Oct. 13, 2025

"DRAKE LOSES, HOUSTON BAYOU MYSTERY & THE HUSBAND WHO HIRED HITMEN"

"DRAKE LOSES, HOUSTON BAYOU MYSTERY & THE HUSBAND WHO HIRED HITMEN"

Reid Carter covers Drake's defamation lawsuit dismissed - judge rules Kendrick Lamar calling him a pedophile in "Not Like Us" was opinion, not fact, in the context of a heated rap battle. Twenty-three bodies found in Houston bayous this year spark serial killer fears, but officials insist there's no connection - retired detectives disagree, calling it "unlikely" to be coincidence. Mark Sievers returns to court fighting his death sentence for hiring his best friend to murder his wife Teresa with a hammer for insurance money and custody of their daughters. One celebrity lawsuit, one mysterious pattern of deaths, one husband on death row.

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Caalarogus Shark Media, Good morning, I'm read Carter Monday, October thirteenth,

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twenty twenty five. Finally a celebrity case that doesn't involve murder.

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Drake sued Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar's disk track

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Not Like Us. Kendrick called Drake a pedophile. Literally Thursday,

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a federal judge tossed the lawsuit. Her ruling in the

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context of a heated rap battle, no reasonable listener would

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believe Kendrick was stating facts its opinion protected speech. Drake's appealing.

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Twenty three bodies have been found in Houston Bayous this year.

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Officials say there's no serial killer, just coincidence, drownings, accidents,

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nothing to worry about, But retired NYPD Sergeant Joseph Jackaloni

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isn't buying it. Something is afoot, he told Fox News

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a coincidence unlikely. Bodies found every other day in the

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same waterways, different ages, genders, ethnicities, no obvious pattern except

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they all end up in Bayous and Houston residents are

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launching their own investigations because they don't trust official answers.

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And Mark Sievers is back in court fighting his death

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sentence in twenty fifteen, he hired hitmen to murder his wife, Teresa,

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with a hammer five insurance policies totaling four point four

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million dollars. Mark attended her funeral and said, I was

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and still am, the luckiest man in the world. Now

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he's on death row, trying to overturn his conviction. I'm

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Red Carter today.

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Drake versus Kendrick the Houston Bayou mystery that officials refused

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to investigate as serial killings and the husband who hired

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hitman then gave a touching eulogy. This is Celebrity Trials.

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Drake versus Kendrick Lamar, the most infamous rap battle in

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hip hop history, and now a defamation lawsuit. Spring twenty

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twenty four, the feud erupts. Drake and Kendrick, two of

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hip hop's biggest stars, start trading distracks. It escalates quickly.

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In April, Drake releases push ups, mocks Kendrick's height and

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shoe size, questions his success. Kendrick responds with euphoria, insults

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Drake's fashion sense, and questions his authenticity. Then it gets

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vicious personal The insults become attacks. May twenty twenty four,

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Kendrick drops not like Us. Judge Janette Vargas calls it

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the metaphorical killing blow. The song has a catchy beat,

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propulsive bassline. It becomes one of twenty twenty four's biggest songs,

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wins Record of the Year and Song of the Year

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at the Grammys, helps make the Super Bowl halftime show

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the most watched ever. When Kendrick performs it, and the

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lyrics explicitly called Drake a pedophile. I hear you like

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him young. That's not subtle, that's direct. The song attacks

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Drake as a colonizer of rap culture, makes insinuations about

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his sex life, calls him out by name. The cover

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art shows an aerial photo of Drake's Toronto mansion with

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more than a dozen sex offender markers overlaid on it,

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like Drake's house is full of registered sex offenders. Obviously exaggerated,

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obviously doctored, but there it is, Drake's home marked as

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a sex offender residence. January twenty twenty five, Drake files

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a defamation lawsuit, not against Kendrick, directly against Universal Music Group,

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the parent label for both artists. The lawsuit alleges UMG

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intentionally published and promoted Not Like Us despite knowing it

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contained false, defamatory allegations that it tarnished Drake's reputation and

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decreased his brand value. Drake also blamed the song for

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real world consequences attempted break ins at his Toronto home,

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a security guard shot. The lawsuit claims the song suggested

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listeners should resort to vigilante justice against Drake. UMG denies everything,

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says the lawsuit is an affront to all artists and

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their creative expression. Thursday, October ninth, Judge Vargas tosses the lawsuit.

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Her written opinion is fascinating. She recaps perhaps the most

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infamous rap battle in the genre's history, acknowledges that calling

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someone a pedophile is certainly a serious accusation, then explains

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why it's not defamation. Context matters. This is a rap battle,

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not a news article, not a documentary, not investigative journalism.

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Its two rappers trading insults in a public feud that

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both participated in willingly. Vargas writes, a reasonable listener could

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not have concluded that Not Like Us was conveying objective

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facts about Drake. The broader context of a heated rap

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battle with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by both participants,

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would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that the

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song imparts verifiable facts. She notes the song as replete

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with profanity, trash talking, threats of violence, and figurative and

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hyperbolic language, all of which are indichia of opinion. A

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reasonable listener, she says, would conclude that Lamar is wrapping

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hyperbolic vituperations. Hyperbolic vituperations. That's legal language for over the

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top insults. Vargas also addresses the cover art thirteen sex

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offender markers on Drake's mansion, her ruling, no reasonable person

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would view the image and believe that law enforcement had

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designated thirteen residents in Drake's home as sex offenders. It's

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obviously exaggerated and doctored. The judge considers the forum rap

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battles aren't thoughtful investigations, they're not fact checked content. They're

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artists insulting each other creatively. The average listener understands this.

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Nobody hears a distrack and thinks, well, that must be

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literally true because it's in a song. Drake's lawyers immediately

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announce their appealing They believe the Court of Appeals will

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overturn this ruling. U MG's statement from the outset this

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suit was an affront to all artists and their creative expression.

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We're pleased with the dismissal and look forward to continuing

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our work promoting Drake's music and investing in his career.

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Think about the implications if Drake won. Every distrack becomes

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a defamation lawsuit. Every rapper who calls another rapper a name,

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questions their credibility, makes exaggerated claims, faces legal liability. Hip

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hop battles, a fundamental part of the culture become legally dangerous.

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Eminem's entire career would be litigation. Every beef would end

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in court instead of on tracks. Artists would lawyer up

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before releasing songs. The genre would fundamentally change. Kendrick didn't testify,

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wasn't a defendant. This was Drake versus Universal Music Group,

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Drake arguing that his own label should have protected him

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from another artist on the same label, UMG arguing that

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both artists have creative freedom and the label can't censor

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one to protect the other. The song generated massive attention

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for both artists. Kendrick got Grammy Awards and the Super Bowl.

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Drake got a dismissed lawsuit, but the feud itself generated publicity,

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streams engagement. Both artists benefited commercially even as they destroyed

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each other lyrically. Will the appeal succeed. Probably not. First

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Amendment protects opinion. Rap battles are clearly opinion. The context

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is so obviously hyperbolic that no reasonable person mistakes it

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for factual reporting. Courts protect artistic expression, especially when both

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parties are public figures engaged in a voluntary public feud.

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Drake could have responded with another disk track, could have

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ignored it, could have addressed it in interviews. Instead, he sued,

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and now Not Like Us is more famous than ever

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because of the lawsuit, the strissand effect in action. Kendrick

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Lamar called Drake a pedophile in a Grammy winning song.

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The courts say that's protected speech. Welcome to hip hop.

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We'll be right back with the Houston Bayou mystery and

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twenty three bodies that officials refused to investigate as serial killings. Houston,

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Texas America's fourth largest city, and this year, twenty three

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bodies have been pulled from the city's Bayous official say

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it's not a serial killer, just coincidence. Retired detectives say

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that's unlikely, and Houston residents are conducting their own investigations

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because they don't trust the answers they're getting. Late September,

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officials announce five bodies found in five days. Houston police

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claim the total for twenty twenty five is fourteen deaths,

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but KPRC investigates using medical examiner records, the real number

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is twenty two, and Wednesday, October ninth, another body is

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found in white Oak by U twenty three. Last year,

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twenty four bodies were found in Houston BYOUS this year,

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with almost three months still remaining, we're already at twenty three,

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one less than the entire previous year. But officials say

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there's no pattern, no serial killer, nothing to worry about.

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Mayor John Whitmyer, September twenty third, enough of misinformation and

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wild speculation by either social media, elected officials, candidates, the media.

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We do not have any evidence that there is a

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serial killer loose in Houston, Texas. Strong denial, forceful definitive,

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no evidence, just drownings accidents. Houston has two thousand, five

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hundred miles of Bayous, people fall in, it happens, move along.

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But Joseph Jackaloni, retired NYPD sergeant and criminal justice professor

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at Penn State Lee High Valley, isn't buying it, he

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told Fox News. Something is afoot, a coincidence unlikely. Jackoloni

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says more work needs to be done. A careful inspection

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of each case is warranted, including the forty eight hours

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prior to the discovery of their disappearance. That's the key question.

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What happened in the forty eight hours before these people

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ended up in Bayous? Where were they? Who saw them?

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How did they get to the water? Did they fall?

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Were they pushed? Were they killed elsewhere and dumped? Houston

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police say there's no pattern, but let's look at the victims.

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The first found last month was jade Elise McKissick, twenty

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years old University of Houston student. September eleventh. She left

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a local bar, left her cell phone behind, went to

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a gas station next door to buy a drink, walked

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toward brays by You September fifteenth, her body was discovered.

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No signs of trauma or foul play, police say. Lauren Johnson,

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who sang with McKissick in Church told The Daily Mail,

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Jade was such a light in our room. She was

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talented and always had a smile on her face. Jade

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was also a great friend to me, whom I looked

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up to for her ambition and her go get it attitude.

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I miss her so much and I hope her family

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finds closure. Closure requires answers. How does a twenty year

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old walk toward to buy you and end up dead

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with no signs of foul play? What happened in those

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four days between leaving the bar and being found? The

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latest three identified seth Hanson thirty four, found September sixth,

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sixteenth in White Oak Bayou. Arnulfo Alvarado sixty three, found

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September eighteenth in Buffalo by You Mikaela Miller, age unavailable,

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found nearly a week later. Police Captain Salaam Zia says

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there's no pattern. It runs the gamut genders, ethnicities, age range,

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and that's the official position. Different victims, different locations, different circumstances,

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no connection. Twenty three people ages fourteen to sixty nine,

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males and females, different ethnicities, all found in Houston Bayous.

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Police say no connection, but retired NYPD sergeant Kevin Gannon

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has a theory. Gannon believes the deaths could be connected

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to the Smiley Faced killings, a controversial theory that claims

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young college aged men found dead across the US were

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murdered by organized serial killers. The FBI has rejected this theory,

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most criminologists dismiss it, but Gannon in sissists. He told

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Fox News, We've never seen drowning numbers like this before,

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especially with a drowning occurring every other day in the

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same location. He admits the age range doesn't match the

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typical smiley face pattern, usually young men in their twenties,

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but suggests the killers might be expanding their victim pool.

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Gannon provides no evidence, just speculation based on a theory

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the FBI calls unfounded, but his comments fuel the rumors.

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Social media explodes with theories, TikTok videos warning people to

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avoid byous amateur detectives launching investigations. TikTok user Darius Sticker,

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let's set up a trap. As you know we have

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a serial killer on the loose. Just the thought that

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could possibly be my baby girl one day get snatched

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up and found in a by you That really bothers me.

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The police is clearly having a problem doing their job.

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I'm not understanding. After the first body, why aren't there

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people staking out and watching? Good question? Twenty three bodies

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and ten months, Why no surveillance, Why no increased patrols,

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Why no undercover operations? If officials truly believed these were murders,

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wouldn't they be doing more? But officials maintain these are

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drownings accidents. Houston Mayor John Whitmyer suggested drug and alcohol

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abuse among the homeless could be a factor. Said, some

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are thrown in by others living on the streets. That's

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a theory based on speculation about a vulnerable population with

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no evidence to support it. Jackloni, the retired NYPD sergeant,

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called Whitmyer's remarks premature. You have sixteen bodies, he was

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speaking before the latest deaths. You can't just say everybody's

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dying and getting thrown into the river, and everybody's homeless.

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You don't even know if they're from your town. That's

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the problem. Autopsies aren't complete, causes of death aren't determined.

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Some victims haven't been identified, but officials are already declaring

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there's no seri real killer. How do they know without

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completing investigations. Christa Gering, criminal justice professor at University of

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Houston Downtown, explained to The Daily Mail why she doesn't

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think it's a serial killer. When serial killers kill an individual,

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there's a cooling off period, so to find multiple bodies

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all at once or one day after the next is

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not characteristic. Serial Killers also have signatures, specific methods, victim types.

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They prey on vulnerable people in Houston. Gehing says, the

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only pattern is these bodies show up in a by you.

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But what if the pattern is the by you itself?

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What if someone is targeting people near water or dumping

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bodies in water knowing they'll be found, but evidence will

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be degraded, Water washes away, DNA degrades trace evidence makes

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time of death harder to determine. Wednesday's body number twenty

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three was found in White Oak by You at one

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hundred Marie Street around nine ten am. No obvious signs

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of foul play, Police say, dive team recovered it, autopsy pending,

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cause of death pending, everything pending, while officials maintain there's

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no connection to the other twenty two bodies. The Daily

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Mail reached out to Houston Police and the Harris County

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Institute of Forensic Sciences for comment about when investigations might

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be concluded. Houston Police said there were no new updates

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to provide. No updates. Twenty three bodies ten months and

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officials say there's nothing to investigate. Maybe they're right. Maybe

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it's all coincidence. Twenty three people fell into Bayous or

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drowned or died near water naturally, different ages, genders, locations, circumstances,

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all unconnected. Just Houston's water problem getting worse this year.

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Or maybe Joseph Jackaloni is right, something is afoot, a

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coincidence unlikely. Maybe Houston has a serial killer targeting people

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near Bayous. Maybe someone is getting away with murder because

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officials refuse to connect the dots. Maybe twenty three families

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deserve better answers than no signs of foul play while

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autopsies sit incomplete. Houston residents don't trust official answers. They're

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conducting their own investigations, launching amateur detective work, warning each

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other on TikTok. Because when twenty three bodies appear in

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your city's waterways and officials say it's nothing, you start

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wondering what they're not telling you. Or maybe social media

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is creating panic where none should exist. Maybe criminologists are

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right that drownings happen more than people realize. Maybe officials

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are being responsible by not declaring a serial killer without evidence.

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But twenty three bodies in ten months, that's one every

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two weeks, and we still don't know how most of

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them died, What happened in those forty eight hours before

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they ended up in the water, whether they were alone

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or with someone, whether they fell or were pushed. Those

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are the questions Joseph Jackaloni wants investigated. Those are the

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questions Houston residents want answered. Those are the questions officials

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aren't addressing while they insist there's nothing to worry about.

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More in a moment, Lee County, Florida, June twenty eighth,

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twenty fifteen, doctor Teresa Severs returns home from a family

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vacation in Connecticut. She'd cut the trip short to see

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patients at her holistic medical practice. The next morning, her husband,

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Mark had driven her to LaGuardia Airport so she could

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fly home alone. Teresa lands at Southwest Florida International Airport.

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Surveillance cameras capture her last moments alive. She drives home

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to Benita Springs, opens the front door. Two men are

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waiting inside. They beat her to death with a hammer

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seventeen strikes. The next morning, Teresa doesn't show up at work.

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Mark calls a family friend and asks them to check

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on her. The friend finds Teresa's body on the kitchen floor,

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a hammer beside her. Mark attends the funeral, appearing distraught,

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gives a touching speech, I was and still am the

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luckiest man in the world, tears grief. The devastated widower,

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except Mark hired the killers, planned the whole thing, and

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investigators knew it from the start. Teresa Severs was born

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Teresa Anne Grace Tottenham in nineteen sixty eight. Valedictorian of

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her high school class. Wanted to be a doctor since

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sixth grade, graduated from Ross University School of Medicine, completed

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residency at University of Florida. Smart, driven, successful, she married

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Mark Severs, the brother of one of her friends, in

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two thousand and three. They had two daughters, aged eleven

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and eight. When their mother was murdered in two thousand

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and six, the family moved to Benita Springs. They opened

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Restorative Health and Healing Center in Aestero, a holistic medical practice.

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Teresa was profiled in a local women's magazine shortly before

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her death, living the dream. But Mark had problems, marriage problems,

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money problems. He confided in his childhood friend, Curtis Wayne

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Wright Junior, that Teresa was going to take their daughters

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away that he couldn't afford to fight for custody. Wright

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told Mark his only option was for Teresa to die.

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Mark agreed, said he'd pay Right to help. The two

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men planned how to kill her. Why five insurance policies

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on Teresa, totaling four point four three three million dollars.

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Mark wanted the money and wanted custody of his daughters.

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Teresa alive was an obstacle. Teresa dead solved both problems.

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Wright enlisted a third man, Jimmy Ray Rogers. Right paid

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Rogers to help with the murder. Didn't know Teresa had

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no connection to Florida. He was just a hitman for

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hire who needed money. June twenty seventh, twenty fifteen, Write

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rents a car in Hillsboro, Missouri, picks up Rogers. They

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drive over one thousand miles to Florida. GPS logs track

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the entire route. They stop at a gas station caught

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on surveillance, arrive at the Severs home around six am

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on June twenty eighth. They enter the property, disable the

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security alarm, leave, drive to a local Walmart. Surveillance catches

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them buying trash bags, wet wipes, black towels, black shoes,

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and a lock picking kit. Return to the house wait.

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Teresa lands in Florida that night, drives home, enters her house,

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write in Roger's ambush her seventeen hammer strikes. They leave

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immediately drive back to Missouri in the early hours of

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June twenty ninth. For two months, no leads. Then August

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twenty fifteen, police act on a tip, arrest Right and

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Rogers in Missouri, both charged with murder. Rogers's girlfriend tells

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police that Rogers admitted to the killing. Said Mark hired Wright,

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who hired Rogers. By this time, Mark is under suspicion.

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Hours after Teresa's funeral, investigators watched him throw computer equipment

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into a dumpster behind the medical office. Initially cooperative, handing

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over his cell phone, then he stops cooperating refuses to help.

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December twenty fifteen, Mark is arrested and charged with murder.

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The connection between him and Right is solid, the evidence overwhelming.

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Curtis Wright takes a plea deal twenty five years in

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exchange for testimony against Mark, and Rogers pleads guilty to

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second degree murder. Sentenced in twenty sixteen. Jimmy Rodgers goes

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to trial. Initially faces first degree murder and possible death penalty.

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Convicted of the lesser charge of second degree murder plus

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tresad passing October twenty nineteen. Found guilty December twenty nineteen.

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Sentenced to life in prison. Mark Sievers goes to trial

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December fourth, twenty nineteen. Convicted of first degree murder. The

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jury unanimously recommends death. January third, twenty twenty, Judge Bruce

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Kyle sentences him to death. Mark appeals twenty twenty two.

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Florida Supreme Court affirms his conviction and denies his death

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row appeal November seventeenth, twenty twenty two. Appeal rejected. Two

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weeks later, Mark files a new motion for rehearing. Today

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October thirteenth, twenty twenty five, Mark Sievers is back in court,

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fighting to have his conviction and death sentence overturned. Jail

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records show he's been transferred from death row to Lee

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County custody for the hearing. What's his argument We don't

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know yet. He's already lost one appeal, The Florida Supreme

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Court already reviewed and rejected his claims. This hearing might

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be his last chance. The evidence against him is overwhelming,

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writs testimony, GPS data, surveillance footage, the insurance policies, his

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behavior after Teresa's death, the computer equipment thrown in a dumpster,

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his refusal to cooperate once he became a suspect, and

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that eulogy. I was and still am, the luckiest man

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in the world, said while standing over the coffin of

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the wife he had murdered for insurance money. That's not grief,

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that's performance. That's a psychopath playing the role of devastated widower.

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Teresa's daughters live with their maternal grandmother now have since

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May twenty sixteen. They lost their mother to murder and

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their father to prison. Their teenagers now would be about

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twenty and seventeen, growing up knowing their father hired hitmen

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to murder their mother. Right is eligible for release in

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twenty forty one. If he his full sentence, he'll be

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in his sixties. Rogers is serving life without parole, will

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die in prison. Mark Sievers sits on death row at

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Union Correctional Institution. Unless this appeal succeeds, he'll be executed.

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Florida uses lethal injection. Mark planned a murder for hire

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that left his daughter's orphaned and his wife beaten to

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death on the kitchen floor. The state plans to kill

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him for it. Today's hearing will determine if he gets

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another chance, if the conviction stands or gets overturned, if

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the death sentence remains or gets reduced. We'll cover the

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outcome when it's announced. That's celebrity trials for Monday, October thirteenth,

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twenty twenty five. Drake sued Universal Music Group because Kendrick

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Lamar called him a pedophile. In Nott like US, judge

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ruled its opinion in the context of a rap battle,

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not defamation, dismissed Drake's appealing. First Amendment protects hyperbolic V

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two operations in distracks. Twenty three bodies found in Houston

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bayous this year. Officials say no serial killer, just coincidence.

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Retired NYPD Sergeant Joseph Jackaloni disagrees something is afoot, a

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coincidence unlikely. Houston residents are conducting their own investigations because

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they don't trust official answers. Autopsy's incomplete, causes of death unknown,

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but officials already declared there's nothing to investigate. Mark Sievers

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is back in court fighting his death sentence for hiring

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hitman to murder his wife, Teresa with a hammer, five

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insurance policies, four point four million dollars, two daughters. He

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attended her funeral and said he was the luckiest man

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in the world. The Florida Supreme Court already denied his appeal.

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This might be his last chance. I'm reed Carter. One

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celebrity lawsuit without bloodshed, one city with twenty three bodies

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and no answers. One huss been on death row for

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hiring murder See you tomorrow. This is celebrity trials. By

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the way, we have a poll going in our Facebook

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group's page. Do you want to hear more classic celebrity trials,

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more current murder cases or is the mix just right?

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Let us know. Search celebrity trials in Facebook groups or

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00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:21.160
follow the link in the show notes. We'd love to

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hear from you.