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Callaroga Shark Media. Good morning. I'm Red Carter. Friday, February
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twenty seventh, twenty twenty six. Three stories, three court rooms,
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and for one of them, not a courtroom at all,
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just a grand jury, sealed records, and a fourteen year
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old girl who's been waiting nearly six months for someone
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to be charged with her murder. Georgia. First, We've been
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in Barrow County Superior Court all week watching Colin Gray's
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trial for his alleged role in the Appalachi High School shooting.
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His son, Colt, killed four people on September fourth of
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last year, two teachers, two students. We covered days three
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through five earlier this week, Days six and seven brought
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the most devastating testimony yet. Colt's own mother took the stand,
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then his sister, and what they said about Colin Gray
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is going to follow that man into every courtroom for
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the rest of this trial. Michigan, the trial of Dale
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Warner is underway. An Adrian his wife d vanished from
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their teacumps of farm in April twenty twenty one. She
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stayed missing for three years, then in August twenty twenty four,
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investigators found her strangled bound in duct tape, her body
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sealed inside a pressurized fertilizer tank on property Dale owned.
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This case has everything, surveillance, GPS trackers, bruises on, a
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woman who couldn't leave, and a husband who reportedly said
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that locking up the guns would cause a shit storm. Wait,
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wrong case, that's Georgia. But D's story has its own
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kind of nightmare, and we're going to lay it all
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out and Los Angeles. If you've been listening since the fall,
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you know the case of David Burke, the young pop
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star who performs under the stage name David, and the
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body found in his tesla. The victim was Celestrivas Hernandez,
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fourteen years old. Her body had been cut apart and
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placed in cadaver bags in the trunk for nearly six months.
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The LAPD and the District Attorney's office have filed zero charges.
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This week, court documents leaked showing David Burke has been
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formally named as a target of the grand jury investigation,
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and a private investigator went public calling the investigation a
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quote blown case. I'm reed, Carter, We've got a lot
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of ground to cover. This is celebrity trials. Let's start
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in winder Georgia. You know the basics. September fourth, twenty
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twenty four, Appalachi High School, fourteen year old Colt Gray
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walked into his second class of the day with an
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AR fifteen style rifle hidden in his backpack under a
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poster board. He was only five days into his freshman year.
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He left class, hid in a bathroom for half an hour,
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then emerged in yellow work gloves with the gun exposed,
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and opened fire. Four people died, teachers Richard Aspinwall thirty
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nine and Christina Eremi fifty three, and students Mason Shermerhorn
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and Christian Angelo, both fourteen. Nine More people were wounded.
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Colt was subdued by school resource officers. He's charged with
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murder as an adult. His father, Colin Gray, is charged
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separately twenty nine counts, including second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
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The prosecution's theory is that Colin Gray consciously disregarded a
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cascade of red flags and kept giving his troubled son
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access to a loaded weapon, knowing the boy was obsessed
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with school shooters, knowing his mental health had collapsed, Knowing
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Colt had previously made school shooting threats. The defense says
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Colin was trying to help, that Colt was deceptive and
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that the father didn't know his son was planning anything.
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Days three through five established the infrastructure of failure. The
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DFCS investigations, the school behavior records, the FBI tip about
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a school shooting threat on discord, the shrine to Parkland
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shooter Nicholas Cruz that Colt built above his computer, the
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counseling appointments Colin never followed through on. Colt had one
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hundred three rounds of ammunition on him when he walked
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through those doors. Day six was Marcy Gray, Colt's mother,
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Colin's ex wife. She came to the stand and dismantled
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the narrative that Colin was a helpless bystander. Marcy testified
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about a summer of desperation. By August twenty twenty four,
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Colt's mental state had deteriorated beyond anything manageable. At home,
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he was texting her things like acute mania sucks, and
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there are people after me, my teachers. I feel as
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if they're plotting against me. Marcy said those texts were
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almost identical to things Colin had already told her. Cult
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was saying both parents knew both parents had the same information.
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She tried to get Colt into a crisis stabilization center
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in Athens, Georgia. She found the program, texted Colin a
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direct link and asked him to get Colt evaluated. The
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plan was set for August thirty, first, five days before
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the shooting. Then Colin backed out the night before the appointment.
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He went dark, stopped responding, never followed up, never explained why.
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She also testified about a direct conversation with Colin about
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the guns in the house. Marcy asked him point blank
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are the guns locked up? He admitted they weren't. She
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pushed him, what happens if I take the gun away?
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She asked, or words to that effect, and Colin reportedly
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said that taking the gun would cause a shit storm
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let that land. His fourteen year old son had a
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shrine to a mass murderer above his computer. He'd made
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school shooting threats. He was texting his mother that his
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teachers were plotting against him and that he was hearing voices,
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and his father looked at the unlocked rifle, the same
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ar fifteen he'd given Colt as a Christmas gift, and
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decided the greater danger was taking it away. The morning
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of September fourth, Marcie was the one who tried to
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stop it. At nine fifty am, she called the school's
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guidance counselor and warned her that Colt had access to
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multiple firearms and was obsessed with school shootings. She told
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them to find him immediately. Colt had already left his
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second period classroom. He was in the bathroom. He'd been
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hiding for more than twenty five minutes. At ten seventeen am,
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before a single shot had been fired, Marcy texted Colin,
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telling him to leave work and go to the school.
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Four minutes after that, at ten twenty one am, Colt
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walked out of that bathroom with a rifle in his hands.
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On cross examination, the defense focused on Marcie's own struggles,
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her documented drug problems, her periods of absence from Colt's life.
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They tried to spread the blame wide enough to obscure
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where it landed most heavily. Marcy acknowledged her failures. She
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also acknowledged that she'd recently googled the James and Jennifer
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Crumbly case, the parents convicted in Michigan for their role
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in the Oxford High School shooting and Georgia's gun storage laws.
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She was doing research on consequences. She knew what this
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situation looked like. The school's counselor, Lisa Butler, also testified
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on day six. She described meeting Colt for the first
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time during freshman registration on August thirteenth. On August twenty seventh,
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eight days before the shooting, Colt spent nearly six hours
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in her office, crying, fragile, scared. She described him as
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very fragile. She tried to connect Colin with an in
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school counseling program called Project Aware, sent him a consent form,
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said he seemed interested. Nothing happened. When Marci called the
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morning of the shooting and told her Colt had access
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to guns and was obsessed with school shootings, Butler called
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it exactly what it was, a red flag. Day seven
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was Jenny Gray, fourteen years old, Colt's sister. She testified
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that after the shooting, her father came to her and
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pressured her to cover for him if anyone as asked
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whether he knew about Colt's problems, Jenny said Colin told
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her to protect him. Whether he knew the warning signs
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would lead up to this He specifically mentioned the pictures
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and articles on Colt's wall the shrine to Nicholas Cruz.
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Colin knew about the shrine, he wanted his daughter to
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pretend he didn't. Jenny also testified about the morning of
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September fourth, She noticed Colt leaving for school with something
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wrong about his backpack, a suspicious poster board sticking out
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of it. He said it was for a school project.
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Then she went to check his room and discovered his
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gun was missing. She didn't tell anyone. She was fourteen.
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On cross examination, Jenny acknowledged she is now living in
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a Foster home and that she's happier there. The defense
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asked whether it would be easier for her if her
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father were convicted, whether a guilty verdict would distance her
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from being known as the sister of the school shooter
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or the sister who knew the gun was gone and
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didn't tell anyone. Jenny agreed that it would be easier.
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The defense was planting reasonable doubt seeds about her motive
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to testify against her father. That's their job. But here's
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what those seeds can't explain away. She was fourteen. She
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saw a poster board sticking out of her brother's backpack.
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She checked his room, the gun was gone. She was
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a child in a household where the adults had already
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failed so completely that she was living with this alone.
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Day seven also gave us Colin Gray's boss, George Clackham,
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who testified that Colin called him the morning of September
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fourth and said he needed to leave work because his
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son had broken his arm. Phone records showed that call
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came in at eleven fifteen am, after news of a
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school shooting at Appalachi High School had already begun circulating.
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Clackham testified that Gray didn't sound emotional during the call.
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A GBI investigator also testified about her ninety minute interview
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with Colin at his home the afternoon of the shooting.
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He sat on his truck tailgate. He was calm. He
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told her. Colt's behavior had been escalating for five to
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seven months. Broken windows, physical confrontations he described as bullrushes.
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He told her the AR fifteen had recently been in
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Colt's room because Colt was working on attachments for it.
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He said he'd seen a school shooter poster on Colt's wall.
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He said Colt took it down when asked, He said
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he was trying to get Colt help. He gave consent
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to search his phone. He showed them Colt's final message
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that morning, sent just before the shooting started. I'm sorry,
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it's not your fault. I love you. Richard Aspinwall was
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thirty nine years old. A teacher and a coach. Should
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be watching his students graduate, should be on the sideline
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at the next game. Christina Eremi was fifty three years old.
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She walked out of her classroom and was shot once,
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a bullet through her Aorda Mason Shermerhorn was fourteen years old,
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shot three times. Christian Angelo was fourteen years old. He
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was shot once, the bullet tearing through both of his
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arms as he tried to protect himself. Someone has to
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say their names. Someone has to remember they were people,
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not just the backdrop for a father's trial. Rest in peace,
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all four of you. We'll be right back. A Michigan
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woman told her husband their marriage was over. He strangled her,
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sealed her body inside a pressurized tank, and told police
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she was unstable and probably just left. It took three
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years to find her. Welcome back to celebrity trials. I'm reed,
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Carter Adrian, Michigan, Lena Wee County Circuit Court, the trial
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of Dale Warner, charged with open murder and evidence tampering
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in the twenty twenty one death of his wife, Dee.
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This case is a few weeks in and most of
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you haven't heard much about it, so let me bring
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you up to speed from the beginning. To come to Michigan.
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April twenty fifth, twenty twenty one. D Warner, a businesswoman
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in her fifties who ran and three companies on a
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farm with her husband, was last seen alive at approximately
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seven oh five in the morning. Her phone went silent.
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Her last Internet session ended at seven five forty five am.
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Her final cell tower ping was at seven fourteen am.
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After that nothing, Her hummer was parked at the farm,
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her door was unlocked. D was gone. She was found
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three years later, August twenty twenty four in an anhydrous
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ammonia tank on property belonging to Dale Warner. The tank
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was sealed on both ends. Her family told reporters she
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was found strangled, duct tape around her head, still in
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her pajamas. Dale's fingerprint was on the tank. November twenty
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twenty three, Dale was arrested and charged with her murder
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even before her body was found. Prosecutors had enough to
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charge him on the circumstances alone. In January twenty twenty six,
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just before trial, Dale rejected a plea deal for second
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degree murder. He wants a full trime. He's getting one
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who was d Warner, by every account, a force. She
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was running those farm businesses, a trucking company among them,
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employing a small team, managing everything herself. Her daughter Rickle
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described a mother she spoke to constantly every day. Her
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personal assistant, Madison, worked for the family for six years,
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starting at age sixteen, and testified that the marriage had
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long since become more like a business arrangement. D wanted out,
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had wanted out for years, told her assistant, told her
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massage therapist, told her children, told her friends. She wanted
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to leave Dale and sell the trucking company. April twenty fourth,
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twenty twenty one, Saturday, the day before she vanished, D
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had eyelash extensions. In the morning. She showed up to
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her appointment crying, visibly distressed by that evening, Multiple witnesses
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saw her in tears. Her daughter Amber saw her in
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the morning upset after a disturburbing text involving Dale. Her
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daughter Rickle, spent time with her. Her sister in law, Amy,
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arrived at seven forty two pm to pick up a
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child for a sleepover and said D had red, blotchy
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skin on her neck, puffy eyes, and her makeup, normally perfect,
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was off. D told multiple people that night she was done.
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She was selling everything, She was asking Dale for a divorce.
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That night, according to De's son Zachary, was the last
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time anyone heard from her. His last communication with her
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was around seven pm on April twenty fourth. The next morning,
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she was gone. Dale told people different stories about what happened.
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He told Rickle that D had been leaving in the night,
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taking off pill issues unstable. He told police she was
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very unstable. He discouraged the family from calling law enforcement
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right away, saying not to get ahead of themselves. When
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they did call police, Dale was cooperative. He sat with investigators, talked,
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but he'd already begun quietly moving pieces in the background.
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The testimony in this trial has painted a portrait of
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methodical control. A GPS tracker purchased through D's son in law,
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Brian Bush, put in D's hummer in January twenty twenty,