, even if I didn't know what was going on, and the faces and the voices of those anchors were ones that I knew, and I almost felt like were my family in a weird way. I know that sound's cheesy, but it's like that's what we did every night, was we sat down and I trusted these people even as a child, to tell me what was going on. And I knew I could depend on people like George Cells and Donna Britt.

5:23 If you're local, you'll know exactly who I'm referring to. And I recently, matter of fact, went to we have a friend she does a true crime podcast too, but Kieran Shalla, she's a local reporter, and I went to a launch party for her website recently Jimithy and I went and I saw a face that I had not seen in years, in a long time, and it was mister George Sells, who was this anchorman from the news. He was older and a little grayer, but when he opened his mouth that booming voice, I was starstruck because I just grew up with this man. And I asked him to take a picture and he greataciously agreed to do so. It made my night, and we talked for a while, and I was just so exciting because the young girl and me felt like I was seeing an old friend that I hadn't seen him forever. And Miss Donna Britt she recently passed away from als, but that was another woman that I just really adored. I loved her, and her passing genuinely hurt my heart because it was a woman that I felt like I known for so long.

6:25 The truth is, I've never met her a day in my life, but that's how much she affected my life. And I say all of this to emphasize the role of the news in everybody's life in some capacity, and this rang true for local Roanoke reporter Alison Parker. So I think you would probably agree with me on this. But to be a reporter or to be on TV, you have to have some type of personality or good looks or something that people are attracted to that they trust you or they want to hear what you have to say. And Alison had it all in that respect. Now, she was young, she was twenty four years old, fresh face, super energetic. She had this little petite frame, small facial features, and she rocked what I like to call that reporter hair.

7:14 Do y'all know what I'm talking about. Reporters have that perfect hair that kind of flips out on the ends. It's got the volume. Hers was blonde and it was shoulder lenks and it kind of flipped out on the ends. She's preppy looking, clean cut, thousand watts, smile, basically everything that a newsperson who you would want to trust would I guess look like on camera, Exactly what you would expect them to look like. And Alison, although young, she had worked her butt off all twenty four years of her life to make it where she was at the news table. She had a history of being a very self motivated person and that's how she had gotten to be so successful at such a young age. And a little life info about her. I want to give you this because I want you to understand what a winner this girl was. She grew up in Collinsville, Virginia. She graduated from Martinsville High School in two thousand and nine.

8:07 And while being an athlete, I'm not going to say that that's everything. I was an athlete, so I'm drawn to athletes. But while being an athlete isn't everything, what it does show or tell me is that there was motivation behind her, because you can't be an athlete if you're not competitive and you're not intrinsically motivated. Well, Ashley was a swimmer, and she was a really, really good one because she even won the Piedmont District Swimmer of the Year for her butterfly stroke. So she was pretty good at it, and the hours of practice and dedication in and out of the pool were evidenced by her success whenever she was in competition. But she was also incredibly smart. While she was still in high school, she was in a program for the academically gifted students and she got her completed her associate's degree while still in high school. So she was a winner on and off the field or the pool. However, you would say that.

8:59 And her dad, his name's mister Andy. Her daddy's nickname for her was Scooter, and he knew that his Scooter was a nerd at heart, and I can appreciate that. I love that, and he would playfully poke fun at her for it, because she was a force of nature outwardly, but her bubbly personality was something that she led with. But looking inward, she totally had nerd tendencies. And I say that with total respect. I don't say that in an ugly way. She was part of the high school robotics team and she was in the band. So you want to talk about well rounded, the girl can do music, she can do academics, and she can swim, and she's an athlete, and she does robotics. The girl's got it going on. She played multiple instruments. She played the trumpet and the French horn in the jazz and in the concert band. So she was cultured too. I feel like she had a music appreciation more than probably the average Bearwood.

9:52 But she was also a gymnast and very talented dancer. And her physical appearance looks like exactly what she would expect of a ballerina if you were watching one dance on stage. But that soft side was also well balanced with a girl who loved the outdoors because her main love was the river and kayaking is what she loved to do with her family. She was very close with her family and they were her number one fans. Her parents thought the world of her. She was their world. She also had an older brother named Drew, and Drew had as berger, so he had a different way about him and conducting his life. But something about the two of them, they just had the strongest bond and Alison got her brother like nobody else did, and the love that they had for each other was so deep, and she spent a lot of time and attention on him because she knew that he struggled socially at least he had some struggles. They could not as a family have been more proud of Alison when she then found out that she was accepted into the James Madison University School of Media, Arts and Design, and this was a dream come true for her because not only did she get to go to the school she wanted to go, but she also got to join in and become a member of Greek Life becoming a proud member of the Alpha Phi sorority. She wanted to help people and she had found a way to do so. We all know that Greek Life, you know, when I was younger, I don't think I would have ever joined Greek Life As an older person, I'm super proud for Greek Life people and the things that they do, and the money that they

11:23 raise and the good things that they work towards. I don't think I was educated enough about it when I was younger as I am now that I'm older. And Alison joined in because of the good philanthropy that those groups could do. And then she also found a way to help by working as a calculus tutor for freshmen. So she's going to school working hard on her own doing all this philanthropy work, plus also working as a tutor for people that needed her help. And then in the summers, when she could have slacked off like the rest of us, she had even more things that she decided to do. She liked being out of school, I mean, there's no doubt about that, but she decided to work as an intern for the nighted Way during the summers. She was always putting her time to good use. And she was ecstatic to finally secure an internship at WDBJ seven News. Her daddy was so excited for her, and he said, Scooter, do you think you'll actually be on the air doing some news stories? Can you not see a daddy just so tickled about his little girl joining the news team, and she chuckled. He said, she laughed and said, no, daddy, I'm probably gonna be out there serving coffee or something to people. But whether she was doing a story or she was serving coffee, her daddy was beaming with pride that his baby girl was hired on at that news station. He believed in her and guess what the news station apparently did too, because, believe it or not, with little to no experience in news, they said, to hell with the coffee. They gave her six stories and they had her on camera before she even had time to process what happened. They saw a

12:55 light in her, they saw gold, and they did not want to wait. They started molding her instantly for this career. So after graduating college in twenty twelve, she joined a news team in North Carolina as the Jacksonville Bureau chief before she was ultimately recruited to WDBJ seventeen and Roanoke as the morning reporter, and that's where this case really takes off. So Allison was the face and the voice that the people of Roanoke saw each weekday morning. She was a staple in their lives, and it was clear that journalism was in her blood and she had definitely earned her spot in front of the camera. So there was a segment I was researching her because obviously I want to get to know my girl here. And I was researching and saw a segment that she was highlighted in and they did a little Q and A for their viewers to kind of get to know the people that were behind the camera. And in that Q and A, amongst some other things, she talked about her favorite TV characters and what she liked to watch on TV. And I was like, hot, damn okay, girl, we're friends, Lee and you are on the same wavelength. Because she was talking about how much she loved Walter White, My girl liked Breaking Bad, she liked the darker crime shows. So I'm like, this chick is awesome, got personality for days, a go getter, and she loves her some true crime.

14:15 Hell yeah, this is our girl, y'all, This is Alison, and she clearly was loved at her job, very comfortable in front of the camera. It was nothing for her. Her future was on an upward trajectory, both professionally and personally. She was doing really well. So it was in August morning, this is in twenty fifteen, when Alison was assigned to conduct a live interview with a woman named Vicki Gardner Andette was at the Manetta's Bridgewater Plaza and they were going to be covering these upcoming events for a fiftieth anniversary of Smith Mountain Lake. So this plaza was located about twenty six miles southeast of Roanoke. Okay, I'm gonna tell you all this Isn't it funny how you grow up saying things? Because I grew up hearing about Roanoke like it's that many syllable rowan oak. And I learned about that when we were talking about the wars and all that rowan oak. But when I'm listening to people from their say it, they say ron oak. It's not like rowan and oake like I was taught. So people out there, how y'all say it? Because I say rowan oak?

15:16 And I think it's ron Oake. But either way, I got off topic there. But she was. That's where she was. That's where Alison was. So she got up really early that morning as usual to get her day started. And while this wasn't something that she necessarily plastered all over the news per se, she was happily in love and had recently moved in with her boyfriend of nine months. His name was Chris Hurst. Well Chris. He actually had a name that people knew because Chris was the WDBJ evening anchor. So here they are in the news. Their schedules were opposite of each other, but it was perfect for them. He would come in from his evening shift and working at night just as she was getting ready to go out super early in the morning for her morning shift, and they would kind of see each other in passing. Chris was flat out smitten with his love and Alison the same. They adored one another. He would even make her breakfast in the morning every morning as an act of love. And I will tell you I live that same dream because my husband makes me my breakfast and my coffee every morning and carries it out to my car. Well, this morning, Chris made Alison a smoothie and scrambled egg so she would be full up for work and she wouldn't be hungry while she was doing her job. And they kissed goodbye, and he headed off to bed to get some sleep, and Alison left out to go start her morning. But before she got on, cameeron.

16:36 Before she started her interview, she made time to text him at some point before she got out of the car, and she said she texted him good night, sweet boy, just hoping that he had some good sleep while she was working. Now, Allison wouldn't be alone at this work site though, because while she may be the reporter, obviously someone's got a film it and that would be twenty seven year old cameraman Adam Ward. Now, Adam was a chill due, easygoing, helpful, one of those guys that's just all around likable. He's just somebody who comes into a room and people just are tickled by him. He was a total sports guy, love sports, and he's the type of knucklehead that no matter what the weather is, no matter what the temperature is, he is going to be in shorts and probably wearing a T shirt or a polo.

17:24 But it could be snowing outside and the dude's gonna have his shorts on, kind of like football coaches in high schools always think of them. They're always sporting a pullover hoodie in shorts, doesn't matter if it's freezing cold outside, that's the uniform. And he was built like a coach too. But he gives off teddy bear vibes when you're looking at him. And it makes sense that he loves sports too, because he played football in high school and he played for not only one, but two championship teams. And one of the greatest things about Adam was that people who interacted him with him from a personal perspective all the way through a professional perspective, if they all had the same sentiment about him. They said that Adam showed respect to everyone and that he was genuine in his concern that he had just for people. He liked people, so clearly whatever he was learning on the field from his coaches would carry on off the field, and that he kept that winter mentality and he wanted to be a team player and help people any chance that he got.

18:22 One thing he was known for doing, by the way, was he would give blood. That was his way that he would try to give back to the community, and he'd always brag that his blood was the color of his favorite team, which was Virginia Tech. He would say, I literally bleed maroon. I'm such a fan. So he had graduated college with his own degree in communications, and that's whenever he took that job at the news station alongside Allison, and that worked out better than he could have ever imagined, because now he too was also lucky in love, not with Alison, though, he and the morning show producer, her name was Melissa Ought. They caught each other's eye and they had been dating now since he had started working there. And not only had they been dating, but he had just recently proposed she was officially his fiance.

19:10 He got down on one knee like you're supposed to, and he proposed to her and she excitedly said yes, and now they were set to get married in July of the following year. So life was really coming together for him. And in all of his pictures, he's one of those guys he's got a wide open mouth smile like dem near every picture he's wide eyed and smiling and grinning, big cheese on his face. Just that type of personality. So together, Alison and Adam went out on live shots that had a great working relationship together. So Adam and his fiance they're busy planning their wedding and attending sporting events. Alison is in love and having the time of her life with her boyfriend Chris, and she also had just been chosen to be a contestant in the Valley Stars Benefit and that was where they raised money for adults and children that were in imminent dangers situations because of domestic violence. Both of these people were really in their community and doing good things. And look, real quick, I'm to tell you this. I'm not trying to get in your personal life, but it looks like love blooms at the news station based on everything I've told you so far. So if you're listening and you're like single and looking for love, you need to go get on the news. Go join the go join the news team. And this has got to be true because my good friend Laurie, she was a news reporter and I used to watch her on TV and think that she was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen. And don't you know she married her coworker, by the way, who was also a reporter named Mike. So I'm telling you go work at the news hell, be in it

20:40 if you must. But you could make a love connection. So there's there's my plug for that. Go find you some love. I digress. So here's Adam, here's Allison, and they set out early on that hot August morning. They're gonna meet up with Vicky Gardner and they're gonna record that live segment at the Bridgewater events that are that are coming up. Vicky was the executive director of Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, and so her role, amongst a million other things, was to bring attention to this wonderful community and all that it had to offer. So Vicky's long term vision was that she wanted to have this large center where the locals could all come see it and use it as a gathering place. It could be a resource that they could use for everything from higher education classes to town hall meetings and everything in between. So, if you can tell, Vicky was also very invested in this place that she called home. Vicky was married to VICKI was married to her husband, Tim, and together they had built a really nice life together.

21:42 They were each other's constant and they supported one another in all of their endeavors. So Miss Vicky was super excited that she was going to get to be on the news that morning, and she was really focused on showcasing all of her wonderful ideas. And her husband was super excited too, and he was going to watch her be on TV that morning. It was fun for everybody. So Miss VICKI met up with Alison and Adam early that morning and they talked through how to include all of the information that they had to cover in these couple of segments that they were going to do that morning, but due to time constraints and the way that the news flowed, it was going to have to be done in three segments that were going to have to be pretty short throughout the morning broadcast. So Adam was professional as always, and they were all kind of standing there talking together. He's suggesting what angles should they take so they get the best scenery in the background, and then working off of Allison, they determined a light outline for how to introduce the segment and so on and so forth.

22:40 So they were kind of just getting getting their grits together about how they were going to do things Alison was dressed as any professional reporter her age would be. She was in this fitted red dress, it looked very nice on her to the knee, and a black sweater and she had on these little black wedges. So being that Adam was behind the camera, Adam was more relaxed than what he was wearing. And you guessed it. He was in khaki shorts and his polo, which I believe was Virginia Tech colors if I'm not mistaken. So the first segment went really well. It was at the visitors Center. It was still dark outside, so this one was done really really early in the morning at the visitors Center. They recorded inside. It was a basic Q and A went off without a hitch. Everything was great. Then the second segment came about thirty minutes later and it was conducted with someone else. It was a gentleman that I think his name was Jerry Hale. Don't quote me on that one, but again that one went really well. But Jerry wasn't able to stay for the third segment because he had these meetings that were really important and he's like, look, I gotta cut out, I gotta go to these meetings, and so he immediately stepped away and left Miss Vicki to do the third segment, which was no problem. So they decided to do this last take on the outside of the building because the sun was now coming up.

23:58 It was beautiful. They had this beautiful backdrop of the lake and on all the buildings with the sun coming up, there was like a little golf course or a little mini golf or something back there too, which is really nice. It was about six forty five am when this started to take place. So the building was located right on the water, like I told you, and so they took a position on what I'll call an upper decking or an upper dock area. Bridgewater Plaza looks like a typical waterfront business where you would park in the parking lot but then go up some wooden stairs to a raised platform decking with a walkway that kind of goes around to all the different shops. It reminds me if you've ever been to dustin Florida and you know where AJ's is that restaurant it looks. It reminds me a lot of that set up with shopping and food and restaurants and all that. So they're standing really close together. Adam has the big old news camera on his left shoulder, and he's facing Alison and Vicki, who are obviously in front of him and facing him. So then the light comes on and it's time to talk action, and so they start doing their thing. Miss Vicky is nervous yet very poised, and she smiles as Alison introduced her, and then she broke into her explanation of the events that were upcoming. Adam's fiance. Remember Melissa Ott, she was back at the station and she's watching this live because she's the morning producer, and so she's ensuring that everything's going to go off without a hitch. But about one hundred yards away, a vehicle had pulled into the parking lot

25:30 and parked, and the man inside the vehicle was up early too, because he had a lot to do that day as well. He had been planning for some time his own production that he wanted to put on. He too, by the way, was a reporter and he had worked at multiple stations in recent times. So he prepared his things and he exited his vehicle, this mustang that he was super proud of, and he walked up the steps and he made his way in the direction of the live segment being filmed by Alison mus Vicki and Adam So common courtesy, I think we all know this. Common courtesy would be that you not interfere with a live broadcast. And being a reporter himself, the man knew this. This wasn't anything new, but instead of going the opposite direction or staying out of the way, he grabbed his cell phone and he turned it on to video mode and he filmed as he walked closer to the trio. So the video, I want you to imagine he's now a video in them in front of him, and the video kind of shifts left to right a bit as he's walking towards the group. The video is kind of grainy because the cell phone's probably not the best. It's unprofessional, but a reporter that wanted to, I guess, get something on camera might use a cell phone, and this was the beginning of his production. So he stops about three feet away from them, and he seems to be specifically filming the group when suddenly the unexpected pops into frame.

27:07 As he's filming with his left hand, the man's right arm raises up and he points a black pistol directly at Alison, And it's shocking when you see it happen, You're like, WHOA, what is that? But being focused on the interview she's conducting, she never even notices it. She's holding the microphone. It's up to Mimus Vicky's face as Miss Vicky is speaking, and he's standing there with the pistol up pointed directly at the reporter and Miss Vicki, but neither one of them notices what is happening. How often, guys, do you think that news reporters stay professional and on task when people purposefully try to get in the way of a newscast. We see this all the time, especially the Weather Channel, whenever they're out there filming and people run behind and do stupid things and all of that.

28:00 So this wasn't anything new. They just weren't paying attention to the man that was off to the side of them. He holds the gun pointed at Allison for a few seconds, and honestly, when you're watching it, it feels like an eternity. He's only three feet away from them, four feet right there, and then he takes about three steps backwards. So Adam is still filming. The other man with the pistol is over his left shoulder and Adam doesn't see him. Adam then turns the big camera to the right and he kind of pans out, filming the sunset over the water, and the women are continuing to talk each other, and then the man lowers the gun out of frame and he continues to film the group for a short little bit.

28:49 By a short little bit, I mean probably another minute. The tension, and I don't know if I'm conveying this to you, but the tension, the complete and utter anxiety you feel knowing that that man had a pistol in his hand pointed directly at Alison. It's beyond palpable, the anxiety that you feel. And they have no clue what danger that they're in. And it's like you're sitting there screaming, oh my god, look up, he's right there. Look up, Look up, look up. But they can't hear you. It's like a train wreck. You can't look away, and they just can't hear your screaming, and they just continue to talk with a gun pointed directly at Alison. So the gunman's bumpy cell phone video continues just for an agonizing few more seconds. After that, and then once again, that arm comes back up. It's covered, it's in a blue and white plaid long sleeve. That arm comes back up holding the pistol again, and he points it directly at Alison again. So imagine this, he's pointed at him, He's filmed himself pointing at at him. None of them noticed.

29:55 He puts it down, continues to film him, then pops it back up, but this time comple lately extended out and right at them. But again Alison never sees it. She's too focused and being professional. And that's when all hell breaks loose as the man begins pulling the trigger on live television. And while it happens in seconds, I had to watch this in slow motion to really understand what Alison experienced and to adequately explain it to you, because it happens literally in a flash. It's unbelievable, mind you. Alison and Adam and Vicky never had that luxury of slowing it down to understand what's going on. This happens in about twenty seconds from beginning to end, and they had to react in live time. So the first shot shocks both women, It just shocks them. And whether Allison was hit or not with that first trigger pull, I'm really unsure, but she does draw up her shoulders like you do if you get scared by a loud noise.

31:00 So it's boom and her shoulders go up, and she also at the same time pulls her right hand into her abdomen and drops her papers and her microphone in the process, and then boom. Another second shot immediately followed, and Alison, still drawn up her head, turns in the direction of the shooter while she starts hunching over her stomach as if she's trying to protect her vital organs, and then boom again. It's rapid boom, boom, boom. But that third shot follows and Alison by this point has turned to her left and she's turned and she's trying to run in the opposite direction of the shooter, and the shooter, who is still filming, begins to run after Allison, still pulling the trigger, so the camera where he's filming starts to point downward, and you see a flash of Allison's feet in those heels or wedges, and she's able to take about three steps before the camera completely drops down and you no longer can see or tell what's happening visually, So as the camera dropped, the gunman moved his arm to his right where Adam is standing right, I mean right there, and he pulls the trigger and shoots Adam. Adam never even had time to react because the shooter was standing behind Adam's left shoulder whenever he began firing, and the massive television camera is resting on Adam's shoulder. His eyes were focused through that recording screen at the women. He couldn't see the assailant at all.

32:27 So the shooter hits Adam almost point blank in the head, and Adam just drops before he can even react, and the camera that still recording drops with him, and he goes boom and it falls down on the camera on the ground, so Adam is instantly killed. He crumples in the exact same spot where he was standing, never even able to take a step. All of this happening while Adam's camera never stops rolling. It's on live television, so viewers are watching this happen. And not only were the viewers at home watching this happen and trying to process it, so was Adam's fiance. She's in the newsroom producing it and she watches Adam just collapse through the view of the camera, so again back in slow motion, explaining this.

33:19 Adam falls to the ground with the camera, but it focuses for a brief second on the shooter and you can clearly see the killer before the camera hits the ground. So standing over Adam with the gunpointed directly at him is a light skinned black Mail. He has his mouth really really tight, pursed in the top and bottom lips are curled in with like an angry expression like mm, you know, like when he's pulling the trigger, an angry expression of force. And he takes another shot at Adam, hitting him in the torso the head shot was already fatal, but this one, this one was gonna serve as insurance of that. So the assailant, who was still holding his own phone filming, continues filming, and you see flashes of dark and then the ground, and then flashes of the dock, and you realize this is the shooter obviously now chasing someone.

34:14 As he continues to pull the trigger. His phone never stopped filming, And what the viewer can't see in all of that movement is that Alison has been hit multiple times and although in agony, her adrenaline kept her running for her life before collapsing as the man chased her down, pulling the trigger over and over and over again, all while sickeningly trying to film it. It's almost like this is some sort of trophy hunt for him or something he might want to share at a later date. Like he's filming it as he's chasing someone down to murder them. And while I know that this is a non traditional method, I've chosen. This is not out of sensationalism. I've chosen to let you listen to this unfold because it hits different when you realize what you're hearing happening. Literally, someone is being chased down like a dog. It's not the full audio from start, from the start of the video through whenever he gets up to the women. It doesn't have all of that in there. I'm gonna cut in with the audio just as the women are chatting and they're paying him no attention, and then you're gonna hear him start to just unload on these unsuspecting victims and they have no time to even respond or defend themselves.

35:38 And his footprints, his footsteps can be heard as he runs after Allison, continuing to pull the trigger on her as she's trying to escape. But she's mortally wounded and she never had a chance. So listen for yourself. Be prepared. These are gunshots. You might not want to have your volume at full blast. That's what we're saying tourism. We want the people to come here to say that. I don't know if that strikes you the way that it struck me to hear how quickly this man just shut all of these people and you don't even have time to wrap your brain around what's happening. Your brain can't even process what's happening. It's just an automatic knee jerk if you're able to do anything. Alison only made it about twenty feet before her body gave out and she collapsed just before reaching the door of the building entrance.

36:51 The shooter then ran up on her and he fired even more shots into her already mortally wounded body. Although she was down and clearly in bad shape, she would be dead before the killer even turned back around. It's so many shots. So Adam lay dead from a gunshot wound to the head into the torso, laying in the very same spot where he was originally shot. Camera's still rolling. Don't let that get lost on you. The camera's still rolling, And so the news cuts back to the studio whenever they realize, oh my god, something horrific has just occurred, and the utter shock on the anchor woman's face. Her name is Kimberly McBroom. She's literally just frozen with her jaw dropped down. She's got these big blue eyes, they're wide open in disbelief, and she just stares at the monitor.

37:41 You can tell that this was not planned, not expected, and she was in shock at what she had just witnessed. And there's a brief pause of her just jaw drops staring at the camera. But then, ever the professional, she quickly gathers herself and she tells the viewers, okay, not sure what happened there, Well, well, of course, let you know as soon as we find out what those sounds were. And then they just cut immediately to commercial. So simultaneously as that's happening, back at the scene, Miss Vicki she had fallen to the ground. She wasn't shot. She fell to the ground, and she pretended to be dead, hoping that the shooter would just now leave and bypass her. But she wouldn't be so lucky because after now Allison was down, he turned around. Instead of just running away, he ran back to Miss Vicki, stood over her, and he shot her directly in the back. In total, there were fifteen rounds fired at the scene before the shooter fled.

38:42 Nearly forty thousand viewers watched everything unfold live live time, and this also included Franklin County Sheriff Bill Overton, who knew Alison and Adam. He knew them personally because he had just worked with them weeks earlier on a different clip that was being done, and even he was confused by what had just happened. It didn't make sense that was live television. What the hell? So back at the station, the film feed, you know, never cut. Even though they cut to commercial, the film feed from Adam's camera was still there, and so the newsroom, including his fiance, could still hear and somewhat see what was happening at the boardwalk.

39:29 Now the camera was laying still on the ground, it wasn't moving, and only a portion of Adam's arm lay in sight in front of the camera and he wasn't moving, So what his fiance must have been feeling in that moment, had to have just been surreal, Oh my god, nobody's moving and he's just laying there. But because they never cut the feed, they could hear emergency responders who arrived within minutes of what was going on, and they heard two words that would be haunting a responder who ran by yell three down, y'all, this is seven twelve am that all of this has taken place. It's seven twelve am now and viewers who were watching it are now posting online the news film and trying to armchair quarterback and guess what was going on. So it's now spreading like wildfire all over the place. And when the police arrived on scene, they found both Adam and Alison deceased.

40:28 They were beyond saving. Incredibly, though, Miss Vicki was still alive, although in immense pain and in trouble, she was still alive. So she was loaded into an ambulance and they rushed her to the hospital where she immediately underwent surgery. And like I told you, her husband had also been watching the news live as this whole tragedy unfolded. He wanted to see his wife on the news and he watched a shooting breakout, so he rushes to the hospital to try to go be by her side. Now, the shooter was gone from the scene when the police got there, but they would very quickly have plenty of leads. Everyone was in shock, everyone was wanting answers, but that was going to take a little bit of time to put it all together. But one person who knew a great deal about what had just happened was en route to send a very important facts, yeah, a facts. About forty five minutes after the shooting, ABC News in New York received a twenty three page facts that they weren't expecting.

41:38 The facts seemed to be a manifesto of sorts where a man detailed every perceived act of discrimination against him for his entire life that he felt had happened to him. And he also detailed his admiration for mass killers. So obviously ABC was quick to try to determine the origin of the letter, why it was sent, what the hell is this? And the writer of the manifesto seemed to be all over the place. It was disjointed at some points he was just straight ranting, but he did take credit in the facts for the murders on television of Alison and Adam that had just taken place. So obviously this was pre written and was prepared for this attack that had taken place. But the big question was now, why why did any of this happen? You sent a twenty three page facts detailing all of your the discrimination feel was imparted upon you. But what could have possibly led to this? What makes you go shoot and murder people on live television? Well, the writer's twenty three pages were separated into a bunch of different parts, basically a list of all of his complaints against the world. Y'all his grievances dated all the way back to first grade.

43:02 First grade. That's insane, first grade. I can't remember what happened last week, and you're gonna remember things that you think happened to you in first grade. His appreciation for mass killers and his anger at some was the next section. And wouldn't you know this is now the tie in to last week's case, Dylan Ruth. The manifesto directly mentions the June seventeenth shooting of the Charleston, South Carolina church where Dylan Roof went in and he murdered all of the black churchgoers. He specifically rants on about that, amongst a ton of other things. And then another section was a suicide note that he had written for family and friends.

43:50 So as ABC is mulling through the pages of the information, they now are realizing what they have, and so they go and they alert the authorities in Virginia as to what all they had just received. Some of the things that he wrote in there was that he admires, he had great admiration for mass killers, and he felt that the reason that the world discriminated against him was because he was a gay black man. He had direct quote, he says, I've been a human powder keg for a while, just waiting to go boom. So someone who's unhinged is now claiming to be responsible for the murders that just took place on television. So by eight forty five am, the families of Alison and Adam had been notified of their murders. And it was just unbelievable. There's no way I just saw them, you know. Chris is like, I just just made her breakfast. No, no, no, it wasn't her. No, I we just saw each other. We just spoke. That was basically the sentiment of everyone as they got the horrific news that Alison and Adam were dead. Alison's boyfriend, basically in shock, went online and he posted the words I am numb. I mean Alison and Adam. Alison had brought balloons that morning to the station. Why because she was celebrating the goodbye of Melissa Ott, Because now that she and Adam were getting married, she was going to

45:21 be taking a job. Because they were getting married, and they were going to move somewhere else, they were celebrating together. I imagine that all Chris and Melissa, all they could feel in that moment was just how does this happen to us? Why and why does random violence attack people that are so innocent, that haven't done anything. But the fact was that this had been long planned out. It was not random violence. It wasn't by chance, and it certainly could not be called random. But the main question was now, who is this guy? We know what is argument was overall, but the question of who is this was now the big issue, But that would quickly be quelled because there were two names given in the manifesto.

46:11 The first name was Vester, not Lester v as in Victor Vester Lee Flanagan, and that name didn't draw much attention, but the second name was what stood out, and it started putting some of the puzzle pieces together because that was the name, Bryce Williams. Well, Bryce Williams was the professional name that viewers recognized when they were watching the reporter Bryce Williams on that very same news channel that Allison and Adam worked for. Bryce Williams was the professional name, but his real name was Vester Flanagan. He put both of his names on his paper when he faxed it over.

46:55 So it was about ten oh five am. They've already received the fact. By this point, they've already alerted authorities. Everything's coming together. But the phone rings now at ABC and guess who it was. It was Vester Flanagan. And in the call, he's now vocalizing I killed him. I killed Alison and Adam, and then he added that the authorities are now after me. They're all over the place, and I'm the one who did it, and then he hung up the phone. So again ABC did their due diligence and they told the authorities everything that had unraveled and was happening over the last hour or so. So now that local police had a name. They were on the hunt for forty one year old Vester Flanagan aka Bryce Williams. So a little bit about him to give you a profile of who this man was. Vester is a very light skinned blackmail. He's got freckles on his face.

47:53 Who I want to also tell you in his former years, when he was young, when he was in his twenties, was a very fit man. He was in shape, and he liked to take photos of himself in casual yet somewhat sexy photos. So think of him in like his underwear, like like tighty whitey but not whities, you know, like tight underwear. He liked to put on mesh shirts. Very I'm not gonna say provocative as in pornographic. It's not that. It's just it was very sexy photos that he liked to take. And he had a great physique. But now in his forties, physique had filled out more. He was less toned, his hair was receding a little bit more, and he took a more professional approach to the photos that he put online. So now he's wearing a suit and he's wearing a tie. He had his hair really short, he had his edges nice and leaned out, you could lined out. You could tell that he really cared about his appearance. And while things were moving quickly since the murders, vester's name was now being blasted all over the TV and he obviously was armed and dangerous and now wanted for murder. So within five minutes of the alert going out of who this killer was, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe was speaking on a bit that they had called. Asked the governor and he told the public the shooter was believed to be a disgruntled employee at the news station.

49:21 So knowing this, one could obviously see the events weren't at random, and it begged the question, Okay, if he's a disgruntled employee, what's the connection between him and the victims? Why did he kill Allison and Adam if he's a disgruntled employee from the news station, Because being mad at your agency is one thing, but choosing to murder two other people who were just co workers with you, that's another. It seemed almost personal. I mean, shit, he found the location where they were, or knew that they were going to be, and drove there to kill them, specifically on live television. Well, to answer this, I have to back up a little bit. By a little bit, I mean like fifteen years. But I've got a back up fifteen years to lay down some foundational knowledge for you, because it was the year two thousand, twelve years before he was ever even hired at the same station as Alison and Adam Whenever. Vester was hired at a station known as w TWC in Tallahassee, Florida to work as a reporter.

50:23 But things wouldn't last very long when he got hired there because while Vester interviewed really well, he checked off all the boxes of what they were looking for to be a good reporter. Once he was hired, he did not meet or maintain expectations. The station ended up firing him, and on the firing paperwork, they listed multiple reasons why they fired him, including poor performance, misbehavior with regards to coworkers, and the use of profanity on the premises. So Vester adamantly denied these accusations, and he claimed that what really happened was a producer had called him a monkey, to which he complained, and once he complained, he was then fired in retaliation. So you have two very different stories about what happened between Vestor and the news station. So after that firing, he bounced around a few stations before being hired at WDBJ in Virginia in twenty twelve. Again, when he went to go interview, he interviewed really well, but right after being hired, the same issues began to arise.

51:29 Wouldn't you know. The station went so far as to refer him and it was more of like voluntold, not voluntary, but they referred him to an assistance program for employees because he was having a lot of what seemed to be emotional problems and problems with coworkers, and they wanted him to sort out these concerns if he wanted to remain employed there. And among their complaints were that he had poor performance and run ins with his coworkers, and it was so bad that they said this is mandatory. If you don't go, you will lose your job. So by December of twenty twelve, not only was he not performing well, nor was he showing any professional growth whatsoever.

52:11 So the station gave him a final warning, either fix it or you're gone. Nobody's gonna deal with you anymore. With what all is happening behind the scenes, and Vester did nothing of the sort. So by February of twenty thirteen, the station was over it and they fired him. Well, rather than just leave and be like, you know what, whatever, screw y'all and leave, Vester didn't want to do that. Instead, he decided to act and ask. When I say act and ass, I mean big ass. He threw a hissy fit, going nuts. They had to call the police to escort him off the premises, and right before he was escorted off the premises, he ran up on the station manager where he gave him a veiled threat. He had a small, little wooden cross in his hand and he brought it to the station manager and threw it at him. He looked him in the eye and he said you'll need this when he handed him that cross, and then the police escorted him off the premises and on his firing paperwork again. The reasons included a long history of work conflict, unsatisfactory job performance, and an inability to work as a team member, which is crucial in the news it's a news team. He also was pretty problematic for them. He also had constant grievances. Not only were they constant, but they were consistently proven to be unsubstantiated, and they were always racially centered. Vester was always claiming to be the victim,

53:47 and he would never recognize when he was the problem. So Vester's online persona was interesting to me as well, because while he's claiming that everyone is hating on him and all this kind of stuff, he's posting those sexy photos of him online and one of his quotes underneath that said, hell, yeah, I've been a paid companion and you wish you could too. So he's kind of just off putting in personality. I guess I don't know if you're seeing a trend here, but it sure seems that way. So ABC News now back livetime around this time, they connected some additional dots that Vester must have been the guy that's been contacting them for a few weeks now, saying look, I have a big story for you, but he wouldn't disclose much else within regards of what that big story would be. Well, they never reached out to him because it whatever. We're ABC News, we don't care what you're stupid he is, and they never got back with him. But now they're realizing it was him, and it was looking like he was alluding to something to come, But how could they have possibly imagined that he meant he would be the news and be creating it. So the local news station is in an absolute panic because now they're wondering if someone is he fixing to come ambush the rest of us? Is he going to attack the station? Everybody's on high alert. And it's now just now eleven am the same morning like this all happened so quickly, and the state police took a still shot

55:17 from the camera when the camera fell when Adam was filming. They took that still shot of the shooter and they released it. They started blasting that all over the media. Meanwhile, Vester is now officially on the run. He's been identified, but he is not keeping quiet while doing so, he is making news of his own and he is releasing information to the public via his personal social media. So while the police are actively looking for him, he goes to Twitter, he goes to his Twitter account and he starts bashing the victims that he just shot and killed on live television. These are his exact quotes that he put. This was on his Bryce Williams Twitter account. By the way, his professional name at eleven o nine, he posted Alison made racist comments the same minute, but afterwards he posted that EEOC report filed. One minute later eleven ten am, he wrote, they hired her after that question mark. Question mark question mark. One minute later after that, Adam went to HR on me after working with me one time.

56:26 And then that same minute, just a little bit later in the minute, he said, I filmed the shooting. Go see Facebook. So he's now trying to get people to go to Facebook. Four minutes later, after he posted all of those sentences, he uploaded his live video of him killing Alison and Adam as well as wounding Miss Vicki. He uploaded it for everyone to see, and anyone who was scrolling their page would see it because only today now do we have those warnings of do you want to watch this? They learned, But when this happened, that wasn't the fact, and so people were scrolling and when they didn't want to or weren't prepared, they saw live murder taking place. This included Allison's family and adams family.

57:20 They're families. It was everywhere. Can you imagine someone that you will love not only being murdered and stolen from you, but then the fucker who did it, filming it and then posting it online as if this was gonna be entertainment for the masses, and there was no way to stop it. It was a runaway train. Once it's on the internet, it is a runaway train. You cannot stop it. And it's everywhere. They're seeing their loved ones being murdered. The whole world is watching their loved ones be murdered. And I imagine this to have been such a vulnerable moment and they couldn't escape it. It was on disp play for everyone to see. How disgusting, how disgusting. And I don't know if these are the right words, but people, the public should not have a right at a wilm, you know, to see somebody's demise, to be brutalized like that.

58:17 It's not entertainment. It was brutality for the sake of shock value, and Vester Flanagin was getting exactly what he wanted. And the people who were suffering were the victims and their families. It's horrifying if you put yourself in somebody else's shoes to scroll and see your daughter, your scooter, your little girl murdered and he just uploads it like it's a golf tournament. So Vester, now that he's done all of his social media stuff, kicks his plan into high gear, which started with the rental car that he had gotten weeks prior. There was nothing wrong with his personal vehicle, that Ford Mustang that I mentioned. Matter of fact, he was still currently driving it, but he was racing towards the Roanoke Regional Airport in it. So was he flying or rushing there to go catch a flight to skip the country. No, that wasn't the plan. He was needing to get to their parking garage because he had stowed that rental car there. It was a silver Chevy Sonic, So he skirt up in there on two wheels, jumped out, and switched and got into the Chevy Sonic. The reason he did that was he was trying to switch the vehicles to try to throw the police off because he knew the police were going to be looking for the Ford Mustang. So he's now flying up Interstate eighty one where he would make a decision that would tremendously help law enforcement, even though he didn't mean to. Vester, being

59:50 the braggadocious asshole that he is, decided to send a text message to a friend that said I've done something really stupid. Stupid I think is a pretty big one understatement, But this was huge because the police may have been looking for his Mustang, but they were able to locate him via his cell phone from the text that he was sending, and so the towers were able to they were able to see which towers the phone was pinging off of, and so they could locate his general direction and then his direction of travel from that information. So Virginia State Police by this point realized that Vester was in the rental car, not in the Mustang, and a BOLO was issued, which is to be on the lookout for the rental car. So police are now everywhere looking for this vehicle. So what happens is, so you'll understand, whenever there's a stolen vehicle or somebody wanted or whatever, this information gets uploaded into what's called NCIC, which is the National Crime Information Center Database, And NCIC is a huge tool for law enforcement. It's basically a criminal records database.

1:00:57 It's not open for the public or anything. It's just for law enforcement agents, and so they can look for things like stolen property, missing or wanted people, even domestic violence protection orders. All of that is uploaded into that NCIC. But it's also how license plate readers that are in police vehicles can quickly locate these bolowed vehicles that they're looking for. So you can either call it luck or you can call it good police work. But at eleven thirty am that same morning, a license plate reader that was located in a female Virginia State State Troopers vehicle alerted her that that wanted vehicle listed on the BOLO had just passed her. Her license plate reader read it.

1:01:37 So she gets on the interstate and she pulls up behind him. Now remember this is a single female state trooper, and she wanted to verify the license plate and verify the information before she lit up his car to possibly pull him over, because she felt like, and I feel like it's a legitimate concern that this might cause a high speed chase, knowing what's just taking place him down Interstate sixty six as they neared Washington, and she was able to verify this is indeed the tag of the vehicle that is likely being driven by a killer. So tactically it made more sense for there to be a bigger police presence, so she just kind of chilled behind him, radioed for backup, which arrived right thereafter, and then once everybody was in place, she flipped on her lights to enact the traffic stop, and just as she assumed would happen, Vester refused to stop. He continued on in the middle lane of the Interstate. He did not attempt to slow down, he didn't attempt to stop. So the troopers are still behind him, They've they've got the lights going. They're trying to get him to pull over, and they're just wanting to take him into custody without incident. But based on his actions so far, it just wasn't seeming very likely that that was going to be the case. So as they're still continuing behind him, clearly trying to pull him over, and he's not pulling over, all of a sudden, his vehicle jerks and swerves to the left, and it remains on course to go straight off of the interstate, right off of the roadway into the grassy area on the

1:03:08 side of the road. But he wasn't slowing down, and the vehicle drove straight off the highway, bumping through the grass before slamming into the treeline on the side of the road, so police swooped in. They approached the vehicle with absolute caution because they know who they think is in this vehicle and they wanted to see who was inside. So as they eased up closer, safety completely in mind, they did positively id that that was Vester Flanagan as the driver of the vehicle, but he wasn't moving. So as they got closer and they were able to closer inspect what was going on, they realized that he was now suffering from a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head, so he wasn't dead. Believe it or not, he shot himself in the head, but was alive. He had a light pulse and so they immediately jumped in to apply life saving measures for Vessel, which was more care than he ever extended to his victims. Just shortly before an ambulance arrived. They loaded him up and they took him to the Fairfax Hospital near Washington around eleven forty five am.

1:04:14 So while he's being rushed to the hospital, they now start digging through the vehicle to see what's inside, and they found a wig, a black hat, a shawl, sunglasses, a to do list, and they also found three license plates inside. So I don't know about you, but that should us sound like costumes or get away change of clothes to look like a woman or something of that nature. He had a glock, he had six magazines and some nine millimeter ammunition. Vester had a plan for the entire day, including his getaway, never imagining that the police would be able to find him so quickly. But he underestimated everybody that was involved in this, and that's when he decided to take the coward's way out, always a victim, never the problem. He shot himself in the head to avoid facing the atrocities that he had committed that day, and as you would expect, that's exactly what he accomplished, because he was later pronounced dead at one twenty six pm in the afternoon that same day, zero accountability for what had happened. Which should have been a normal day had turned into complete horror for multiple people. It into the lives of multiple people. So why did Vester target Adam and Allison? And here's your answer. Vester believed that he

1:05:45 should have been the face of television and when he couldn't get along with anyone at work, including Alison and Adam. He was fired. He believed in his mind that Alison was being given his line light that was stolen from him, and he was mad at Adam because Adam happened to be filming whenever he threw his hissy fit, acted a complete and total ass, and had to be escorted off the premises. When he was fired, Adam happened to be filming, so he saw Adam. He flipped at him off when that happened, was yelling at him and screaming and hollering, just making you know, gestures and yelling at Adam, ad at Adam because he was getting fired. His whole plan was for him to end his perceived rivals and give himself the limelight during their undoing. It's one of the most selfish acts I've I'm serious, that is one of the most selfish things that I've ever heard of. And in an effort for him to be regarded as the good employee in and to do something and that he was victimized by these horrible people, he spent the days leading up to the murders posting photos of himself from his life and his good works, only the highlights of

1:07:15 the good things that he could put on the internet. He showed himself the best light, and then he posted lies about his victims, the people he just murdered, because now they were dead and they were unable to dispute the claims. That is sick. That is such a coward move. In the facts that Vestor sent, he was trying to justify the murders that he committed, and these are his words. He said. Okay, so the big question is why, Well, after I compiled well over one hundred pages chronicling the hurt in my life, I asked myself, why not that's what you regard to human beings lives as why not discuss His main claims were that black men and white women caused him problems, and then he added direct quote that he was somewhat racist against blacks, whites, and Latinos.

1:08:15 He even said that the initials of the victims from the Mother Emmanuel church shooting were on his bullets. Let me tell you something, those people that were victimized in that church would never have condoned that those were people of God. They would not have wanted that. I don't care if you're trying to act like you're getting vindication for them. Those people wouldn't have wanted that. That's not in their heart. That's no better than Dylan Rufe's symbolism of his eighty eight bullets for his white supremacy. Y'all are both hateful racists. No sane human being ever would say these next sentences either. Vester said that the shooter of Virginia Tech, that that was his boy, that he threw out all of the kudos for the Columbine shooters.

1:08:59 It's it's bizarre and it's not right. And incredibly, as all of this is playing out on national television, another media person was watching and the hair on the back of his neck stood up too. This guy's name was Don Schaeffer, and he looked at the TV, stunned that he was looking at Vester Flanagan. Why was he stunned because Vester had worked for him in the past. Don was a news director at x ETV in San Diego. He had hired Vester, and he realized, oh my god, this is a big mistake. Because of all the problems Vester had. Don realized that this guy was an issue and that Vester's personality was the problem, not other people.

1:09:44 So he ended up firing Vester, and then vest had turned around and sued Don alleging guess what, racial discrimination. But again, as usual, the whole lawsuit was dismissed. Why because the courts recognized that everything Vester said was nonsense and that nothing substantiated anything Vester ever claimed. Another man stood there, wide eye. You're not gonna believe this. This one person. Another guy was wide eyed watching this. His name was Brandon Foster, and he's going holy shit as he's watching it happen because just days before he had had a run in with Vester. Now, I want you to know something. This has nothing to do with news or a job. He was driving down the road when Vester started driving like a maniac, swerving in and out of traffic, almost hitting people. And so when they pulled up at a stoplight, Brandon Foster rolled the window was like, say, dude, you need to calm down. You're gonna kill somebody. What are you doing? It was so wild he even posted it on YouTube. Okay, that's how crazy this driving was.

1:10:51 And Vester, rather than saying you know what, my bad, I'm having a bad day or being like whatever, dude and ignoring him like an adult would say sorry, my bad whatever. Rather than that happening, Vester then decided to stalk Brandon follow Brandon. And this wasn't just a follow, this was an aggressive following, trying to scare him. Weaving in and out of traffic. Vester had even stopped moving traffic with his vehicle to get out to yell and scream and holler at Brandon. Now it didn't turn violent, I mean, it was all said and done, but it was completely out of pocket for a grown ass man to behave. All of these people had these interactions with the same guy. The common denominator in all of the problems, and what it all boils down to is a person with a victim mentality, a perpetually angry person who's looking for others to blame for their shortcomings. And y'all, I know I ain't perfect. I'm not going to stand here and act like I am. I've never claimed to be.

1:11:49 But I'll be damned if I'm gonna walk this earth and not take responsibility for my actions when I screw up, because that's what I do. When I mess up, I try to fix it. I don't go blaming other people. I have to even add this in there, just I didn't say it, but I have to add this in Vester was so unhinged. Listen what he did. He threw a fit at work, okay, on one of the job sites because an intern leaned in and asked him if he wanted to swing by for lunch, and Vester took that comment and turned that into like a discriminate, discriminatory argument, alluding to the fact that monkeys swing and so this intern must have meant that about him. And I'm like, dude, chill out, Jesse Smollett, like, you need to cool your jets.

1:12:34 Everybody ain't after you. Bro. You are making a mountain out of a molehill. Everything about this dude's personality is a total and complete shit show. Absolute shit show. Even when you're starting to make all the complaints about the fact that he was gay, his own family and friends like these people came out and were talking about him. And one example was a person named guy Nell Flanagan, who I think that was an aunt. I'm not one hundred percent certain on that, but she did an interview with The Daily Mail Online and said Vester's sexuality wasn't a secret in our family. Everybody knew that. Nobody cared, and she even added this, I thought it was kind of funny. He's not the only gay person in our family.

1:13:15 We personally couldn't care less. Nobody cares. Only Vester cared about what he thought other people cared about. He projected his own problems on other people. Your workplace hired you on the premise you would be a good reporter. You weren't. You caused problems everywhere you were hired. You caused problems amongst people that didn't care or have a problem with you. You made it a problem. And by the way, Vester went and purchased the guns that he used to murder Allison and Adam two days after the Dylan Ruth shooting. That's whenever he started all of this enacting of his final plans. And he wrote on there there's some expletives and I don't know what they are because they were redacted, But in one of his writings that says, for you, Dylan Ruth, you explative. I don't know what the word is.

1:14:04 You want a race war, explative, bring it, bring it? Then you white and then explative. I don't know what it is. You can fill in the blanks. It doesn't matter. It was stupid. So he says that Dylan Ruth's actions pissed him off and that you know, if Dylan wanted a race war, he was going to give you one. The problem is you're the problem. You and Dylan are the problem. The rest of us want to get along. Y'all are the problem. So when you when I mentioned that one person's actions can affect the lives of so many, I hope you can see how I got where I am today with this episode. And I thought that this was kind of awesome. Rather than let Alison and adams deaths be in vain, Allison's boyfriend Chris decided to go big or go home. And what he did was he decided to run for office. And whenever he ran for office, he decided he wanted to enact legislation, and he made it to by the way he was elected. He decided that he wanted to introduce legislation that would prevent potential employees from suing former employees that share negative information about their past violent or threatening behavior, because his point in all of this was that sharing this information could have potentially saved Alison and Adam's lives. And I have to say, I think that's pretty cool. People are afraid they're going to get sued if they say anything bad. That legislation would have prevented that. That's where you put your money where your mouth is. That's how you make a difference,

1:15:36 and that's how he made Alison's life or loss of life not be just for nothing. He made something out of it. Vester Flanagan killed two good people simply because he was jealous, because of the color of their skin and because of their likable personalities. Imagine being that horrible of a human being that would cause you to want to kill somebody. There's a difference between reporting the news and hijacking investor, and it's pathetic that the best you could do was to create tragedy live on air because being irrelevant wasn't dramatic enough for you. You never were a reporter. You were a bitter failure with a camera making noise. But as the age old saying goes, bad news travels fast, just like that car didn't to the tree line.