July 21, 2026

Part 2 | Left for Dead: The Killing of Lauren DeWise

Part 2 | Left for Dead: The Killing of Lauren DeWise

Part 2 of a 2 part series On a cold January night in 2018, Lauren DeWise — was brutally gunned down in her own bed. Her roommate, Ashley Van Hemert, was shot multiple times and left for dead, but miraculously survived to tell a harrowing tale of...

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Season 11
Part 2 of a 2 part series
On a cold January night in 2018, Lauren DeWise — was brutally gunned down in her own bed. Her roommate, Ashley Van Hemert, was shot multiple times and left for dead, but miraculously survived to tell a harrowing tale of terror and betrayal. What seemed like a random intruder attack quickly unraveled into something far more sinister: a story of a crumbling marriage, a desperate escape from abuse, and a vengeful husband who would stop at nothing to destroy the woman who left him.
WEBVTT

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Welcome to Unspeakable, a true crime podcast where 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. I'm going to

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be finishing up the Lauren de Wise case that I started,

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so yes, this is going to be the part two

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in the final on this one. But before I get started,

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I've got some shout outs here and I have never

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heard of Coal Center, Pennsylvania. I'ma have to look this

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one up, but that is where my newest Crime Family member,

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Miss Jenna Michlos, is from, and so I want to

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say hello to you. Jenna. I am waving to you

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on the camera. How are you doing all the way

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and in Pennsylvania? I hope that you're having a wonderful week,

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and I appreciate you joining and supporting my dream, So

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thank you so much. And then we're going to move

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over to Morehead, Minnesota, where we have got miss Kayley. Now, Kaylee,

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I looked up how to pronounce your last name. I

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hope I have this right, because I have it as

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Kolick Kaylee Kolick in Morehead, Minnesota. I hope I got

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that one right, my friend. I really did put a

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lot of effort into it. So again I'm waving to

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you right now on the camera. I appreciate you more

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than ever, and I hope I got that right. If

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I didn't, sime A said, you let me know and

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I will fix that one for you because that one's

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a little bit different. And then we're gonna go right

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here in my backyard. It seems like in Clinton, Mississippi,

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where I've got Lauren Dawson. What is going on, Lauren?

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How are you doing in Mississippi. I hear that y'all

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had a lot of rain recently, unless I've got that wrong,

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but it moved through y'all and then it hit us

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or something like that. So I hope that you're doing

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well over there, and I appreciate you thank you so

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much for supporting my show and believing in me. And

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then we'll go to Ponka City, Oklahoma. Ponka City, that's

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new too. And this is miss Terry Pamticky. Now, Terry,

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I think that you had joined before and then you

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joined again. So if I'm right, I'm glad you're back.

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I really appreciate it. And though sometimes people will have

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to come and they have to go, and there is

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nothing wrong with that. I love having you around, Terry,

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and I'm glad that you're here, and I hope that

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you are just having the best summer in Oklahoma. Now,

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I still have more shoutouts to do, but I will

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catch you on the next round next week. If I

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didn't give you, you just hang tight. And if for some

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reason you think I should have given you a shout

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out by now and I didn't, you're more than welcome

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to message me and I'll see what happened. Because I'm

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not perfect, but I really do try. All right, So

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let's jump into this episode because last week we left

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off with Lauren de Wise, who was murdered and her

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roommate Ashley was clinging to life after they were both

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shot multiple times in the early morning hours where they slept.

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So Lauren's soon to be ex husband, Paul was really

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the main suspect in the murder and the attempted murder,

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but there was limited evidence tying him to the shootings. Okay,

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so motive maybe absolutely, Okay, I'll give you that the

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motive was there, but cold hard evidence not really okay,

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they needed something solid, not to mention his kids verified

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that he was home with them all night, minus a

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quick trip to the gas station. But then again, the

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video surveillance footage verified that Paul was at the gas

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station just like he said he was. He ran in,

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grabbed some beer, and then he ran back out. But

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when cell phones were taking a look at Paul's cell

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phone had a ton of videos of him basically harassing

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Lauren about being a bad mom and being nasty and

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a bad wife, and when she would argue back with him.

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Part of her argument that she was saying to him

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was that she was tired of him physically abusing her,

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which he wholeheartedly had denied to police in the initial

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interrogation room. You know, have y'all over hit each other?

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Blah blah blah, And he's like, no, I've never hit Lauren,

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but when she was accusing him of this in these

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videos that I don't believe she knew she was being

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recorded necessarily, he never popped back at her and called

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her a liar or never said that's not true, or

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any of the instances that were very specific that she

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brought up. He never popped off or challenged what she

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was saying, and that was weird. Even the neighbors agreed

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that they had heard and seen him hurting Lauren before,

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which I mentioned in last episode, and then that third roommate, Audie.

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She also told police that just prior to Lauren's death,

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she had confided in Lauren that for the past ten years,

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Paul had allegedly been beating her. No one seemed aware

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of this though in Lauren's family at least, and the

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kids told the police that Lauren was the one who

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would yell and throw things, not Paul. And these kids

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lived with them, right, So what was going on? Why

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were the kids seeing one thing in Lauren saying another?

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So there had also been these interactions and fights between

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Paul and a few men from Lauren's work. All of

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this was after hours, which indicated that Paul had been

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tracking Lauren's whereabouts until she had eventually moved out of

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the home. But what Paul had been doing insofar as

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contact with Lauren after she moved out, Okay, that was

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something that needed to be looked at, because his last

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conversation or his last communication with Lauren was centered around

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her joining him and the kids for church on Sunday,

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which she did decline. So police dove into the electronic

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the metadata from things that were collected at Paul's home

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during the search warrant that would have been executed at

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the house that he and Lauren had previously shared together,

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and what they found was that even though Lauren had

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stopped sharing her location with Paul, like on Life three

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sixty or one of those tracking apps, he was still

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managing to track her whereabouts. But how so if she

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had cut him off from seeing it, how was he

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able to locate her well. They knew that he was

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doing this because photos and videos that were pulled from

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his own cell phone would show that this was true.

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He would be driving by buildings or driving by events

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that Lauren was at, and even at times he would

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be so brazen as to go inside, and when he

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was inside, he wasn't being you know, a slinky, you know,

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hiding in the shadows type of thing. No, no, no, no no.

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When he would go inside, he was being very obvious.

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He wanted her to know that he was there and

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she would see him, and police were able to verify

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that to be true even further because Lauren's co workers

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would say that, yup, he would show up to events

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and then Lauren would see him and go, oh, look,

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there's my husband. And she seemed really like put out

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by this that he was at these locations and he

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just wasn't supposed to be there. But everything that police

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were seeing and following really was rising to the level

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of stalking. Okay, because just because you're married to somebody

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doesn't mean that they you know, it's just kind of

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odd to be tracking you at a level that he

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was tracking her, and now that they're estranged and she's

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moved out, it certainly doesn't seem appropriate. But it turned

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out that the reason he would know her location was

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because he had purchased and installed trackers on her vehicle. Now,

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if there's anything that I know that I've learned in

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my lifetime, it's that whenever you own a vehicle, okay,

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Let's say that you and your spouse buy a vehicle

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together and then y'all become estranged. You can legally track

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your own vehicle even if they were estranged. If you're

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still on the title, it's still your vehicle, then you

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can put a tracker on that vehicle. Now, I don't know,

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I want to be upfront here. I don't know if

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they had both financed the vehicle together or anything like that.

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But although it was pop possibly legal what he had

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done here, considering the circumstances they were in, in the condition,

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and the deterioration of their marriage, it just wasn't cool.

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We can all agree on that, right, legal or not,

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that ain't cool. But it wasn't that he was only

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stalking Lauren, because there were photos that would show he

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was stalking men from Lauren's job. And as creepy as

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this is, Paul had a plethora of photographs on his

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personal cell phone of men okay, and they were like alone.

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They'd be just in a parking lot, walking into like

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home depot or something like that, and he, he being Paul,

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was logging anyone basically that had contact with Lauren, and

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he'd be sitting in the parking lots, taking photos of

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people he didn't know, and those people had no clue

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that they were being followed and being watched by Paul either.

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And I don't know about you, but that's unnerving to

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think you're just on a Saturday by yourself, going to

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grocery store or going somewhere, and there's somebody out there

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following you, filming you, taking photos of you, and you

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have no clue. That's scary. He was also passing by

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Audie's house and any cars that were in the driveway,

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he was photographing them, including getting their license plates. Any

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vehicle that was coming and going, he was photographing all

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of this and it was all documented in his cell phone. Again,

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this is beyond normal behavior, but not proof of murder.

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So Paul's laptop had been taken during the execution of

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the search warrant, and this also would prove a treasure

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trove of circumstantial evidence. Again, circumstantial evidence just means the

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circumstances lend themselves to be somewhat problematic, but it's not

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physical evidence. Okay, it's not the same as DNA or

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something like that. But in his search history on his laptop,

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he was marking Lauren's locations. He was obsessively searching Lauren's

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name online seeing where she would pop up social media,

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all of these places. But he was also looking up

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websites and articles on how to win my wife back.

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So it seemed like he was just obsessed about that

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he was losing his wife and he was wanting to

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do anything he could to win her back. But this

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was beyond that. This is just creepy. But there were

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also other searches on there that were more devious, like

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he was researching the details of revenge porn laws, and

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you have to ask yourself, why would he care about

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the laws of revenge porn. Did he have video of

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he and his wife from earlier times that maybe he

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planned on sharing or trying to embarrass her, or maybe

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he was going to try to set her up and

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say that she had released the video. We don't know.

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Because what he's doing here so out of pocket. Anything

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was possible. So a huge evidentiary break would be made

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at the house though, because when they were searching the house,

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police found bullets. In the home. They found four unfired

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rounds and they happened to be twenty two caliber. The

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thing about the cartridges though, was that they bore the

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same brand markings as some of the cartridges that were

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collected at the crime scene. They also found the following day,

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so they did the search of the house. I think

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they took two days to complete the search, so it

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was a big one. Well, on the second day of

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the search, during a check of other buildings out on

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the property, there was a shed there. When police went

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in there in the backyard, they found another single round

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of the same caliber on the shed floor. So in

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the master bedroom of the house, officers located to additional

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boxes of twenty two ammunition and guess what brand it was?

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It was that Aguala ammunition, the same brand of the

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secondary ammo that was used in the mixed ammo during

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the crime in the shooting of Lauren and Ashley. Because

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remember they didn't know was it mixed ammo of one

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shooter or was it two shooters, two guns, two different

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sets of ammo. Well, while they found this ammo, that's great, okay,

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but it was all unspent. Okay, it's brand new, But

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it's what they didn't locate, Okay. That was interesting because

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officers did not find a twenty two pistol of any

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kind at the Dewis's residence after the thorough search. And

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so it was what they located in lieu of the

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weapon that had police going, all right, here we go,

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because in one of the drawers in the master bedroom,

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amongst some other things, they found an instruction manual for

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a Ruger twenty two pistol. So anyone with common sense

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would ask, why would you have mixed AMMO that matches

231
00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:11.039
the same mixed AMO found at your wife's murder scene.

232
00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.639
But also why would you have the manual for a

233
00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:18.159
gun that you don't have anywhere in your residence? And

234
00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:20.480
the answer, as far as police were concerned, was because

235
00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.879
he had that gun. That's why he had the manual.

236
00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:27.240
He got rid of it, and that was the murder weapon.

237
00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:31.240
But finding it would be a massive undertaking, if not

238
00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:35.080
flat out impossible, I mean, it could be anywhere, you know,

239
00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:38.600
where do you even start to look? So as all

240
00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:41.840
of this is happening, Paul was now no longer willing

241
00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:45.639
to speak with police, after he said in a recorded

242
00:14:45.639 --> 00:14:48.679
conversation with them, look, you took my kids, and now

243
00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:51.120
you've taken my home. I can't go home because you're

244
00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:56.399
searching it and I am being unfairly targeted as a suspect.

245
00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:58.440
You know, he asked, do you have any other suspects?

246
00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:00.879
Are you only looking at me? Because it feels like

247
00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:04.080
you're only looking at me? My wife is gone. Everything

248
00:15:04.200 --> 00:15:06.960
I own or that I love has been taken from me,

249
00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:09.240
and at this point, I don't want to talk to

250
00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:12.480
you anymore. I want to speak with a lawyer. Okay, great,

251
00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:15.559
that is your constitutional right. But they made sure that

252
00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:18.440
he knew we will continue to investigate this with or

253
00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:24.000
without your help. So Audie, the roommate, she had had

254
00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:28.519
more interaction with Paul than was first realized, which, when

255
00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:30.559
you know, more questions were asked, would give a little

256
00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.720
more insight to just how out of pocket Paul had

257
00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:38.320
been acting. The very first day after Lauren had moved

258
00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:42.240
into Audie's house, the first day, she had been upset

259
00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:46.600
by something that scared her. Okay, So, Lauren's car had

260
00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:49.559
been parked in the garage the first night that she

261
00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:53.039
stayed there, And when Audie got up the next morning

262
00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.440
and she went to leave the house as she opened

263
00:15:55.480 --> 00:15:58.320
the garage, which tells you the garage was closed. Right

264
00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:02.440
to open it, it had been closed, she was startled to

265
00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:07.240
find a completely different vehicle parked in her garage. It

266
00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:11.080
was a truck that was not what Lauren drove. So

267
00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:14.759
she's like, what is going on here with the hell?

268
00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:17.799
Whose car is this? Right? So she goes and speaking

269
00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:21.000
with Lauren, Lauren was taken by surprise, what do you mean?

270
00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:23.240
What are you talking about? So the two women go

271
00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:27.919
outside and sure enough, that was not Lauren's car in

272
00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:32.879
their garage. So when Lauren checked her phone, that's when

273
00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:37.159
she found that Paul had sent her thirty seven messages

274
00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:40.840
through the night and had even shown up at the

275
00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:45.120
house banging on the door at some point. One message

276
00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:49.200
that was sent was even demanding open the door. Obviously,

277
00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:51.080
we're all smart here, right, You're not gonna say open

278
00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:53.360
the door unless you're out of place where they are,

279
00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:56.360
So he must have been at the house, but Lauren

280
00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:01.559
had never responded, and so Paul somehow, as far as

281
00:17:01.559 --> 00:17:04.359
the women were concerned, and it makes sense, Paul had

282
00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.400
somehow gotten into the garage, taken Lauren's car and switched

283
00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:13.319
the vehicle and left a truck there. So strange at

284
00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:16.920
minimum to find this out, but clearly a show of

285
00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:20.240
power is what this seems to be. In my humble opinion.

286
00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:22.240
Oh you don't want to answer the door, all right,

287
00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:24.440
well watch your car disappear. Look I can get into

288
00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:28.119
your garage. That's exactly how I feel that was meant

289
00:17:28.119 --> 00:17:32.240
to be taken. So Audie was very alarmed by this,

290
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.519
and she's like, look, Lauren, you just moved in. You

291
00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:37.000
know you need to talk to the police. You need

292
00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:39.640
to get a restraining order because this is crazy. But

293
00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:43.039
Lauren did not want to call the police. She did

294
00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:47.240
not want to get them involved. And Paul's true nature

295
00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:51.680
was really starting to show. And what it was doing

296
00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:56.880
doing was blowing his whole sad spouse. You know, my

297
00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:59.599
wife has left me. I'm so sad. It's kind of

298
00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:03.519
blowing that whole facade to Helen back. Okay, but not

299
00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.559
everybody knew what was going on, and Lauren was remaining

300
00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:12.640
rather private about it. Incredibly okay, while police are undercovering

301
00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:17.160
all of this. Back at the hospital, remember, Ashley was

302
00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:21.480
fighting for her life. Catastrophic injuries she had endured. Well,

303
00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:27.480
she was not only stabilized, but even though her chances

304
00:18:27.559 --> 00:18:31.519
of survival had been remarkably low, very very very low,

305
00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:36.000
she had somehow managed to not only survive, but she

306
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:39.799
was pulling through. I hope you can remember that this

307
00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:43.440
woman was shot in the head, you know, in the shoulder.

308
00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:46.240
I mean, she's paralyzed from one of the bullets. I mean,

309
00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:51.880
she was catastrophically injured. This was so improbable. Her injuries

310
00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:57.160
were horrific, but they were so bad they would prove

311
00:18:57.240 --> 00:18:59.240
that they were going to be life altering because she

312
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.240
had suffered multi strokes and she was confirmed to be

313
00:19:02.279 --> 00:19:06.640
paralyzed on her left side. But guys, all I can

314
00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:09.720
say is God is good because she was alive and

315
00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:13.319
she was talking. This gives me. If you're watching me

316
00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:16.000
right now, podcast, I mean, I have got goosebumps. I

317
00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:17.759
know the story I'm telling to you right now, and

318
00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:21.359
I still get goosebumps because what in the world, What

319
00:19:21.559 --> 00:19:26.039
in the world she was able to share with police

320
00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:30.920
an incident that had worried her previously. Ashley was clear

321
00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:36.640
she had never met Paul before. Okay, definitely never met

322
00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:40.240
him before late December. Okay, which was about a month

323
00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:42.920
or so after Lauren had moved in. But it was

324
00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:47.640
late December and someone had been pounding on their front door.

325
00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:50.359
And this was around midnight, in the middle of the night.

326
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:54.119
Someone is just beating down their front door. It was

327
00:19:54.359 --> 00:19:58.519
so loud and so aggressive that the knocking woke her

328
00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:04.880
up upstairs in the house. The knocking persisted, and it

329
00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:07.480
went on and continued, and it got louder and louder

330
00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:09.440
and louder, until finally was like what in the hell

331
00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:12.640
and throws her covers back. She gets up and she

332
00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:15.400
goes walking down the stairs to see who it was.

333
00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:18.039
But when she got to the bottom, she was taken

334
00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:21.839
by surprise to find Lauren not only awake, but standing

335
00:20:21.880 --> 00:20:25.519
there very still and very quiet in the dark. So

336
00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:27.640
as Lauren got to the bottom of the stairs and

337
00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:32.000
she noticed that Ashley was standing there, Ashley signaled to

338
00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:35.680
Lauren and was signaling to her like like, don't say anything.

339
00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:39.640
Be quiet, be quiet, And it was very clear she

340
00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:42.400
was like, don't say anything, and she wanted them to

341
00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:46.079
act like nobody was home. So the house was dark

342
00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:49.960
and both Ashley and Lauren were able to kind of

343
00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:53.880
stay unseen because the house was dark, and the two

344
00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:57.359
women then snuck quietly back up the stairs while the

345
00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:01.799
knocking continued and continued and continued. So when they got

346
00:21:01.799 --> 00:21:05.440
back upstairs, Ashley said, look, maybe we need to call

347
00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:08.640
the cops. Lauren, like, what is going on here? But

348
00:21:08.759 --> 00:21:12.920
again Lauren was adamant they did not need to do that. Now,

349
00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:16.680
looking back at this, was it because Lauren was really

350
00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:20.480
fearful about what Paul may do after the police came,

351
00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:25.960
Because it really sure seemed that way now that you know.

352
00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:28.480
It wasn't that she had anything to hide, but that

353
00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:31.200
she maybe wasn't wanting to set Paul off even more

354
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:33.799
because he was acting so crazy. I think that's a

355
00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:40.559
reasonable assumption. So Paul's teen children, all right, let's talk

356
00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:44.599
about them for a minute now. Because they are now parentless,

357
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:49.480
it seems okay, at least locally okay, because while I

358
00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:52.799
say parentless, Lauren's dead. Paul is not allowed to be

359
00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:55.319
in contact with them. But that did not mean that

360
00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:58.799
they had no parents because they're the older two teen's

361
00:21:58.839 --> 00:22:03.200
biological mother, who lived in Florida, was happy to take

362
00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:06.480
custody of her children and have them move back with her.

363
00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:10.599
So she would make her way into town and she

364
00:22:10.680 --> 00:22:16.440
would accompany Joe the son for another interview with police. Now,

365
00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:19.319
both Joe and Natalie that the kids had already been

366
00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:23.240
extensively interviewed, but police wanted to get anything that they

367
00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:27.519
may have missed by talking to the kids again. So

368
00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:30.720
as they walked into the interrogation room together, the camera

369
00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:33.599
was rolling as we always know that's filmed, and it

370
00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:39.039
captured a moment between Joe and his biological mama just

371
00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:43.440
minutes before the detective walked in, and Joe's mama was

372
00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:47.200
hugging on her son, and at one point she's looking

373
00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:48.960
him in the eye. She's kind of a shorter lady,

374
00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:52.000
and she grabs Joe's hands in hers and she's holding

375
00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:56.480
them close to her chest, and she is looking dead

376
00:22:56.519 --> 00:22:59.720
in his eyes. And it's a whisper, but it's almost

377
00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:02.240
like a plea, and she looks at him and says,

378
00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:07.079
just whatever you do, tell the truth, son, tell the truth.

379
00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:11.119
It is a very pure moment. It's a very genuine moment.

380
00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:15.759
And then Joe wraps his arms around his mama tightly

381
00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:19.079
and he says, I promise, I promise, I will tell

382
00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:23.119
the whole truth. She says okay. So the detective comes

383
00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:26.759
in and the interview begins, and again not much changed.

384
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:30.039
Joe was adamant his father was with them the whole

385
00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:32.319
time they had watched movies together. You already know that

386
00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:36.640
whole story. I'm not gonna re reiterate it. But as

387
00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:40.680
the questioning continued, the detective in the room got a

388
00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:44.759
text from another detective to pause the interview. I need

389
00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:47.480
you to come back out. So he says, hey, guys,

390
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:49.440
hold on just a second. I'll be right back, and

391
00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:54.279
he exits the room. Well, when the investigation had first began,

392
00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:57.559
let's go back to the very beginning. Remember, there were

393
00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:02.440
unknown tracks out in the snow, and upon initial investigation,

394
00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:07.440
they were believed to be size ten to eleven boot tracks. However,

395
00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:12.160
it was told to the detective in that moment right

396
00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:16.839
then that the sizing of one of the pairs of

397
00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:22.920
shoes in the snow was wrong. One print was a

398
00:24:23.079 --> 00:24:27.519
size eleven, but the other print was actually more like

399
00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:32.160
a size six. And this stood out because the detective

400
00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:35.319
noticed that while watching, you know, two of them are

401
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:38.039
watching the interviews of Joe. One is in the room

402
00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:40.799
and there's other ones outside watching the monitor. Well, that

403
00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:45.480
detective is looking at Joe's feet and he's like, wait

404
00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:50.640
a second, those match that other size. Joe was a

405
00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:53.519
small teen guy, you know, he's not this huge kid, y'all.

406
00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:57.920
So on a hunch, the detective got to thinking about

407
00:24:57.960 --> 00:25:02.799
how Paul had brought Joe to stalk Lauren in previous incidences,

408
00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:04.920
remember whenever they were at the Chilies, I believe, And

409
00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:08.119
he brought Joe basically to watch as his mother was

410
00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.400
in the car with another man. So the detective goes

411
00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:13.839
back in and he asks Joe what size shoe do

412
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:16.799
you wear? And Joe looked at the detective and said,

413
00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:20.880
I wear a size six regular. And in that moment,

414
00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:25.599
the detective knew that this interview was about to go

415
00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:32.839
somewhere he dreaded, but he pushed in on Joe. Joe

416
00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:37.599
maintained his recollection of that night over and over and

417
00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:41.759
over and over again, y'all. And that's when the detective

418
00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:44.519
leaned in and said to Joe, look, man, we have

419
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:47.960
pictures of you working at that house, you know, where

420
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:51.559
Lauren lived. He was doing like some I guess woodwork

421
00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:57.400
or something for Lauren. And he said, looks on, we

422
00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:00.880
have photos of you at that house, and you're wearing

423
00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:06.839
shoes that match the prints that were in the snow.

424
00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:10.640
And Joe told the detective, no, that is me in

425
00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:13.200
the photo. Absolutely yes, and those were my shoes, but

426
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:16.519
I don't have those anymore. They had gotten worn out,

427
00:26:16.759 --> 00:26:20.880
and so I got new shoes. And the detective leaned

428
00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:24.839
in closer and said, Joe, those boots that you are

429
00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:31.359
wearing in the picture, the tread matches the impressions in

430
00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:36.000
the snow, the second set of tracks in the snow.

431
00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:39.160
Now I know right now, you're like, hang on, Kelly,

432
00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:42.880
time out. How would they know that? Well, detectives know

433
00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:45.000
we're doing their due diligence behind the scenes. And they

434
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:47.839
had gone to a local walmart and they actually found

435
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:52.200
the same boots from the pictures and they looked at

436
00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:54.720
them and they, you know, the crime lab assessed them

437
00:26:54.759 --> 00:26:57.359
and it was the same tread pattern. They had it,

438
00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:04.119
and they really believed that Joe wore those boots. So

439
00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:07.279
Joe is sitting there again, he's a teenager, and he's

440
00:27:07.319 --> 00:27:11.240
seeing and he's hearing, and he's processing everything in that moment,

441
00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:13.720
and I'm going to tell you he looks almost dazed

442
00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:18.160
and sick, almost swooning a little bit. You know, his

443
00:27:18.200 --> 00:27:20.839
head's kind of going back and forth. And that's the

444
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:28.720
moment he finally broke. He now spoke in a near whisper,

445
00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:35.000
and he began crying as he was talking. The way

446
00:27:35.079 --> 00:27:39.720
that he spoke the following words would be best described

447
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:45.640
as a tortured soul who couldn't shoulder the weight of

448
00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:51.279
his father versus the police any longer. That is a

449
00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:57.839
defeated like wounded bird. Is how Joe came across. And

450
00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:03.960
that's when Joe slowly, very quietly admitted he was there

451
00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:12.680
the night of Lauren's murder. He was there. Joe's mom

452
00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:19.319
at this point that Joe says, this becomes unglued emotionally,

453
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:23.119
as you can imagine. She never, I think, thought that

454
00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:24.880
that was what was going to come out of his mouth.

455
00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:30.839
And Joe said that he knew what happened that night.

456
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:34.839
He and his dad as well as the other kids

457
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:38.119
were at home and they were watching TV the night

458
00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:44.400
of the murder. They were watching specifically Netflix, and there

459
00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:50.319
were four episodes true crime type stories and it was

460
00:28:50.359 --> 00:28:54.960
about murderous affairs. Now. It was a very detailed set

461
00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:59.440
of episodes. They watched really bloody of course, and around

462
00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:04.640
ten PM, daughter Natalie and youngest daughter Baby, they decided

463
00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:08.720
to go up to Natalie's room to fall asleep. Phone

464
00:29:08.759 --> 00:29:13.480
records would show that Paul and Lauren were texting right

465
00:29:13.559 --> 00:29:19.200
about that time. The text from Paul to Lauren, are

466
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:24.680
we still meeting tomorrow? And then the next one, are

467
00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:30.279
we going to church together tomorrow? Lauren replied around ten

468
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:37.240
forty five pm, no, thank you. About that time, Joe said,

469
00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:41.519
Paul got up and he started gathering items from around

470
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:44.440
the house before he went up to Joe and he said,

471
00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:47.240
come with me now. And when Joe said where are

472
00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.160
we going, his dad told him, you don't need to

473
00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:52.839
worry about that. Get in the car. He also made

474
00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:56.039
Joe leave his phone at the house, and this was

475
00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:00.640
why Joe's phone records showed that he was home entire night.

476
00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:04.640
When Joe got in the car, he didn't know what

477
00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:09.039
was going on. Paul started driving, but when Joe realized

478
00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:12.680
that they were headed to Audie and Lauren's house, he

479
00:30:12.759 --> 00:30:19.640
became extremely nervous. He had never given the address to Paul,

480
00:30:20.519 --> 00:30:25.400
but Paul knew how to get there. What it turns

481
00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:28.759
out is that, you know, Lauren may not have given

482
00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:31.880
Paul the address to where she lived, but Lauren had

483
00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:36.880
texted her new address to Joe the Sun in weeks prior,

484
00:30:37.720 --> 00:30:41.960
and that is how Paul could have gotten her location. Okay, now,

485
00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:44.079
initially that's how he could have gotten or it could

486
00:30:44.119 --> 00:30:46.119
have been by all the stalking that he was doing.

487
00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:48.599
But Lauren did not share where she was living. But

488
00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:51.759
she was tied to those children. She loved Joe, she

489
00:30:51.880 --> 00:30:54.640
loved Natalie, and she didn't just like sever ties with

490
00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:59.400
the kids and stopped talking to them. When Paul's car

491
00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:03.400
arrived on Laurence Street, Joe said that Paul parked a

492
00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:07.279
few houses down and then turned off the car. The

493
00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:10.400
lights shut off, and since it was very late at night,

494
00:31:10.920 --> 00:31:14.720
it was quiet and it was dark. That's when Paul

495
00:31:14.839 --> 00:31:17.960
looked at Joe and he said, very directly, as long

496
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:21.720
as you do exactly what I say, you'll be fine.

497
00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:24.160
That's when Paul reached back and he grabbed the bag

498
00:31:24.200 --> 00:31:26.759
of items that he collected from the house, and he

499
00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:29.839
pulled out two masks, and he pulled out two sets

500
00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:33.319
of gloves. Now, Joe said his heart was beating out

501
00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:37.319
of his chest. His nerves were shot. He knew better

502
00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:40.480
than to ask any questions though in this moment or

503
00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:42.759
to push back. He could tell by the look in

504
00:31:42.839 --> 00:31:45.839
his dad's eyes that this was not a moment to

505
00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:51.319
push back in any way. He then said that he

506
00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:53.920
was looking in his dad's eyes and it was like

507
00:31:54.480 --> 00:31:57.680
nothing he had ever seen before, and it basically scared

508
00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:00.400
the shit out of him. And that's when Paul directed

509
00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:02.920
Joe put on the gloves and put on the mask,

510
00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:07.119
which he hardly did, and Paul opened the door and said,

511
00:32:07.160 --> 00:32:12.440
follow me. So realizing that this was real. It was

512
00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:16.599
beyond anything that he could handle, Joe got out of

513
00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:18.720
the car. But he told his dad, no, no, I

514
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:21.440
can't do this. I can't and Paul looked at him

515
00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:26.799
and said now and pushed him forward to start walking. Now,

516
00:32:26.839 --> 00:32:31.440
Paul was holding a pistol in his hand, and so

517
00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:36.279
Joe was just in absolute fear. He didn't know what

518
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:39.440
to do. And remember, this is a teen boy watching

519
00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:43.519
his father armed and acting absolutely crazy, forcing him to

520
00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:45.920
walk towards his stepmother's house in the middle of the

521
00:32:46.039 --> 00:32:49.119
night with a mask on and wearing gloves. You can

522
00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:52.079
say a million things about what you would have done,

523
00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:56.480
but this is a teenage boy who's looking at the

524
00:32:56.519 --> 00:32:58.599
man who's supposed to be the leader of his family

525
00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:02.920
and he scared shitless. So I'm my heart for this

526
00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:05.240
boy hurts right now because he didn't know what to do.

527
00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:09.079
Joe was very hesitant. His feet were kind of dragging

528
00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.440
and Paul was pushing him and forcing him to lead

529
00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:16.079
the way up to the house. When they approached it,

530
00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:19.319
remember it's dark. They went around the side of the house.

531
00:33:19.559 --> 00:33:22.319
They went through the side gate, and when they made

532
00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:25.799
their way up onto the back porch, there was the

533
00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:30.079
back sliding glass door, and that's where Paul steadied himself

534
00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:33.720
before he kicked in that back door and the casing

535
00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:37.599
around the door went flying in. Paul then pushed Joe

536
00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:41.599
inside of the house first. So Joe's standing there with

537
00:33:41.680 --> 00:33:44.559
gloves on, in a mask. He's looking around wide eyed.

538
00:33:44.759 --> 00:33:47.119
He's terrified. He's never done anything like this before in

539
00:33:47.160 --> 00:33:50.559
his life, and he's staring as his dad is going

540
00:33:50.599 --> 00:33:53.519
through the lower level of the home, opening doors and

541
00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:56.160
searching the rooms with the pistol for people. But no

542
00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:59.559
one was there. And that's when Paul went up to

543
00:33:59.559 --> 00:34:03.880
the stairs. But Joe was literally frozen in fear. His

544
00:34:03.960 --> 00:34:07.640
feet felt a thousand pounds. He was like, oh my god,

545
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:10.239
and all he could do was watch as Paul then

546
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:14.079
made his way up to the second floor. So Joe

547
00:34:14.119 --> 00:34:19.559
was standing there terrified, just listening in the house while

548
00:34:19.559 --> 00:34:23.880
Paul is up there on the landing. Audie, if you remember,

549
00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:25.920
had told police she had left her door or her

550
00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:28.599
bedroom door shut that night like she always did, but

551
00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:31.519
it was open whenever she went in the house, and

552
00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:36.039
she found it in that position, proof that when Paul

553
00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:39.159
went upstairs, he opened and looked into her room to

554
00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:42.239
shoot her. But she happened to be gone that night,

555
00:34:42.599 --> 00:34:47.159
or Audie would have been dead. Paul admitted to other

556
00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:50.000
people that he hated Audrea. He even told the police

557
00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:53.000
that he did not like her. And that is why

558
00:34:53.039 --> 00:34:55.239
I believe for a fact she would have been dead

559
00:34:55.239 --> 00:34:57.000
if she would have been in that bedroom. But her

560
00:34:57.079 --> 00:34:59.960
room was empty that night. And as Joe again is

561
00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:03.280
just standing downstairs, just waiting for God knows what to happen,

562
00:35:03.639 --> 00:35:07.159
he suddenly heard his stepmother Laura and scream and then

563
00:35:07.480 --> 00:35:10.960
gunshots rang out. So Joe cowered down right. He just

564
00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:13.440
threw his hands up above his head, the knots in

565
00:35:13.480 --> 00:35:15.760
his stomach. I mean, he's just like, oh my god,

566
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:17.480
oh my god, oh my god. And there was nothing

567
00:35:17.480 --> 00:35:19.440
he could do to stop it. He was there, but

568
00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:22.079
he was just of no use and didn't know what

569
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:27.039
to do. He couldn't do anything. She screamed, then the

570
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:31.920
bullet started flying, and then silence for a very short

571
00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:35.400
break in all the explosion that seemed to be going

572
00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:38.760
on in the house, A short break, and then there

573
00:35:38.840 --> 00:35:43.840
was another barrage of bullets shortly thereafter bo bow, and

574
00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:45.960
the next thing you knew, Paul came running down the

575
00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:48.800
stairs where they both at that point just tore off,

576
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:51.639
running out of the house. And as they're running back

577
00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:54.119
to the car, Joe yelled out, what the hell is

578
00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:57.360
wrong with you? What are you doing? What did you do?

579
00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:01.199
But Paul never checked up, ran straight to the car.

580
00:36:01.400 --> 00:36:05.079
They're now both breathless. They jump back inside, the car

581
00:36:05.159 --> 00:36:08.480
takes off, and Joe is sitting there looking at his dad,

582
00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:11.679
knowing that he is a stone cold killer. As far

583
00:36:11.719 --> 00:36:17.159
as he knew. Joe was in pure panic slash survival state, shock,

584
00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:20.800
literally almost overtaking his body. He cannot believe that this

585
00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:23.920
is real life. And that's when Paul just pulled right

586
00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:27.880
up to the gas station, got out, went inside, bought

587
00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:30.599
that beer where he was seen on surveillance video not

588
00:36:31.159 --> 00:36:35.639
minutes after he'd just tried to execute to people. He

589
00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:40.599
nonchalanty walked into that gas station and got the beer.

590
00:36:41.440 --> 00:36:44.119
Joe remained in the car the whole time, his mind

591
00:36:44.239 --> 00:36:48.400
racing and not knowing what to do. And when they

592
00:36:48.440 --> 00:36:51.440
got home, he got Joe out of the car, brought

593
00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:53.719
him inside. He said, give me your boots, take off

594
00:36:53.800 --> 00:36:55.960
all of your clothes, and he said go get in

595
00:36:55.960 --> 00:37:00.440
the shower. Now. Joe did exactly as he was told,

596
00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:04.719
so as he's showering, Paul put the clothes in a

597
00:37:04.840 --> 00:37:07.840
washing machine and then he took the boots to an

598
00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:13.199
unknown place. When Paul got back to the house, he

599
00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:16.599
went up to Joe he said, come here, and Joe

600
00:37:16.639 --> 00:37:19.159
is just standing there looking up at his dad, and

601
00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:22.559
he said, you better not incriminate me, because that is

602
00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:25.000
not something you will ever want to find out the

603
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:28.719
consequences for. Do you understand, And Joe shook his head yes.

604
00:37:29.800 --> 00:37:35.599
So clearly Joe was there, but he didn't willingly participate

605
00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:39.599
in any of this, y'all. He was a kid. When

606
00:37:39.719 --> 00:37:44.920
Paul disposed of the shoes and came back and threatened Joe,

607
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:48.000
that's when he made him go up to the girl's

608
00:37:48.079 --> 00:37:51.239
room where they were sleeping. He threw the door open

609
00:37:51.280 --> 00:37:53.360
and he flipped on the light and it jarred the

610
00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:56.920
girls awake. So Natalie sat up and was like, what's

611
00:37:56.960 --> 00:38:00.639
going on? She's sleepyd she's squinting, and there's this commotion

612
00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:03.360
and she sees her dad, and Paul walked right up

613
00:38:03.400 --> 00:38:05.880
to her and matter of factly told her in the

614
00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:09.079
same room where baby, who's four years old, is, that

615
00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:14.679
he had killed Lauren. Lauren was dead. He then went

616
00:38:14.719 --> 00:38:19.840
on to tell Natalie what she was going to do

617
00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:23.679
as a result of that, and what she was going

618
00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:27.960
to say, and that she was going to follow his instructions.

619
00:38:28.840 --> 00:38:32.719
Natalie would later admit finally to the police that she

620
00:38:32.800 --> 00:38:35.760
had lied to them, but out of complete and utter

621
00:38:35.920 --> 00:38:41.639
fear of her father. She was following his instructions to

622
00:38:41.719 --> 00:38:45.360
a t because she felt if she didn't, something might

623
00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:49.119
happen to her or happened to baby or Joe. Among

624
00:38:49.159 --> 00:38:53.119
the things that the children were coached to lie about,

625
00:38:53.400 --> 00:38:57.079
number one, they were coached to tell the police that

626
00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:00.880
Lauren was the one who yelled and threw things and

627
00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:07.719
hit It was not true. They were coached and told

628
00:39:07.800 --> 00:39:12.400
that Lauren was a horrible mother, that she had abandoned

629
00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:14.880
them just out of the blue because she was a

630
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:21.440
selfish slut, basically, and they were told that under no

631
00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:24.960
circumstances were they ever to say anything other than the

632
00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:27.719
fact that their dad only went on a quick fifteen

633
00:39:27.719 --> 00:39:30.280
minute trip to the gas station, and that they had

634
00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:33.639
been with him the entire night that night, and if

635
00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:36.360
they didn't say this, they would face the wrath of

636
00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:41.119
their father. Natalie's own words were that she was beyond

637
00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:44.199
terrified of her father and that he had complete control

638
00:39:44.440 --> 00:39:48.119
over what she did and what she said. So while

639
00:39:48.159 --> 00:39:52.639
the kids were left scared, I would say, scarred, sad,

640
00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:56.679
and their minds reeling with emotion all over the place.

641
00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:00.840
Paul then got on his cell phone and he began Lauren,

642
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:05.119
knowing aw full well she was dead already because he

643
00:40:05.159 --> 00:40:08.719
had killed her, and he's texting her things, please give

644
00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:12.280
us another chance, Please, please come home. I miss you.

645
00:40:12.360 --> 00:40:15.599
I love you so much. All of this after she

646
00:40:16.119 --> 00:40:18.000
was dead, and I'm going to tell you something too.

647
00:40:18.039 --> 00:40:21.559
I've got photographs I'll put on Patreon. When Lauren was

648
00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:24.199
found dead, I told you all that she was shot

649
00:40:24.280 --> 00:40:26.159
multiple times and bleeding from her head in her face.

650
00:40:26.239 --> 00:40:28.760
But one of the most heartbreaking things was that still

651
00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:33.320
in her hand, clutched tightly, was her phone cord, like

652
00:40:33.400 --> 00:40:35.760
she had grabbed the only thing she could in that

653
00:40:35.880 --> 00:40:38.599
moment to get to communication, but she was never able

654
00:40:38.920 --> 00:40:44.039
to do anything. It was still tightly clutched in her hand.

655
00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:49.840
Joe's biological mother was still in the room during all

656
00:40:49.880 --> 00:40:54.159
of this heartbreaking confession, and overwhelmed by what she had

657
00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:57.239
just heard, that poor woman dropped down to her knees

658
00:40:57.559 --> 00:40:59.679
and she covered her face with her hands and she

659
00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:03.119
started sobbing, and she's cried out loud. She said, what

660
00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:07.719
kind of father is he? She's realizing what her son

661
00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:13.000
has been through, what her children have been through. You know,

662
00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:16.320
my God, the man who had custody of the kids

663
00:41:17.159 --> 00:41:21.119
was doing this to them the whole time. But everything

664
00:41:21.159 --> 00:41:26.280
that Joe admitted just started the chain of events where

665
00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:29.079
all of the truth would finally come out. And I

666
00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:33.119
think it very brave of that boy, very brave to

667
00:41:33.360 --> 00:41:35.960
tell the truth. And it took a hug from his

668
00:41:36.079 --> 00:41:39.079
mother to let him know he was safe enough to

669
00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:45.119
do that. In five days after Lauren and Ashley were shot,

670
00:41:45.719 --> 00:41:49.039
Paul Dewise was arrested and charged with the murder of

671
00:41:49.039 --> 00:41:52.719
his estranged wife Lauren and the attempted murder of their

672
00:41:52.800 --> 00:41:58.400
roommate Ashley. So what tipped Paul over the edge? Well?

673
00:41:58.599 --> 00:42:00.920
Obviously losing control of the woman that he had been

674
00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:06.159
beating for years played a large part in this, but

675
00:42:06.599 --> 00:42:11.440
mid November, when Lauren moved in with Audie after just

676
00:42:11.519 --> 00:42:14.440
having enough of the abuse in her marriage, which is

677
00:42:14.519 --> 00:42:21.000
now verified to have been years and years of abuse, chokings, beatings, harassment,

678
00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:28.719
constant degradation, and just you know, verbally just just hitting

679
00:42:28.719 --> 00:42:33.960
her with every insult there is. She knew in her gut,

680
00:42:34.599 --> 00:42:38.400
she knew that things were escalating, escalating to a point

681
00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:41.599
that Lauren needed to get out of there. She knew it.

682
00:42:42.360 --> 00:42:44.800
And right now, I know some people may say, well,

683
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:46.960
if she was that scared, she sure as hell left

684
00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:49.679
her children with him. Well, I want to say something

685
00:42:49.719 --> 00:42:55.320
real quick about that. Number One, I have never seen

686
00:42:55.440 --> 00:43:00.000
any indication that Lauren had adopted the older two children.

687
00:43:00.119 --> 00:43:04.079
So while she may have loved them and you know,

688
00:43:04.559 --> 00:43:06.760
adored them and taken care of them, she would have

689
00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:09.559
had no right, first of all, to take those children.

690
00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:13.440
And they were still in contact with their bio mom obviously,

691
00:43:13.519 --> 00:43:16.960
so that wouldn't have worked. And it is my educated

692
00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:20.599
guess that she knew that if she were to take

693
00:43:20.880 --> 00:43:25.320
baby right at that moment, things might be dangerous for

694
00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:30.440
both her and baby. She needed to get out, and

695
00:43:30.559 --> 00:43:33.679
she didn't want to completely set off Paul. I think

696
00:43:33.719 --> 00:43:37.679
it was probably one of the most heartbreaking yet selfless

697
00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:41.559
decisions that Lauren ever made to leave baby, but I

698
00:43:41.599 --> 00:43:44.960
think it was just for now. I have nothing to

699
00:43:45.079 --> 00:43:48.559
base this off of other than my understanding of what

700
00:43:48.599 --> 00:43:52.000
I think Lauren was going through and what she could

701
00:43:52.039 --> 00:43:55.119
do and try to do based on a history of

702
00:43:55.159 --> 00:44:00.760
other abuse situations that I have, you know, investigated. I

703
00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:04.360
think that she left baby for now, but she didn't

704
00:44:04.360 --> 00:44:09.079
cut contact like Paul made it seem. She still was

705
00:44:09.119 --> 00:44:13.079
texting and talking with the teen children, Baby was still

706
00:44:13.679 --> 00:44:16.039
going over and staying the night with her at Audie's

707
00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:19.000
house from time to time. But I fully believe it

708
00:44:19.039 --> 00:44:22.039
was her full intention of going for full custody of

709
00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:26.280
baby once she was able to, but she was trying

710
00:44:26.320 --> 00:44:29.360
to stay safe and keep things copasetic in the moment.

711
00:44:30.159 --> 00:44:32.639
But the very next day after she moved out, that's

712
00:44:32.639 --> 00:44:34.920
when Paul started showing up, banging on the doors and

713
00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:38.280
acting like a damn fool. And Lauren's human y'all. She

714
00:44:38.400 --> 00:44:41.440
was embarrassed, she was embarrassed of what was going on,

715
00:44:41.719 --> 00:44:44.239
and she just wanted him to go away, which she

716
00:44:44.360 --> 00:44:47.360
did tell him eventually through a text message and said,

717
00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:51.400
do not come back to this house. So Paul was

718
00:44:51.440 --> 00:44:54.320
then starting to send these video messages of crying and

719
00:44:54.400 --> 00:44:57.000
saying please come back and I'm so sorry and I

720
00:44:57.039 --> 00:44:59.840
love you, and doing all the love bombing that abusers do,

721
00:45:00.320 --> 00:45:04.719
because that's their game, right, remember the good times, knowing

722
00:45:04.800 --> 00:45:06.800
all full well what she's been dealing with for ten

723
00:45:06.880 --> 00:45:09.679
fucking years behind closed doors. She'd had enough, y'all, and

724
00:45:09.679 --> 00:45:13.360
she didn't deserve it. He would say things like I'm sorry,

725
00:45:13.400 --> 00:45:16.360
I was so angry. We have a family, But then

726
00:45:16.519 --> 00:45:21.679
ten minutes later he'd send her videos of him filming

727
00:45:22.039 --> 00:45:24.800
the kids and him saying things to them like, Mommy

728
00:45:24.800 --> 00:45:27.400
doesn't love you anymore. She doesn't want to be here.

729
00:45:27.679 --> 00:45:32.119
She chose freedom and other men over you, using those children,

730
00:45:33.239 --> 00:45:36.159
saying those horrific things to those kids with zero care

731
00:45:36.199 --> 00:45:39.079
about how it was affecting them, but also making them

732
00:45:39.119 --> 00:45:42.079
believe that their mother had abandoned them and she did not.

733
00:45:43.639 --> 00:45:50.719
She was trying to survive period. Lauren did go back

734
00:45:50.760 --> 00:45:55.159
to the house with Paul for Christmas shortly before her death,

735
00:45:55.800 --> 00:45:58.880
and the gift opening with the children was just supposed

736
00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:01.639
to be a fun thing for the kids. However, daughter

737
00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:05.320
Natalie now told police it was not fun. The whole

738
00:46:05.519 --> 00:46:10.199
Christmas experience was uncomfortable. Nobody was having a good time

739
00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:15.840
the entire time. Paul was nagging and filming Lauren the

740
00:46:16.079 --> 00:46:19.559
entire time about up and leaving the family and needing

741
00:46:19.639 --> 00:46:21.920
to come back home, which they did find the videos

742
00:46:21.960 --> 00:46:24.719
of the kids are trying to open their gifts. Lauren

743
00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:26.920
is sitting on the couch and Paul's got a phone

744
00:46:26.920 --> 00:46:28.559
in her face. You need to come back home. Look

745
00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:30.800
at your family. You've abandoned all of these people. And

746
00:46:30.840 --> 00:46:32.840
Lauren's just like, oh my god, can we not just

747
00:46:32.920 --> 00:46:34.840
let the kids open the gifts and have a nice

748
00:46:34.920 --> 00:46:39.280
Christmas for the kids. Then January fourth, just two days

749
00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:42.199
before the murder, it was baby's birthday, and according to

750
00:46:42.280 --> 00:46:45.039
all of the kids, Lauren made it clear that day

751
00:46:45.320 --> 00:46:48.199
she had had enough, she was not coming back, and

752
00:46:48.280 --> 00:46:52.320
that their parents would be getting a divorce. Lauren, and

753
00:46:52.440 --> 00:46:55.840
this is now newly uncovered, had already set up a

754
00:46:55.880 --> 00:47:00.239
meeting with a divorce lawyer, and she had notified Paul

755
00:47:00.400 --> 00:47:04.440
of doing so. He understood that day that they were

756
00:47:04.519 --> 00:47:08.119
getting a divorce. They were scheduled to meet with the

757
00:47:08.159 --> 00:47:13.360
divorce lawyer the very morning she was murdered, so that

758
00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:17.920
would never happen. Paul was not letting her divorce him

759
00:47:18.599 --> 00:47:22.719
no matter what. And they know that this is the case.

760
00:47:22.760 --> 00:47:25.400
And it makes sense now because the last two text

761
00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:29.000
messages before her death. You remember he was texting about

762
00:47:29.400 --> 00:47:33.320
are we still meeting tomorrow morning? That wasn't about church,

763
00:47:33.360 --> 00:47:35.320
because he sent another message follow up that said do

764
00:47:35.360 --> 00:47:37.320
you want to go to church tomorrow? That was about

765
00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:40.599
the divorce meeting. He knew that they were going to

766
00:47:40.639 --> 00:47:44.320
go do the paperwork. When he realized that Lauren was

767
00:47:44.360 --> 00:47:47.360
done for real, that's when he put a plan into

768
00:47:47.360 --> 00:47:50.679
action that he was going to murder her. And you

769
00:47:50.760 --> 00:47:54.400
know the rest. I've told it all to you. Paul

770
00:47:55.480 --> 00:47:58.880
after his arrest would plead not guilty, and he would

771
00:47:58.920 --> 00:48:01.559
say that he was being wrongfully accused and that the

772
00:48:01.559 --> 00:48:04.559
police had only narrowed in on him and basically they

773
00:48:04.599 --> 00:48:07.480
didn't even look at another suspect, which was proof enough

774
00:48:07.559 --> 00:48:12.360
that he was being set up. But then if this

775
00:48:12.519 --> 00:48:17.960
was not enough on this family and these children, then

776
00:48:18.039 --> 00:48:20.920
he did something so out of the box that, y'all

777
00:48:20.920 --> 00:48:25.480
it is actually really hard to believe. Okay, you know

778
00:48:25.519 --> 00:48:28.400
that jail calls are recorded, right every more on across

779
00:48:28.440 --> 00:48:32.119
America knows that you're recorded when you call from jail. Hell,

780
00:48:32.320 --> 00:48:35.079
it does a recording when you call from jail, and says,

781
00:48:35.199 --> 00:48:37.880
this is a call from a penal institution. All calls

782
00:48:37.880 --> 00:48:40.599
are monitored. Blah blah blah blah blah. So that's your clue,

783
00:48:40.639 --> 00:48:44.639
even if you don't know. Well, Paul made a call

784
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:48.800
from the jail to his daughter Natalie, who, by the way,

785
00:48:49.519 --> 00:48:53.119
he was barred from speaking to after his arrest. You

786
00:48:53.199 --> 00:48:55.079
are not allowed to be in contact with them, but

787
00:48:55.119 --> 00:48:59.840
he did it anyway. On February seventh, this is twenty eighteen,

788
00:49:00.079 --> 00:49:02.480
about six point forty in the morning, he placed a

789
00:49:02.519 --> 00:49:06.239
call to Natalie and she answered, and he even started

790
00:49:06.280 --> 00:49:09.159
the call with I know I'm not allowed to talk

791
00:49:09.159 --> 00:49:12.559
to you. And then this is what that son of

792
00:49:12.559 --> 00:49:17.239
a bitch said. Listen to what this father is saying

793
00:49:17.599 --> 00:49:21.519
to a daughter that he has already scared the life

794
00:49:21.519 --> 00:49:26.360
out of. He says, your brother is telling the police

795
00:49:26.360 --> 00:49:28.480
that I took him with me and that I am

796
00:49:28.519 --> 00:49:32.119
responsible for what happened. So what that's telling me, Natalie,

797
00:49:32.159 --> 00:49:34.719
since I didn't do it, is that your brother must

798
00:49:34.800 --> 00:49:39.559
have done it. And then he goes on to tell Natalie,

799
00:49:39.639 --> 00:49:42.400
you need to get your brother Joe to turn himself in,

800
00:49:42.960 --> 00:49:46.000
and you need to get him to confess to the shootings.

801
00:49:46.599 --> 00:49:50.920
And to sweeten the pot, Paul tells her, Look, tell Joe.

802
00:49:51.519 --> 00:49:54.480
He's really young, so he's only gonna be in jail

803
00:49:54.519 --> 00:49:57.719
for a little while and then they're gonna let him out. Okay,

804
00:49:57.719 --> 00:49:59.960
he's gonna get out really soon. They're not gonna keep

805
00:50:00.079 --> 00:50:02.079
him here, and then he can just go back to

806
00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:08.639
normal life. And he also impressed upon Natalie to tell

807
00:50:08.760 --> 00:50:11.880
his teenage son, who is not even eighteen years old,

808
00:50:12.039 --> 00:50:15.800
this young teen boy. He says, it's very important that

809
00:50:16.079 --> 00:50:19.480
Joe admitted because if he will, then I can get

810
00:50:19.519 --> 00:50:22.199
the fuck out of here. Do you understand that is

811
00:50:22.199 --> 00:50:27.360
a quote? And then he adds, look, I know he's

812
00:50:27.400 --> 00:50:31.000
only fifteen years old and he's scared. I understand, but

813
00:50:31.039 --> 00:50:34.000
he needs to know something. And I'm quoting right now, Guys,

814
00:50:34.039 --> 00:50:37.559
I am not ad libbing. The jails here, they're safe,

815
00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:41.840
they're nice. Tell Joe. Look, the food's good. They don't

816
00:50:41.880 --> 00:50:44.519
have the rape problem. It's against the law to even

817
00:50:44.519 --> 00:50:46.840
have sex here, so he doesn't have to worry about

818
00:50:46.880 --> 00:50:52.519
any of that shit. Can if I had not heard this,

819
00:50:52.639 --> 00:50:55.559
y'all with my own ears. If I had not listened

820
00:50:55.599 --> 00:50:58.360
to that phone call with my own ears, I would

821
00:50:58.360 --> 00:51:02.199
have thought that maybe this was in bellished or something

822
00:51:02.239 --> 00:51:04.920
like that. But that selfish son of a bitch was

823
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:10.000
trying to revictimize Joe again and then use his daughter's

824
00:51:10.079 --> 00:51:15.079
fear of him to make that happen. On what fucking

825
00:51:15.239 --> 00:51:23.440
planet does a man do that? Well, the police were

826
00:51:23.519 --> 00:51:26.480
obviously swift to find out about this and to handle that,

827
00:51:26.599 --> 00:51:29.239
and so in response to it, they went ahead and

828
00:51:29.280 --> 00:51:33.159
slapped Paul with an additional witness tampering charge, as they

829
00:51:33.280 --> 00:51:37.800
rightfully should have. That is classic witness tampering. You have

830
00:51:37.840 --> 00:51:41.639
got to be the most selfish loser I've ever heard

831
00:51:41.679 --> 00:51:44.679
of in my life to try to blame your own

832
00:51:45.039 --> 00:51:47.760
kid and then sweeten the pot by telling him you

833
00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:49.400
don't have to worry about rape. It's nice here and

834
00:51:49.440 --> 00:51:54.159
the food's good. My god. But there's even more to

835
00:51:54.199 --> 00:51:59.239
the story. There's an obvious problem if you're you know,

836
00:51:59.320 --> 00:52:02.079
law minded here for the prosecution, and that is going

837
00:52:02.159 --> 00:52:05.559
to be that they don't have a murder weapon. Okay,

838
00:52:05.599 --> 00:52:07.559
it doesn't mean that it can't be done, and that

839
00:52:07.599 --> 00:52:10.800
he can't be prosecuted, but that murder weapon would bring

840
00:52:10.960 --> 00:52:14.880
such reasonable doubt into the minds of the jury, or

841
00:52:14.960 --> 00:52:17.119
possibly could because I mean, what if he does blame

842
00:52:17.199 --> 00:52:19.119
Joe and say it wasn't me, it was Joe, Joe

843
00:52:19.119 --> 00:52:23.400
admits he was there, you know, blah blah blah blah blah.

844
00:52:23.480 --> 00:52:29.000
What they did have more recordings that they had uncovered,

845
00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:33.400
and these are chilling at minimum. Guys, Okay, I want

846
00:52:33.440 --> 00:52:36.280
you to listen to this one that Paul recorded himself.

847
00:52:36.400 --> 00:52:39.559
Paul is recording it in an instance that he is

848
00:52:39.719 --> 00:52:44.119
talking to Lauren in one of his many harassment sessions.

849
00:52:44.119 --> 00:52:46.360
But I'm gonna tell you you have to listen very

850
00:52:46.480 --> 00:52:49.119
very closely. It's poor quality because it's on a cell

851
00:52:49.119 --> 00:52:51.599
phone and you know, he's moving back and forth while

852
00:52:51.639 --> 00:52:55.079
he is recording this. So listen very closely to what

853
00:52:55.280 --> 00:53:16.000
this man is saying to his wife and mother. That's

854
00:53:16.079 --> 00:53:33.639
just gonna happen. I'm too, not just because now if

855
00:53:33.679 --> 00:53:36.320
you couldn't really make out what he's saying, hopefully the

856
00:53:36.360 --> 00:53:39.199
tone and the whisper in it kind of gives you

857
00:53:39.239 --> 00:53:42.280
a vibe about what was going on. But basically, he said,

858
00:53:42.679 --> 00:53:46.239
I'm going to kill you. I'm gonna do it, and

859
00:53:46.360 --> 00:53:49.800
I'm going to end your ass. He said he was

860
00:53:49.800 --> 00:53:54.119
too old to start over. And anyone that's with her,

861
00:53:55.079 --> 00:54:01.199
they're gonna die too. These recordings we're going to be really,

862
00:54:01.559 --> 00:54:04.719
really hard to explain away, don't you think, considering what happened,

863
00:54:05.119 --> 00:54:08.039
Because she did die and other people that were with her,

864
00:54:08.519 --> 00:54:13.880
they were almost killed two. So sometimes the police get

865
00:54:13.880 --> 00:54:16.000
put into a position where they have to decide what

866
00:54:16.079 --> 00:54:19.639
is worth sharing with the public in an ongoing investigation,

867
00:54:19.880 --> 00:54:22.039
even if they have the arrest okay, they have to

868
00:54:22.800 --> 00:54:26.280
weigh what should we share with the public versus the

869
00:54:26.360 --> 00:54:29.360
possible benefits that we might get from it, because again,

870
00:54:29.679 --> 00:54:32.880
when they ask for something that lets the defense know

871
00:54:33.000 --> 00:54:36.239
what they don't have or what angle possibly that they're

872
00:54:36.239 --> 00:54:39.320
going to go at in the prosecution. In this case,

873
00:54:39.360 --> 00:54:43.280
the police wanted that murder weapon, but they knew they

874
00:54:43.320 --> 00:54:46.480
knew Paul had gotten rid of it, so they did

875
00:54:46.559 --> 00:54:52.039
something kind of I guess maybe unexpected, but they just

876
00:54:52.079 --> 00:54:54.079
wanted to see if maybe something would come of it.

877
00:54:54.480 --> 00:54:58.000
They went to Facebook, all right, and on January seventeenth

878
00:54:58.039 --> 00:55:01.480
of twenty eighteen, they pasted that they were looking for

879
00:55:01.559 --> 00:55:04.800
certain items that if anyone the public anyone in the

880
00:55:04.800 --> 00:55:08.639
public happened to randomly find them. Notified the police immediately,

881
00:55:09.039 --> 00:55:10.519
and it was kind of a shot in the dark.

882
00:55:10.679 --> 00:55:13.039
But I mean, hell, y'all, even a broken clock is

883
00:55:13.280 --> 00:55:15.960
right twice a day, right. So they said that they

884
00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:19.079
were looking for tan boots, two pair of black gloves,

885
00:55:19.440 --> 00:55:23.320
a pistol, and a Garmin GPS system. Okay, it was

886
00:55:23.360 --> 00:55:26.119
a much longer post than that, but that's the essence

887
00:55:26.119 --> 00:55:29.400
of it. Well, it just so happened that in the

888
00:55:29.440 --> 00:55:33.119
past few days a woman and her husband were ice

889
00:55:33.159 --> 00:55:37.199
fishing in the area when they came upon a pistol

890
00:55:37.760 --> 00:55:40.599
sitting in the snow. Now, they didn't think much of

891
00:55:40.639 --> 00:55:43.000
it when they found it. They it was I believe

892
00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:46.679
it was unloaded, but it still had a bullet. Not unloaded,

893
00:55:46.679 --> 00:55:48.519
but it didn't have I think it just had one

894
00:55:48.559 --> 00:55:51.639
bullet in the chamber, but the bullets in the magazine

895
00:55:51.639 --> 00:55:54.039
were spent. So they picked it up. They looked at

896
00:55:54.079 --> 00:55:56.039
it like, what the hell is this, and then they

897
00:55:56.159 --> 00:55:58.519
just put it in like their fishing luggage with them,

898
00:55:58.519 --> 00:56:01.280
and then they just went about fishing. They figured someone

899
00:56:01.280 --> 00:56:04.360
had dropped it or lost it or whatever, and they

900
00:56:04.400 --> 00:56:07.119
were gonna go turn it in or whatever later, but

901
00:56:07.159 --> 00:56:09.760
they kind of forgot about it whenever they got back home.

902
00:56:10.400 --> 00:56:14.360
But that same woman happened to read the very article

903
00:56:14.400 --> 00:56:18.920
posted by the police when the pistol was detailed and

904
00:56:18.960 --> 00:56:22.159
they said they were looking for a twenty two long rifle,

905
00:56:23.039 --> 00:56:26.920
and her eyes got wide because she was like, oh shit,

906
00:56:27.079 --> 00:56:30.239
this cannot be a coincidence. She calls her husband, she's like,

907
00:56:30.320 --> 00:56:32.119
you remember that gun we found. We got to get that

908
00:56:32.159 --> 00:56:34.280
gun out because I just read an article and it

909
00:56:34.320 --> 00:56:35.840
says this, this and this, and I think that's the

910
00:56:35.880 --> 00:56:39.480
same gun. So she calls the police and they fly

911
00:56:39.599 --> 00:56:43.800
straight to our house and they take the weapon from her. Well,

912
00:56:43.840 --> 00:56:47.119
guess what, it's not hard to track the registration of

913
00:56:47.239 --> 00:56:50.960
a of a gun that's been registered, And so police

914
00:56:51.039 --> 00:56:53.679
run and they run the vent on it or the

915
00:56:53.679 --> 00:56:56.679
serial number, and it comes back to none other than

916
00:56:56.760 --> 00:57:01.000
Paul Dewise. Then, when it was tested ballistic, it was

917
00:57:01.039 --> 00:57:04.039
also found to be a physical match to the weapon

918
00:57:04.280 --> 00:57:11.119
that fired the bullets killing Lauren and also severely injuring Ashley.

919
00:57:12.679 --> 00:57:18.039
That meant the same gun, single gun shot all of

920
00:57:18.079 --> 00:57:21.800
the mixed ammo that killed and then injured the women

921
00:57:21.960 --> 00:57:25.760
that night, there was a single shooter, just like Joe

922
00:57:26.000 --> 00:57:29.159
had said, he had told the truth, just like he

923
00:57:29.239 --> 00:57:33.840
promised his mama he would. At the trial, the kids

924
00:57:33.880 --> 00:57:37.280
testified against their dad, and they really opened up about

925
00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:40.960
the abuse that Lauren had been subjected to, as well

926
00:57:41.039 --> 00:57:44.519
as their own suffering. They brought up the fact that

927
00:57:44.559 --> 00:57:47.440
there was constant coaching by their father of what to do,

928
00:57:47.800 --> 00:57:50.960
what to say, how to act, and that it was

929
00:57:51.039 --> 00:57:53.760
somewhat of a relief that he was not able to

930
00:57:53.800 --> 00:57:57.199
be around them anymore. As sad as that was to

931
00:57:57.239 --> 00:58:02.719
admit about a parent, you know, you feel you're connected

932
00:58:02.760 --> 00:58:05.320
to your parents. You feel an obligation to want to

933
00:58:05.360 --> 00:58:08.480
protect your parents. But at what cost, you know, at

934
00:58:08.480 --> 00:58:14.719
what cost of kids need to carry such tragedy and trauma.

935
00:58:15.119 --> 00:58:19.320
Imagine carrying the weight of something so horrific, and every

936
00:58:19.360 --> 00:58:22.480
word you say better fall perfectly in line with the

937
00:58:22.639 --> 00:58:26.199
lies and the manipulation that your father has hammered into you,

938
00:58:26.559 --> 00:58:31.079
or your own life might be at stake. There were

939
00:58:31.119 --> 00:58:34.599
just kids, y'all. It's terrifying enough to think about living

940
00:58:34.639 --> 00:58:39.039
through that as an adult, let alone being kids. Of course, Paul,

941
00:58:39.119 --> 00:58:42.119
being the narcissist and the sociopath that he was, he

942
00:58:42.159 --> 00:58:45.800
took the stand and he testified to explain away everything,

943
00:58:45.960 --> 00:58:48.519
but it was a total waste of his time. The

944
00:58:48.639 --> 00:58:52.079
jury did not believe a word that he said, and

945
00:58:52.159 --> 00:58:56.639
he was found guilty of all charges and when he

946
00:58:56.760 --> 00:59:02.000
was sentenced, he was sent to Montana State Prison on

947
00:59:02.079 --> 00:59:06.719
a two hundred and twenty year sentence with no eligibility

948
00:59:07.000 --> 00:59:11.920
for parole. So you may ask yourself, why did Lauren

949
00:59:12.840 --> 00:59:16.559
finally confide in Audi, who she had number one, just

950
00:59:16.639 --> 00:59:22.559
met basically and after she'd been taking this for ten years. Well,

951
00:59:22.599 --> 00:59:24.880
I found out something interesting after the fact that I

952
00:59:24.920 --> 00:59:29.719
wanted to share with you. I don't believe in coincidences,

953
00:59:29.719 --> 00:59:31.039
you know, I say that all the time, but I

954
00:59:31.079 --> 00:59:35.800
also believe in the perfect timing of God. Audi was

955
00:59:35.840 --> 00:59:37.840
not only a personal trainer, like I told you in

956
00:59:37.880 --> 00:59:42.599
episode one, but she had also previously volunteered for an

957
00:59:42.760 --> 00:59:48.360
organization called Haven. Haven was the local domestic violence nonprofit.

958
00:59:50.039 --> 00:59:53.559
She was also friends with the director of that nonprofit.

959
00:59:53.639 --> 00:59:58.519
His name was Eric, and Audie arranged for Lauren to

960
00:59:58.519 --> 01:00:02.480
have lunch with Eric that she could hear about options

961
01:00:02.480 --> 01:00:05.360
that were available for her so that she could get

962
01:00:05.400 --> 01:00:08.920
out safely. Because Audie knew that Lauren was afraid of

963
01:00:08.960 --> 01:00:12.239
the repercussions if she ever tried to leave de Wise

964
01:00:12.559 --> 01:00:15.719
and let this case serve as a warning that the

965
01:00:15.800 --> 01:00:18.719
most dangerous time for a woman that's in a domestic

966
01:00:18.800 --> 01:00:22.440
violent situation is when she leaves. This is proof again

967
01:00:23.239 --> 01:00:27.519
that that is a fact. Lauren didn't know how to

968
01:00:27.599 --> 01:00:32.599
leave Paul, and so Audie was helping. Audie also during

969
01:00:33.000 --> 01:00:38.599
testimony would say that Paul had started contacting her through

970
01:00:38.800 --> 01:00:43.480
Facebook Messenger. Audi. Paul was contacting Audi through Facebook Messenger,

971
01:00:43.639 --> 01:00:46.719
which is really weird because she had only met Dewise once.

972
01:00:47.440 --> 01:00:50.119
And then the call, the messages that he was sending

973
01:00:50.599 --> 01:00:53.639
would just go back and forth between being angry and

974
01:00:53.679 --> 01:00:57.760
aggressive and controlling and then back to apologetic, the same

975
01:00:57.800 --> 01:01:00.599
thing that he was doing to Lauren. But Audie never

976
01:01:00.719 --> 01:01:05.599
answered the messages ever, not one time. And you know,

977
01:01:05.840 --> 01:01:07.800
it just was this ongoing cycle. And if you're not

978
01:01:07.840 --> 01:01:09.679
even in a relationship with him, and it's causing this

979
01:01:09.840 --> 01:01:13.840
much stress, and I can't imagine what Lauren was going through.

980
01:01:13.960 --> 01:01:17.559
And then eventually Paul had gone on a very public forum,

981
01:01:17.679 --> 01:01:21.880
some social media forum and posted this long, multi paragraph

982
01:01:22.039 --> 01:01:25.400
rant about Lauren and basically putting her out there to

983
01:01:25.400 --> 01:01:28.480
look like this horrible cheating wife blah blah blah, and

984
01:01:28.519 --> 01:01:34.119
people who knew Lauren saw it. It was humiliating. My

985
01:01:34.199 --> 01:01:37.880
heart aches for Lauren. She loved her kids, she loved

986
01:01:37.880 --> 01:01:41.239
her step kids. You cannot convince me otherwise. She was

987
01:01:41.280 --> 01:01:48.079
put in an impossible situation with a psychotic, controlling, abusive manipulator,

988
01:01:49.000 --> 01:01:53.039
and when she left, which is so unfortunate, she ends

989
01:01:53.119 --> 01:01:57.960
up getting killed. For It's a tragedy. If you want

990
01:01:58.000 --> 01:02:00.480
to have one silver lining in this tragedy, I can

991
01:02:00.599 --> 01:02:04.199
tell you that As for Ashley, she has recovered to

992
01:02:04.320 --> 01:02:09.480
an exceptional degree. She had to go through years of

993
01:02:09.599 --> 01:02:12.960
rehabilitation and therapy and learning to walk and talk and

994
01:02:13.000 --> 01:02:15.400
eat and you know, brush her own hair. I mean,

995
01:02:15.440 --> 01:02:20.320
a very very long road to recovery. While her life

996
01:02:20.360 --> 01:02:23.599
has been altered forever and her ability to do as

997
01:02:23.599 --> 01:02:27.639
she used to and be an athlete has obviously been

998
01:02:28.039 --> 01:02:32.559
very much changed, she is thriving as far as living

999
01:02:32.639 --> 01:02:36.519
goes today, even able to get back on the slopes

1000
01:02:36.519 --> 01:02:39.559
on a snowboard with the assistance of her family and

1001
01:02:39.639 --> 01:02:44.199
her brother helping her. She's a champion. She's a fighter,

1002
01:02:45.239 --> 01:02:48.519
and I'm proud of her. She's a hero of her

1003
01:02:48.519 --> 01:02:55.559
own story. She was a random, innocent victim caught up

1004
01:02:55.599 --> 01:03:00.280
in someone else's domestic violence hell, and that I'll tell

1005
01:03:00.320 --> 01:03:05.639
you just how far somebody will go. Paul really thought

1006
01:03:05.880 --> 01:03:09.360
that he could control everything, and in an instant, he

1007
01:03:09.400 --> 01:03:13.920
lost it all. Because there's one thing I can absolutely

1008
01:03:13.960 --> 01:03:17.800
say about cowards, and that's that they hide behind the

1009
01:03:17.840 --> 01:03:21.840
people who love them the most. And Paul Dewise hid

1010
01:03:21.960 --> 01:03:27.760
behind his own children. This is alone, in and of itself,

1011
01:03:27.800 --> 01:03:31.360
inexcusable and the very antithesis of what a father is

1012
01:03:31.360 --> 01:03:34.079
supposed to be and what he is supposed to stand for.

1013
01:03:34.440 --> 01:03:40.000
Paul Dewise didn't just earn a guilty verdict. He earned

1014
01:03:40.079 --> 01:03:44.119
the kind of legacy that even his prison sentence won't outlast.

1015
01:03:44.480 --> 01:03:47.519
He is a man who will be forever remembered, not

1016
01:03:47.679 --> 01:03:50.920
as the protector he portrayed himself to be, but the

1017
01:03:51.039 --> 01:03:54.360
very reason his own family needed one to begin with.