Jan. 29, 2026

"REAL ESTATE RAPISTS: ALEXANDER BROTHERS TRIAL BEGINS, IDAHO AUTOPSY HORROR & TEXAS SET TO EXECUTE ESCAPED DEATH ROW INMATE"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter covers the Alexander brothers' federal sex trafficking trial as first witness describes waking up naked with Alon Alexander standing over her after a party at Zac Efron's apartment - says she was repeatedly raped while his brother watched and did nothing. Defense calls them "womanizers" in "hookup culture," not criminals. Newly unsealed autopsy reports reveal Bryan Kohberger stabbed his four Idaho victims over 100 times collectively - Xana Kernodle suffered 67 wounds in frenzied attack. Texas scheduled to execute Charles Victor Thompson Wednesday night - the death row inmate who once walked out of jail unchallenged and was found drunk at a liquor store.

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WEBVTT

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Caalarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter, Thursday, January

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twenty ninth, twenty twenty six. One of the biggest trials

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of the year is now underway. Three brothers, high end

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real estate brokers to the rich and famous, accused of

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using their celebrity connections to lure women into situations where

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they could be drugged and raped. The Alexander brothers, tal Orrin,

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and Aylon, their federal sex trafficking trial, began Tuesday in

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New York. First witness took the stand described meeting two

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of the brothers at a party at actor Zac Efron's apartment,

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the thrill of celebrity access, then waking up naked on

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a bed with Aileen Alexander standing over her, also naked.

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Says she was repeatedly raped while his brother tal walked in,

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saw what was happening and did nothing. Defense says these

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were party boys in hookup culture, that the women consented,

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that some accusers have regret, not trauma, but prosecutors say

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the brothers masqueraded as party boys when really they were predators.

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Newly unsealed autopsy reports from the Idaho murders revealed the

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horrific extent of Brian Coberger's rampage. Four students stabbed more

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than one hundred times collectively. Zona Kernodle alone suffered sixty

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seven wounds, blood on the bottoms of her feet. She

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fought she was awake a frenzied attack, and as we're

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recording this Wednesday afternoon, Texas is scheduled to execute Charles

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Victor Thompson tonight for the nineteen ninety eight murders of

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his ex girlfriend and her new boyfriend. If it goes forward,

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he'll be the first person executed in the United States

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this year. Thompson is the death row inmate who once

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walked out of the Harris County jail unchallenged by slipping

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out of his handcuffs and waving a fake ID badge

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made from his prison card. Found three days later drunk

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at a Louisiana liquor store. I'm Red Carter. Today, a

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predators in designer suits, autopsy horrors, and a man scheduled

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to face the needle after briefly tasting freedom. This is

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Celebrity Trials, Manhattan Federal Court. Three brothers in designer suits

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facing sex trafficking charges that could put them away for life.

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Tal Alexander thirty nine years old or In Alexander thirty eight.

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Alon Alexander thirty eight or In and Alon are twins.

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All three are accused of conspiring to drug and rape

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women over several years, using their ties to the wealthy

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and famous to lure victims, offering luxury flights, hotel rooms,

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parties with celebrities, then allegedly attacking women who thought they

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were entering a world of glamour. The Alexander brothers built

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their fortune in high end real estate. Tal and Orrin

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specialized in luxury properties in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles,

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closed deals worth hundreds of millions, rubbed shoulders with the celebrities, athletes, billionaires.

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Aylon graduated from New York law school before running the

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family's private security firm. They've been held without bail since

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their December twenty twenty four arrest in Miami federal indictment

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alleges they conspired to entice women to vacation destinations by

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providing flights and luxury accommodations, then drugged and raped them. Tuesday,

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the trial began with opening statements, and the first witness

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testimony was devastating Prosecutor Madison Smiser told the jury the

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Alexander brothers masqueraded as party boys when really they were predators.

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Said they used whatever means necessary to lure women into

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situations where they could be raped, luxury, accommodations, flights, drugs, alcohol,

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and sometimes brute force. Defense attorney Tenny Garagos, representing Orrin,

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urged the jury to reject the monstrous story. Said the

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brothers got out of college in two thousand eight and

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were successful, ambitious, and sometimes arrogant pursued women in nightclubs, bars, restaurants,

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and online what's known as hook up culture, hoping to

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have as much sex as possible. You may find this

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behavior immoral, but it is not criminal, Garrigo said. Argued

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some accusers are hoping to enrich themselves with lawsuits. Spoke

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of themselves as victims only after feeling regret about doing

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illegal drugs or having sex outside their relationships. Defense attorney

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Diana Paul, representing Tal, warned jurors the subject matter would

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be disturbing like an R rated movie. Said prosecutors portrayed

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the brothers as monsters. In their early twenties, Tal and

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his brothers were party boys. They were womanizers. They slept

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with many many women. Paul told the jury urged them

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to reject criminal charges if the accuser's testimony was unreliable,

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then the first witness took the stand, testifying under a

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pseudonym to protect her identity. She's one of several alleged

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victims expected to testify against the brothers. In twenty twelve,

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she was twenty years old anthropology major in college, met

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two of the brothers at a party at zac Efron's

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New York apartment. She accompanied a friend who had recently

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met tal Alexander. They were there to watch the last

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game of the twenty twelve NBA Finals. Celebrity party exciting

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the kind of access most people dream about. Ephron is

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not accused of any wrongdoing. The witness said she had

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little interaction with him that night. After the game, she

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went to an after party at a Manhattan nightclub with

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the group. That's where things went dark. She was given

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a drink, remembered little afterward until she woke up naked

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on a bed in another apartment a lawn, Alexander standing

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over her, also naked. She repeatedly tried to get up,

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He kept pushing her. She told him I don't want

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to have sex with you. His response, according to her testimony,

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ha ha, you already did, laughed in her face. Then

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he overpowered her raped her while it was happening. Tal

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Alexander walked into the room, briefly, saw what was going on,

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did nothing to stop it. Seemed super nonchalant, she said,

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then left picture that twenty years old, drugged, waking up

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to a nightmare, being assaulted, and another man walks in,

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sees it, and walks out like it's nothing like his brother.

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Raping a semi conscious woman is just another Tuesday night.

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The witness remained composed through much of her testimony, though

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she got choked up several times, cried as she recalled

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reaching out years later to friends she had told about

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the attack. Needed to be reminded that people loved her,

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that she wasn't alone. After the assault, she said, she

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fled the room when Ailon Alexander fell asleep, escaped while

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he slept, like escaping a crime scene, because that's what

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it was. Here's the defense theory, hook up culture, regret,

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consenting adults who later felt guilty about their choices. But

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here's what doesn't fit that narrative. She woke up not

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knowing where she was. She told him she didn't want

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to have sex. He laughed at her. She repeatedly tried

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to get up, he pushed her down. That's not consent,

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that's assault. The defense will argue the accuser's memories are unreliable,

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that drugs and alcohol impaired their recollection, that what they

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remember as rape was actually consensual sex they regret. But

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memory impairment cuts both ways. If a woman is so

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intoxicated she can't remember what happened, she can't consent. That's

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the law. You can't have consensual sex with someone who's

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unconscious or semi conscious. If she's impaired to the point

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of amnesia, she's impaired to the point of incapacity. The

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Alexander brothers use their celebrity connections as a hunting ground.

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Access to zac Efron's apart parties in the Hamptons, luxury hotels,

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private flights, all designed to impress to lower defenses to

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make women feel special before allegedly drugging and assaulting them.

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Prosecutors say several victims will testify, women from different years,

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different locations, same pattern. The brothers teeming up providing access

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to wealth and fame, then allegedly taking what they wanted.

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Defense says these women are opportunists looking for paydays, regretting

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choices they made willingly. But multiple women don't come forward

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independently with the same story if nothing happened. Pattern evidence

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is powerful. It shows method, It shows intent. It shows

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that what happened to the first witness wasn't an isolated incident.

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The brothers have been held without bail since December twenty

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twenty four. Their attorney asked for fifty million dollar bond.

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Judge denied it considered them flight risks, dangers to the community.

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Trial is expected to last weeks. More witnesses, more alleged victims,

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more testimony about parties that started with celebrities and ended

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with alleged rape. Tal Alexander or In Alexander, allah On Alexander,

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three brothers who allegedly used their wealth and connections to

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prey on women. Defense says they were just womanizers. Prosecution

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says they were predators. The jury will decide, but the

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pattern is damning, and the first witness's testimony set the tone.

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A twenty year old college student thought she was attending

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a celebrity party. Woke up being raped, and the man's

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brother walked in, saw it and did nothing. Make it

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make sense. We'll be right back with newly unsealed autopsy

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reports revealing Brian Koberger stabbed his four Idaho victims more

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than one hundred times, and Texas prepares to execute the

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death row inmate who once walked out of jail and

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was found drunk at a liquor store. Welcome back to

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celebrity trials. I'm reed, Carter, November thirteenth, twenty twenty two, Moscow, Idaho.

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Four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in their

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off campus home, Kaylee Goncalves twenty one, Madison Mogan twenty one,

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Zona Kernodle twenty Ethan Chapin twenty Brian Koberger, then a

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criminology PhD student at Washington State University, was arrested six

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weeks later, maintained his innocence for nearly a thousand days,

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then shocked everyone by pleading guilty to four counts of

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first degree murder in a deal that spared him from

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the death penalty. Now, newly unsealed autopsy reports revealed the

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full horror of what happened inside that house, and it's

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worse than anyone imagined. One hundred and fifty stab wounds

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collectively across four victims, a frenzied attack that forensic experts

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are calling overkill. Zona Kernodle suffered the most extensive injuries,

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a minimum of sixty seven wounds, seven stab wounds to

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her chest, twenty five incised wounds to her arms, twenty

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three stab and incised wounds to her scalp, face and neck,

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punctures to the outer table of her skull, perforations of

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her jugular vein, hemorrhage into both chest cavities, and blood

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on the bottoms of her feet. That detail matters. Blood

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on her feet means she was upright, moving fighting. The

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medical examiner determined she was awake at the time of

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the attack. Zana Kernodle fought for her life, sixty seven wounds,

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and she didn't go quietly. Forensic death investigator Joseph Scott

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Morgan called it overkill and a frenzied event. Said she

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fought back. You don't get contact trace blood elements on

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the feet without that happening. Kayley Goncalves was stabbed a

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minimum of thirty eight times twenty four wounds to her scalp,

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face and neck, eleven to her chest, three to her arms,

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punctures to the outer table of her skull, injury to

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her teeth and tongue, perforations of the subclavian artery in vain.

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She also suffered blunt force injuries, scalp laceration with bleeding

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around the brain, nasal fracture, patterned bruises across her lower face.

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The autopsy notes that bloodstains on the body bed and

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wall indicate her posture and position changed during the attack.

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She moved, she struggled. She didn't die quietly either. Morgan

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noted the concentration of wounds to Cayley's and Madison's faces,

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called it almost an effort to disfigure, said Coburger focused

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on their faces specifically. Madison Mogen suffered twenty eight stab

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and incized wounds, thirteen to her scalp, face and neck,

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ten to her arms, five to her chest, wounds to

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her lung and liver, an incision that went across her

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face and clipped her nasal septum. Morgan demonstrated how the

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blade was dragged across her face deliberate targeted personal ethan

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Shapin sustained the few wounds seventeen total, six to his arms,

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six to his legs, four to his scalp, face and neck,

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one to his upper chest perforations of his jugular vein

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and subclavian vessels. Morgan observed that Ethan didn't seem to

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move much from where he started. The attack was fast.

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He was killed quickly, less time spent on him compared

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to the women. The autopsy reports reference a k bar

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style combat knife designed for both combat and utility, durable

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enough to puncture skull bone. The weapon has never been recovered.

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Here's what the autopsies tell us. Brian Coburger didn't just

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kill four people. He butchered them. Over one hundred wounds

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across four victims, concentration on faces, overkill, frenzy. Two roommates

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on the first floor weren't harmed. Dylan Mortensen later told

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investigators she saw a masked man leaving the residence in

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the early morning hours. She survived, so did Bethany Funka.

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We don't know why Coburger didn't attack them, whether he

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didn't encounter them, whether he chose not to, whether something

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interrupted him. What we know is this Kaylee Gouncalves, Madison Mogen,

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Zona Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin died violently. Zana fought with

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everything she had, sixty seven wounds, blood on her feet,

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awake and fighting. Coburger pleaded guilty, avoided the death penalty.

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We'll spend the rest of his life in prison. Some

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would say he got off easy. Others would say life

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without parole is its own kind of death sentence. But

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the autopsy reports ensure we understand what he did. This

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wasn't a quick killing. This was prolonged violence, rage, focus

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on disfigurement, over one hundred wounds. Kaylee Guncalves was twenty

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one years old, Madison Mogan was twenty one years old.

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Zona Kernodle was twenty years old. Ethan Chapin was twenty

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years old. They were college students, friends, roommates, young people

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with futures, stabbed over one hundred times by a man

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who claimed to study crime, who wanted to understand why

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people kill. Now we know exactly what he did. The

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autopsies make it impossible to look away. Rest in peace, Kaylee, Madison, Zana, Ethan.

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Someone has to say your names. As we're recording this

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on Wednesday afternoon. Texas is scheduled to execute Charles Victor

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Thompson tonight at the State Penitentiary in Huntsville, fifty five

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years old. If it goes forward as planned, Thompson will

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be the first person put to death in the United

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States this year. Thompson was condemned for the April nineteen

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ninety eight shooting deaths of his ex girlfriend, Glinda Dennis Hayslip,

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thirty nine, and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Kine. The

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relationship between Thompson and Hayslip had lasted about a year

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before she ended it. Prosecutors say Thompson became increasingly possessive, jealous,

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and abusive when she moved on to a new boyfriend.

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Thompson couldn't handle it. Around three in the morning on

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the night of the killings, Thompson showed up at Hayslip's

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apartment in Tomball, a Houston suburb, started arguing with Cain.

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Police were called told Thompson to leave the apartment complex.

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He left, but he didn't stay gone. Three hours later,

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around six in the morning, Thompson returned shot both Hayslip

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and Kin. Cain died at the scene. Hayslip was rushed

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to the hospital died a week later from a gunshot

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wound to the face, over twenty five years ago, and

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the families have been waiting for justice ever since. Thompson's

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attorneys asked the US Supreme Court to stay the execution,

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argued he wasn't allowed to refute prosecution evidence about Hayslip's

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cause of death. Their theory hay Slip actually died from

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flawed medical care, not the gunshot, severe brain damage from

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oxygen deprivation following a failed intubation creative argument. As of

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this recording, we don't know if the Supreme Court will intervene.

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Prosecutors pointed out a jury already rejected that claim. Under

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Texas law, Thompson is responsible for Hayeslip's death because it

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would not have occurred but for his conduct. She wouldn't

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have been in the hospital needing intubation if Thompson hadn't

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shot her in the face. Hayeslip's family actually sued one

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of her doctors for medical negligence jury in two thousand

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and two, found in favor of the doctor, so even

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a civil jury didn't buy the theory that medical care

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killed her. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied

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Thompson's request to commute his death sentence on Monday. No

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clemency from the state. But here's where the story gets bizarre.

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November two thousand and five, Thompson had just been resentenced

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to death after his original sentence was overturned. He was

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in the Harris County Jail in Houston, meeting with his

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attorney in a small interview cell. When the meeting ended,

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Thompson slipped out of his handcuffs, took off his orange jumpsuit,

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walked out of the interview cell, which was unlocked, made

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his way through the jail, waved an ID badge at deputies.

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The badge was fashioned from his prison ID card, a fake, homemade,

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and it worked. Deputies let him pass. Thompson walked out

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the front door of the Harris County Jail. A death

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row inmate just walked out. He later told the Associated

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Press what those three days of freedom felt like. I

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got to smell the trees, feel the wind in my hair,

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grass under my feet, see the stars at night. It

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took me straight back to childhood, being outside on a

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summer night. Three days of freedom, stars at night, wind,

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in his hair. Then it ended. Thompson was arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana,

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about two hundred miles from Houston, found outside a liquor store, drunk,

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talking on a payphone, trying to arrange wire transfers from

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overseas so he could make it to Canada. Smart enough

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to escape from jail, too stupid to stay sober while

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on the run. Police acting on a tip found him

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standing outside the liquor store. Death row escapee at a

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liquor store, drunk and making phone calls. That escape made

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Thompson famous or infamous the guy who walked out of

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jail and got caught because he couldn't resist a drink. Now,

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twenty years later, the escape doesn't matter. If the execution

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goes forward as scheduled, Thompson will receive a lethal injection tonight,

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first execution of twenty twenty six. Texas typically holds more

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executions than any other state, though Florida had the most

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in twenty twenty five with nineteen. Thompson's attorneys tried everything,

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argued about cause of death, argued about evidence he couldn't confront,

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asked for commutation. The Texas Parole Board said no, the

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Supreme Court appeal is pending as we record this. The

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hay Slip and Caine families have waited over twenty five

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years for this day. Prosecutors said it plainly, the hay

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Slip and Caine families have waited over twenty five years

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for justice to occur. Charles Victor Thompson shot his ex

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girlfriend in the face because she left him for another man.

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Shot her new boyfriend too. Spent nearly twenty seven years

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on death row. Escaped once got caught drunk at a

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liquor store. Now scheduled to face the needle. Glenda Dennis

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Hayslip was thirty nine years old. Should have been able

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to leave a bad relationship and find happiness with someone new. Instead,

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her possessive ex boyfriend killed her. Darren Keith Kine was

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thirty years old, Wrong place, wrong time, killed because he

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was dating a woman whose ex couldn't let go. Rest

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in peace, Glad, Darren. If all goes as scheduled tonight,

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your killer's appeals will finally run out. That's celebrity trials

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for Thursday, January twenty ninth, twenty twenty six. The Alexander

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Brothers sex trafficking trial is underway in New York. First

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witness described waking up naked to being raped after a

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party at Zac Efron's apartment. Defense says hookup culture not crime.

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Prosecution says predators and designer suits. Newly unsealed autopsy reports

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revealed Brian Cooberger stabbed his four Idaho victims more than

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one hundred times collectively. Xana Kernodle fought back sixty seven wounds,

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blood on her feet, awaken fighting, and Texas is scheduled

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to execute Charles Victor Thompson tonight. If it proceeds, he'll

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be the first person executed in the United States this year.

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The death row inmate who once walked out of jail

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unchallenged and was found drunk at a Louisiana liquor store.

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I'm reed Carter tomorrow. More trial updates and whatever else breaks.

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This is celebrity trials.