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Caalaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm read Carter Friday, September nineteenth,
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twenty twenty five. Today on Celebrity Trials, Tyler Robinson's texts
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after assassinating Charlie Kirk have been released, and they're exactly
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as delusional as you'd expect from a twenty two year
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old who thinks murder makes him a revolutionary judge. Jeffrey
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Ferguson got life for shooting his wife over dinner plans.
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The man who sentenced hundreds learned what it feels like
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to hear life without parole from the defendant's table. And
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Crystal Rogers killers finally got sentenced ten years after making
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her vanish. They're vanishing into prison forever. Plus, I'll tell
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you about this weekend special on the Google Graveyard and
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our upcoming ojy marathon that'll make you question everything you
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think you know about the Trial of the Century. This
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is Celebrity Trials. Prosecutors released Tyler Robinson's text messages yesterday,
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and folks, they're a masterclass in delusion, narcissism, and proving
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premeditation all at once. Robinson, if you've somehow forgotten is
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the twenty two year old who assassinated Charlie Kirk at
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Utah Valley University shot him from a rooftop while Kirk
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talked to college students. Now we know what Robinson texted
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his roommate immediately after pulling the trigger three point thirty
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one pm, September tenth, Twenty minutes after shooting Kirk, Robinson
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texts his roommate, Dylan Chen turn on the news. History
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was just made history. This dropout, living in his parents'
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basement thought he was making history by murdering a father
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of two. Three p forty five PM. They're probably calling
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me a terrorist. I'm a patriot. This is what seventeen
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seventy six looked like, right. George Washington definitely sniped British
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office while they were having tea with college students. That's
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exactly how the American Revolution worked. This is what happens
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when you learn history from Reddit threads. Four twelve pm.
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The shot heard round the world. Two point zero. He's
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comparing himself to Lexington and conquered the start of the
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Revolutionary war. This narcissist actually thought shooting an unarmed conservative
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speaker would trigger a revolution. Instead, it triggered a manhunt.
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That caught him in three days. Four forty seven PM.
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Don't let them control the narrative. Make sure people know why.
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Why Because Charlie Kirk had different political opinions, because he
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spoke at colleges, because Tyler Robinson spent sixteen hours a
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day in online echo chambers convincing himself that murder was
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morally justified. Five twenty three pm. If they catch me,
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I'll be a political prisoner like Mandela Nelson. Mandela spent
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twenty seven year years in prison for fighting apartheid. Tyler
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Robinson shot an unarmed man for speaking opinions He didn't
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like the fact that he thinks these are comparable. Shows
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a level of delusion that should be studied by psychologists.
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But here's where it gets really sick. Six point fifteen pm.
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As Charlie Kirk is being pronounced dead at the hospital,
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Robinson texts, is he dead yet? Need confirmation for the manifesto?
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Timing manifesto timing. He was more concerned about when to
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release his garbage manifesto than the fact he'd just murdered someone.
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Charlie Kirk was dying, his wife was collapsing in grief,
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his children were about to become fatherless, and Robinson was
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worried about optimizing his manifesto's social media engagement. Seven forty
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five pm. They'll make statues of me one day, statues.
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This kid, who couldn't finish one semester of college, who
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worked at a coffee shop, who lived with his parents,
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thought he'd get statues for committing murder. The only thing
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he getting is a sell in ADX, Florence with the
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un Obamber's former neighbors. The roommate Dylan Chen, to his credit,
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immediately called the FBI after receiving these texts. His response
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to Robinson was brilliant, Tyler, what did you do? Then
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turn yourself in? Then I'm calling the police. But Robinson
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kept texting even as he fled to Nevada. September eleventh,
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eight twenty three am. The movement will continue, others will
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follow my example. What movement? What others? The movement of
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basement dwelling losers who think violence is virtue. The others
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who also can't distinguish between Twitter arguments and justification for murder.
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September twelfth, two fifteen am, hours before his arrest. If
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I die, make sure they spell my name, writ in
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the history books, history books. This murderer thought he'd be
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in history books as anything other than a footnote about
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political violence, a cautionary tale about online radicalization, a reminder
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that some people are too stupid to have Internet access.
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The prosecutor, Michael Stevens, says these texts prove premeditation and
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lack of remorse. That's under selling it. These texts prove
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Robinson is a narcissistic sociopath who viewed murder as a
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path to fame. His public defender, Sarah Martinez, tried to
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claim the texts show mental illness. No, mental illness doesn't
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make you compare yourself to Nelson Mandela. Mental illness doesn't
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make you worry about manifesto timing while your victim dies.
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That's not mental illness. That's evil with a Twitter account.
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The worst part Robinson's parents had to read these texts,
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had to see their sons celebrating murder, had to realize
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the passionate political kid they raised was actually planning mass
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violence with Charlie Kirk as just the beginning. His mother
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broke down in court when the texts were read. His
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father hasn't been back since. They're serving their own life sentence.
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They raised a monster who thought murder made him a hero. Meanwhile,
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Charlie Kirk's actual last texts were to his wife event
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going great, kids are engaged, home for dinner, Love you.
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That's the difference between the victim and the killer. Kirk
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was thinking about dinner with his family. Robinson was thinking
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about statues and history books. Robinson wanted to be remembered.
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He will be as a coward who shot an unarmed man,
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as a narcissist who thought violence was virtue, as a
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cautionary tale about what happens when online radicalization meets real
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world violence. No statues, Tyler, no history books, no revolution,
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just a concrete cell and a lifetime to realize you
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murdered an innocent man for Twitter clout that lasted three
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days more in a moment. Judge Jeffrey Ferguson got his
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sentence yesterday life without the possibility of parole for murdering
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his wife Cheryl over dinner plans. The man who spent
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forty years sending people to prison will die in one.
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The sentencing was in the same courthouse where Ferguson used
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to preside, same building, different floor. The courtroom was packed
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with judges, lawyers and staff who knew Ferguson, who respected him,
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who couldn't believe he was standing there in shackles for murder.
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Judge Patricia Williams, who had to sentence her former colleague,
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didn't hold back. Mister Ferguson, you held a position of
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ultimate trust. You were supposed to represent justice. Instead, you
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became the very thing you spent your career punishing, a
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cold blooded killer. Ferguson's attorney, Robert Morrison, made one last
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plea for leniency, talked about Ferguson's lifetime of public service,
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his fair sentencing, his reputation for mercy, asked for the
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possibility of parole after twenty five years, given Ferguson's age
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and health. Judge Williams's response was perfect. Mister Ferguson showed
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no mercy to his wife when she wanted to go
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to dinner. He executed her in their kitchen for the
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crime of wanting thie food. That level of trivial rage
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deserves no mercy in return. The victim impact statements were devastating.
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Cheryl's sister Linda looked directly at Ferguson and said, you
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didn't just kill my sister. You killed Every memory of
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your marriage, every good moment you shared is now poisoned
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by knowing you were capable of murdering her. Over restaurant choices,
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Cheryl's best friend, Maria, revealed something that made the courtroom gasp.
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Cheryl had been planning to leave Ferguson, had been seeing
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a divorce attorney, had opened her own bank account. The
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dinner argument wasn't really about dinner. It was about Cheryl
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finally standing up for herself after forty years. She was
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going to leave you, Maria said to Ferguson, she was
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done with your temper, your control, your rage. You sensed it,
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and rather than let her leave, you killed her. Ferguson
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tried to speak before sentencing, started crying, saying he loved Cheryl,
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that it was a moment of madness, that forty years
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of marriage should count for something. Judge Williams cut him off.
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Mister Ferguson, you called your lawyer before calling nine to
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one one. You watched your wife bleed out while planning
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your defense. That's not a moment of madness, that's calculated evil.
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Then came the sentence, life without the possibility of parole. Ferguson,
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seventy three years old, will die in prison. The judge
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who showed no mercy received none. The courthouse staff watched
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their former boss get led away in the same shack
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he'd ordered for so many defendants. The bailiffs who used
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to protect him were now escorting him to prison. The
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clerks who used to respect him were updating his file
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from judge to inmate. But here's the part that really
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gets me. After the sentencing, prosecutors revealed that Cheryl had
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been recording Ferguson's outburst on her phone for months. She
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knew she'd need evidence for the divorce she was building
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her case for freedom. The last recording was from the
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morning of her murder. Ferguson screaming about breakfast being cold,
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Cheryl calmly saying she was done being yelled at Ferguson
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threatening divorce, Cheryl responding that would be a gift. Four
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hours later, she was dead. Her final recording became evidence
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at his murder trial instead of her divorce proceedings. Ferguson
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is being housed in protective custody at San Quentin. Former
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judges don't do well in general population. He'll spend twenty
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three hours a day alone in a cell, remembering when
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he had the power to send others to the same fate.
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His former colleagues have already forgotten him. His nameplate has
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been removed from his old courtroom, his portraits taken down
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from the courthouse walls, his legacy erased. Except as a
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cautionary tale about rage and control. Jeffrey Ferguson wanted to
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control his wife so badly that he killed her rather
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than let her choose a restaurant. Now he doesn't even
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control when he eats, sleeps, or sees sunlight. That's not
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just justice, that's poetic justice. Cheryl Ferguson was planning a
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new life at sixty five, had enrolled in cooking classes,
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ironic given the final argument was reconnecting with old friends,
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was discovering who she was without her controlling husband. She
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died six months before she could file for divorce and
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start over. Instead of freedom, she got a bullet. Instead
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of retirement, Ferguson got life without parole, and somewhere in heaven,
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Cheryl is probably at that Thai restaurant. She wanted to
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try finally free from the man who killed her, rather
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than let her choose dinner. We'll be right back with
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Crystal Rogers killers getting what they deserve, and a preview
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of this weekend special on how Google's searches become confessions.
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Brooks Houk and Joseph Lawson were sentenced yesterday for the
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murder of Crystal Rogers life without parole. Ten years after
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making Crystal disappear. They're disappearing into prison forever. The sentencing
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was emotional. Cristel's mother, Sherry Ballard, who spent a decade
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searching for her daughter's body, finally got to address her
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daughter's killers. You took my daughter, you took my grandchildren's mother.
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You took my hope, but you didn't take my determination.
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I'll keep searching for Crystal until I die, and you'll
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rot in prison knowing you'll never be free. Brooks Howk,
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Cristel's boyfriend and killer, maintained his innocence to the end.
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Claimed Cristel ran Off, claimed he's being framed, claimed the
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evidence is circumstantial. Judge Rebecca Martinez responded, mister Howck, you
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killed the mother of your son. You made her vanish
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so thoroughly that ten years of searching hasn't found her.
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That's not innocence, that's evil efficiency. Joseph Lawson, who helped
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dispose of Cristel's body, tried to cut a deal at
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the last minute, offered to reveal the location for a
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reduced sentence. The prosecutor's response was, beautiful, you had ten
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years to develop a conscience. It's too late now. Think
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about that. He knew where Cristel was buried for ten years,
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watched her mother's search, watched her children grow up without her,
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watched the community hold vigils, and said nothing until it
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could benefit him. The judge gave him extra time just
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for that cruelty, life without parole, plus thirty years for
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obstruction and evidence tampering. He'll die in prison, taking Cristel's
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location with him unless he develops that conscience he's been missing.
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The evidence presented at sentencing was overwhelming. Cristel's blood in
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Hawk's barn, her car abandoned to look like a breakdown,
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her phone never used again, her bank accounts untouched, her
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five children left motherless. But the most damning evidence was
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the pattern of death around this case. Hawk's brother, a
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cop who was going to testify, died in a hunting accident.
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Another witness was murdered. Everyone who could have revealed the
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truth ended up dead or scared. Cristel's oldest son, who
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was eight when she disappeared, gave a victim impact statement
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that destroyed the courtroom. I don't remember my mom's voice anymore.
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I see her in pictures, but can't hear her laugh.
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You didn't just kill her, you killed my memories of her.
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Uok's son with Cristel, who he got custody of after
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making her disappear, wasn't in court. He's twelve, now, living
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with relatives, growing up knowing his father killed his mother.
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That's a life sentence no child should serve. The sentence
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won't bring Cristel back, won't give her children their mother,
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won't give Sherry Ballard a grave to visit. But it
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does mean brooks Hock and Joseph Lawson will never be
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free again. They'll die in prison, hopefully haunted by Cristel's
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ghost and the knowledge that they destroyed multiple lives for nothing.
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Cristel Rogers was thirty five when she vanished, a mother
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of five who was trying to leave an abusive relationship.
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She's been gone ten years, but never forgotten her mother.
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Still searches, her children still hope, and now her killers
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will spend every remaining day of their lives in cages,
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knowing there exactly where they belong. Before we go, let
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me tell you about this weekend special investigation, the Google Graveyard. Tomorrow,
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we're exploring the Search history Hall of Shame. Every idiot
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who googled their murder plans thinking incognito mode was actually incognito.
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Brian Walsh searching how to dispose of one hundred and
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fifteen pound woman's body his wife weighed one hundred fifteen pounds.
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Herbert Swilley googling making murder look like suicide while poisoning
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his Parkinson's afflicted wife, Bryant to Jada Comparison shopping for
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Tomahawks on Amazon with prime shipping because apparently murder is