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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, it's
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kJ You're back for another episode of Unspeakable. I've had
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the best day, you can probably telling my voice how
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upbeat I am. I took some kids on a field
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trip today. We went to our local jail and then
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we went to the shooting range and we just had
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the best time learning about law enforcement and everything, you know,
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all the cool hands on things that we do and
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some handcuffing and all that, and just I had a blast.
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And then I have the joy now of coming in
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here to record for you. And this episode I've worked
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really hard on. It is. It's one with a lot
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of twist and turns, and I hope that you're ready,
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because this is going to be a goodie. I want
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you to come with me though, to South Carolina back
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in twenty sixteen. And I don't know about you. When
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I think of South Carolina, I think of forests and wildlife.
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That's just what comes to mind when I think about
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that state. And matter of fact, it's true, right because
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forests cover more than sixty seven percent of that state,
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making the lob Lolly Pine one of the state's biggest
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natural resources. And actually best my best guy friend. He
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lived on lab b Lolly here locally, and I always
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thought that name was so goofy. I'm like, who names
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a street La Blallie? Until I realized it was a tree.
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So I guess my ignorance showed there. But out in
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South Carolina, that was the home to Kayla Brown and
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Charlie Carver. Both of them were born in the eighties
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and they were in their early thirties whenever this case
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took place. Kayla and Charlie, I'll let you know, were
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not of great means, and they weren't from high society
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or anything of that nature, and they certainly did not
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live the lifestyle of the rich and famous. But they
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were happy. They had been friends for about a year
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or so and they started to casually date for a
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short while, but now they were officially exclusive and they
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felt strongly enough for one another that they decided that
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they were going to move in together. So they settled
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into an apartment, and while they shared no children together,
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they did have a little dog his name was Romeo,
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that they just loved and doted after. Kayla with her
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dyed red hair and her green eyes. So something in
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the kind smile of Charlie, he just he's one of
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those people when you see him, his smile is kind.
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You see something wonderful when he smiles. And he always
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was making her laugh and bringing joy to her life.
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She had always been a confident person. She did pageants
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whenever she was a child growing up, and she had
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grown into a very motivated woman. But Charlie did a
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little something special for her that made her just made
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her feel just up there on this pedestal. Something just
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different about him whenever he entered her life. She was outgoing,
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She had a close friend group. They loved to hang
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out with one another. They really enjoyed each other's company,
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but Charlie was her safe spot and Kayla loved him.
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They were both very trusting people too, very kind hearted people,
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and they went well together. It was just a good combo. Now,
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Charlie had brown hair and he wore glasses. He was
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sporting this brown beard and this easy going spirit about
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him everywhere that he went. Now, I will tell you this.
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Charlie was technically still married, but he was estranged from
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his wife, Nicole. Charlie and Nicole had met on an
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online dating site and they eventually did get married. This
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was back in twenty fourteen, but things soured. It didn't
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last long, and although they were estranged, they still had
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two children together and they were doing their best to
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co parent both of these children that were a product
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of that relationship. Charlie worked as a printing machine operator
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at First Quality Tissue, and this was the job he
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took after he had completed his duties in the Army
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National Guard. Shout out to everybody, by the way, who
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is in our armed forces and in our National Guard,
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serving in whatever capacity that you may work. My hat
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is off to you. That is the ultimate for me,
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is someone who would go out and protect our country
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and take that oath. So he did that. Charlie did it,
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and then he ca back home and he started his
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civilian life working for the First Quality Tissue. He did
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have interest in law enforcement when he was younger. He
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thought that was a path he might should take, and
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he even participated in the Anderson County Sheriff's Office Explore
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Cadet program, which is basically a program for youth that
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are interested in think that they want to take the
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next step when they get old enough to become law enforcement,
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and they go do some hands on training and they
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learn the ins and outs of law enforcement. So he
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was a part of that program whenever he was younger,
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but it just didn't pan out that that would be
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a law enforcement career would be the path that he took.
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He went military instead. But as an adult, he loved
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playing pool and he was a member of some local
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pool leagues that he liked to go and play in.
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He also loved to write. He was a writer and
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he was good at it. From everything I've read and
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that I understand, he loved to write books and he
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was actually in the process of writing his fifth mystery
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novel when he and Caleb met, So he did a
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lot of writing. Now Todd had this full time job.
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But he was always willing to go with Kayla and
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do odd jobs here and there whenever it was time
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to make a little extra money. And specifically they would
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go together and they would clean homes. These homes were
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ones that were being put up for sale that maybe
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were newer and needed to be cleaned out, or even
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if it was a home that was just about to
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be sold and needed to be spruced up, that's what
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they would go do. Now, Todd Colehep was a local
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realtor and he had contacted Kayla about doing some work
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for him, and she had already done four or five
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homes in the recent months and clean those for him.
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And we know realtors, right, they're moving houses and they
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need them cleaned and they need people to help do that,
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and so this was a typical thing to occur. Now.
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Charlie always accompanied Kyla on these jobs because he didn't
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want to buy yourself in a home in an unknown area.
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He wanted someone to be able to stay with her
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so that she was safe. This go around, when they
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were going to clean this house, it was exactly the same.
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They would go to Todd's house, they would go get
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the keys for the property that they were going to
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go clean. Usually he would give them the address, they
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would put that into their GPS. Then they would go
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and they would clean wherever they were cleaning, and then
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when they were done, they would go back to Todd's house,
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give them the keys, and he would immediately cut the
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check forum right then. It had been a typical job
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and they had done this multiple times. But on August
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thirty first, both Kayla and Charlie went to Todd's home
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to go pick up the keys to the property that
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he needed them to clean on this day. The thing
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was that this was not a property that he was
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going to be putting up for sale. It was actually
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owned by Todd. So he did give them the keys
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to say go clean it, but he said I'm going
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to drive there too, because I have to unlock some
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gates before you can get into the property. And he
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wasn't willing to give out the code for the gate
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to them, but he would give them the keys to
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the property once they got inside the gate. So they
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got there, Todd got out and he unlocked that gate
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just like he was supposed to and opened it up.
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Charlie and Kayla we drove through first and then Charlie
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and Kayla followed through in their vehicle behind him. Todd
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then got back out of his car, locked the gate,
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shut it, locked it, and then they continued down the
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road to the back to where the house was that
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they were going to be cleaning. So they drove about
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a half a mile back on this property when they
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came upon an area of a couple of buildings that
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were right there. There was a two story building which
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was really a large garage and two level. Each level
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was a different color. The bottom was a light brown
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cinder block style wall, and then the top was ten siding.
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There was also off to the right a small garden
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like garden shed with that you'd store you know, containers
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or whatever you needed for gardening in that. And then
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this there was another building kind of off to the
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side of that. And this was in a rural area,
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and like I just told you, it was away from
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the main road, but very nice. It was orderly, it
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was kept, it was maintained. Today though they were not
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actually going to be cleaning this building, Todd needed them
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to go clean some underbrush on these trails that he
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had created, and he said it was kind of growing
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back and so he needed that brush trimmed back. So
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they all got there. They were chit chatting about what
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was going to happen, and then they walked into this
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large garage. So the large garage had a big garage
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door on the front of it and then a regular
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door on the left hand side of the building. So
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they go in. Todd's given them some hedge clippers and
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some tools and things that they're gonna need. He asked them, Hey,
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y'all need a bottle of water. Great, He handed them
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both a bottle of water, and then they walked out
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of that side door to head to the property that
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needed to be cleaned. Todd forgot something though, said hey,
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just hang on a second. So they stood right outside
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the door holding hands and they were talking with one
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another when Todd returned about three minutes later and then
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started to walk out and show them to the job site. Now,
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Kayla was supposed to have dinner with her girlfriends that night,
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but as night fell, she no called, and she no showed,
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No one could get in touch with her. So these
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girlfriends did what I think a lot of us would do,
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and they called the one person that we would call
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in our times of worry, and I know you didn't
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just say the police. I know that's not what you
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just thought to yourself, because you are wrong. It was mama.
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That is who they called. When something happens and your
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friend's not answering, you call her mama. So whenever they
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get Mom on the phone and they're explaining, look, she
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didn't show up, she's not answering the phone. Her mom
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thought that they were joking at first, they had that
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kind of relationship like, Ohkaylea when it's the phone. But
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she realized after they talked for a minute that this
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was not a joke and that they really really no, really,
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she's not answering the phone, and we cannot get a
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hold of her, and we definitely had plans for tonight.
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So they jump in the car and they ride over
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to the apartment of Kayla and Charlie. And that's whenever
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Mom says, uh oh, because Kayla's car was at the apartment.
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But they knock on the door and Kayla, Charlie nobody's
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answer in the phone, the car is there. This is
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a problem. She couldn't have gone anywhere without it. So
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Mom then jumped on the phone and she called police.
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So the police show up. They arrive at the apartment,
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They look around and there was nothing external that showed
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any signs of a problem. Once they got inside the apartment,
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it looked like people lived there. It looked like someone
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had just left the apartment and then expected to return.
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They looked in the bathroom and all around. All of
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the personal items for both of them were still in
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the home. And these were things that you would expect
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to be gone if somebody ran off. Their suitcases were there,
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their personal items were there. I mean, hell, their dog
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was there. Romeo was there. They're not going to run
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off and leave Romeo. And to point out two, Romeo
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had no food or water, which wasn't even close to
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his normal treatment that he would have received. They would
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have never not fed or watered this dog. So the police,
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first of all, and we've heard this a million times,
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because they were adults, the police first had to rule
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out that they didn't want to not be found, had
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they run off together and gone off on a lover's
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trip or whatever. But everyone knew that this was not
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the case, and it wasn't even their character at all,
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even if they wanted to go on a spur of
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the moment trip they're two grown ass adults. All they
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would do is call somebody and say, hey, we're going
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on a trip. There was no reason to not answer
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the phone. They didn't need to run off. It just