Episode 279

<v Speaker 1>Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
<v Speaker 1>not intended for all audiences.
<v Speaker 2>Listener discretion is advised.
<v Speaker 3>Somebody that beautiful, now love in that kind the contention ways,
<v Speaker 3>there's something wrong.
<v Speaker 4>Already moved was best. I don't realize that.
<v Speaker 1>They say you build it and they will come.
<v Speaker 5>I don't know who said that.
<v Speaker 1>It's probably in a movie or something. Anyway, we built
<v Speaker 1>it about nine months ago. It's called Sword and Scale Television.
<v Speaker 1>There's nine episodes available right now, and there's many, many
<v Speaker 1>more coming next year. We made it for true crime
<v Speaker 1>fans like you, because we're true crime fans as well,
<v Speaker 1>so we wanted to make a TV show for the fans,
<v Speaker 1>buy the fans in a way that leaves out all
<v Speaker 1>the cheesiness of Hollywood, all the bad actors. Put it
<v Speaker 1>that way, and it gives you just a solid true
<v Speaker 1>crime story. Right now, it's once a month, and I
<v Speaker 1>know we said we're going to do two a month,
<v Speaker 1>but that's just on me. That's my fault. I've I've
<v Speaker 1>been crashing. I've been unable to keep pace, and unfortunately
<v Speaker 1>there's only one of me and I can only do
<v Speaker 1>so many things. Unfortunately, when you get to a certain size,
<v Speaker 1>you spend most of your time running a business being
<v Speaker 1>a CEO rather than a podcaster. It's just the way
<v Speaker 1>it is. When you get to a certain size, you
<v Speaker 1>just have to hire people, and you have to manage people,
<v Speaker 1>and you have to manage people that manage people, and
<v Speaker 1>so on and so forth, and then you become a CEO.
<v Speaker 1>And it sucks because I don't want to be a CEO,
<v Speaker 1>but there we are. We all do things we don't want.
<v Speaker 5>To do in life. Anyway.
<v Speaker 1>What I was really trying to say is just go
<v Speaker 1>watch it. You know, you could try it, and if
<v Speaker 1>you don't like it, you can unsubscribe at any time.
<v Speaker 1>It's really easy. You don't need to contact support or anything.
<v Speaker 1>You can just do it on your phone. So if
<v Speaker 1>you liked your crime, the place to find it a
<v Speaker 1>Sword and Scale dot com. It's usually a lesson you'll
<v Speaker 1>learn when you're young. Anything worth having is worth the
<v Speaker 1>effort to get it. You have to work hard to
<v Speaker 1>achieve the things you want in life. It won't just
<v Speaker 1>be hand to you. And this lesson is mostly true. Sure,
<v Speaker 1>there are people out there who never learn this lesson
<v Speaker 1>and everything is handed to them. But if you see
<v Speaker 1>one of these people come face to face with opposition,
<v Speaker 1>watch out, anger and chaos will ensue. You see, the
<v Speaker 1>lesson isn't really about working hard. You can work hard
<v Speaker 1>and still fail. The lesson is really about learning the
<v Speaker 1>fact that sometimes you just can't have what you want.
<v Speaker 1>I know, I know, I know. It's hard. It's hard
<v Speaker 1>to come to terms with such a reality, but it's true.
<v Speaker 1>So the quicker you accept it, the better off everyone
<v Speaker 1>will be. Because what happens is that with this eventual realization,
<v Speaker 1>though certain entitled few revert to the mentality of children.
<v Speaker 1>Children rarely act rationally or logically. Instead, they act out
<v Speaker 1>without regard for the calamity that they will cause. September two,
<v Speaker 1>twenty sixteen, was a day like any other. By three pm,
<v Speaker 1>it was eighty four degrees and cloudy, in which it's
<v Speaker 1>off Falls, Texas. On the south side of town. The
<v Speaker 1>school bell rings at McNeil Middle School and a flood
<v Speaker 1>of children pour into the sidewalk streets and alleyways. One
<v Speaker 1>such kid, thirteen year old eighth grader Mikayla Smith, looks
<v Speaker 1>for her friends before starting her walk home.
<v Speaker 6>I met Carr first Sus in front of the school.
<v Speaker 7>And Renault and Alani didn't walk home that day, so
<v Speaker 7>we walked across the big field that we had and
<v Speaker 7>we saw I saw Lauren on the and I called
<v Speaker 7>her name and see if it was here when we
<v Speaker 7>met up with her.
<v Speaker 4>We caught up with her while she was walking.
<v Speaker 1>Many kids walked home in the city of around one
<v Speaker 1>hundred thousand people. This was the first year sixth grade
<v Speaker 1>was offered at McNeil, and the neighborhood streets were filled
<v Speaker 1>with children more than normal. Mickayla caught up with her
<v Speaker 1>friend Lauren Londevaso to lament over the first few weeks
<v Speaker 1>of school.
<v Speaker 6>We're talking about school and college.
<v Speaker 7>We don't have any classes to get yeah, but Alex
<v Speaker 7>here in the hallways and stun usday high due time passing.
<v Speaker 1>The neighborhood surrounding McNeil Middle School was full of single
<v Speaker 1>family homes very close together. There were sidewalks, but many
<v Speaker 1>kids chose to take the alley that separated backyards as
<v Speaker 1>their route home.
<v Speaker 6>And stopped playing more than dumpsters. Okay and Lauren.
<v Speaker 7>She started walking ahead of us, so she stilled meet
<v Speaker 7>up with her boyfriend took of him.
<v Speaker 6>So she was right about.
<v Speaker 1>A mere block from school. The girls stopped to part
<v Speaker 1>ways her boyfriend.
<v Speaker 8>She was not secre.
<v Speaker 1>On the next street over, a boy named Garrett had
<v Speaker 1>just made it to the intersection when the car flew by.
<v Speaker 6>It was a gray, oldish.
<v Speaker 1>He was on the sidewalk waiting to cross the street
<v Speaker 1>when he saw the tahoe stop in front of the alley.
<v Speaker 1>From his perspective, he only saw one person, Lauren.
<v Speaker 2>On the corner like one of the confree was and
<v Speaker 2>I could only I was.
<v Speaker 4>Always okay, I think this is an alleyway riot. There
<v Speaker 4>was like a fence covering every other girl exceptor.
<v Speaker 1>Just as Lauren waved by to her friends and turned
<v Speaker 1>to walk away, a vehicle pulled up abruptly. Further down
<v Speaker 1>the alley were three other students, Elijah Hope and.
<v Speaker 9>Crystal Lawrens, stopped and under the car.
<v Speaker 10>We just stood there because we thought Lauren avocanovera gets
<v Speaker 10>picked up.
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't uncommon for kids to get picked up on
<v Speaker 1>their route home, but something about this vehicle seemed strange. Garrett,
<v Speaker 1>on the next street over, noticed the window on the
<v Speaker 1>tahoe was down. Then he noticed something else, and then.
<v Speaker 4>Did you see anything unusual? Come out of that that
<v Speaker 4>window that was down on the driver's side.
<v Speaker 6>Don Okay.
<v Speaker 1>Elijah Hope and Crystal saw the gun too, but didn't
<v Speaker 1>immediately recognize the danger.
<v Speaker 4>At first, I.
<v Speaker 11>Thought it was a paintball gun or a baby gun,
<v Speaker 11>because teenagers liked to play pranks and all that.
<v Speaker 1>Then they heard the sound.
<v Speaker 6>When I think back to it, it's all silent.
<v Speaker 10>I just sopped them firecrafted and he didn't really think
<v Speaker 10>anything of its.
<v Speaker 1>Garrett, the little boy on the street corner, recognized the
<v Speaker 1>sound immediately. His father was a cop.
<v Speaker 4>I heard about four or five or seven bunchuns. Did
<v Speaker 4>you see what happened to Lauren? She found out all.
<v Speaker 1>Around Suddenly, Elijah Hope and Crystal knew this was no prank, so.
<v Speaker 7>We didn't think any of it until Lauren fell and
<v Speaker 7>Mikayla Brandon.
<v Speaker 1>Chaos erupted in the alley and the surrounding streets as
<v Speaker 1>the tahoe sped away. Some kids froze while others ran
<v Speaker 1>for their lives. Elijah, Hope and Crystal ducked into Hope's backyard,
<v Speaker 1>but the back door to her house was locked. Garrett
<v Speaker 1>took off fronting and started banging on his neighbor's doors
<v Speaker 1>frantically to find help.
<v Speaker 4>So were you knocking on the door trying to get help?
<v Speaker 6>Were you scareds? Had you ever seen anything.
<v Speaker 4>Like that before? Never?
<v Speaker 1>After the sound of gunshots stopped, Elijah, Hope and Crystal
<v Speaker 1>slowly ventured back into the alley.
<v Speaker 9>Well, we went back outside into the alley to see
<v Speaker 9>what had happened, and we had We saw.
<v Speaker 4>Lauren on the ground where she had fallen, and we
<v Speaker 4>also saw me Kayla.
<v Speaker 9>She looked like she was out with her phone trying
<v Speaker 9>to dial and emer.
<v Speaker 6>I asked her if she was okay, and she said no,
<v Speaker 6>and like we had some of we saw my blood.
<v Speaker 9>And so it was like calment woe, like we were
<v Speaker 9>asking what was going on and we asked him for
<v Speaker 9>it was like a real gun or what she said, Yes,
<v Speaker 9>she was on the trying and she was at the
<v Speaker 9>hole the hand of her work.
<v Speaker 4>Human shot.
<v Speaker 9>And so at that point then I I kind of
<v Speaker 9>got over the shop of the it and it was
<v Speaker 9>moren't frightened at that point, and so I pulled out
<v Speaker 9>my phone and I called my dad.
<v Speaker 10>I looked back towards the other side of the alley,
<v Speaker 10>towards the apartments and I thought I saw that car,
<v Speaker 10>but I wasn't sure, so I told Hope to get her,
<v Speaker 10>and I ran past everything to the front of hostelse
<v Speaker 10>to go get her mom do unlocked back door.
<v Speaker 1>In the aftermath, the kids were at a loss for
<v Speaker 1>what to do. Most called their parents, but Crystal risked
<v Speaker 1>herself to keep her friends safe. She had to run
<v Speaker 1>past her fallen classmate.
<v Speaker 10>I just really didn't want to look at her because
<v Speaker 10>I was scared.
<v Speaker 6>Once her mother answered the doorway.
<v Speaker 10>I hugged her and I cried a little bit, and
<v Speaker 10>then I told her Hope was in the yeackyard nearby.
<v Speaker 1>Navy and Army veteran John Lewis heard the shots from
<v Speaker 1>his backyard and sprang into action.
<v Speaker 12>That was actually in my backyard on my padeo, and
<v Speaker 12>I was prepared of my daughter's thirteen ins Pirthday party.
<v Speaker 1>His backyard was just on the other side of a
<v Speaker 1>privacy fence from the alley. Luckily, his daughter hadn't taken
<v Speaker 1>the alley that day.
<v Speaker 12>Normally she walks down the alley, but as she did
<v Speaker 12>on that day, how did she get come back?
<v Speaker 4>She actually went down Kingston.
<v Speaker 12>She just bought her bicycle and she didn't want to
<v Speaker 12>pop the tiger, so she didn't drive it on the
<v Speaker 12>alley because it was glass. So she took Kingston Street
<v Speaker 12>and wrote.
<v Speaker 4>Her bike down that way.
<v Speaker 1>He was about to head inside when he heard the shots.
<v Speaker 12>As I went to open the door. Gunshots, and well,
<v Speaker 12>I got took the place. Lowlibert semi automatic kind of
<v Speaker 12>a weapon was fired, and all milfaturings I ever had
<v Speaker 12>kind of kicked in. The first one was a shot,
<v Speaker 12>and then a second later.
<v Speaker 4>Maybe is when they all just let loose, They all
<v Speaker 4>of them. When we got fired off in a rapid succession.
<v Speaker 4>It was fast. It was real fast, three to five seconds,
<v Speaker 4>maybe all of them.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe his military training kicked in. He even recognized the
<v Speaker 1>sound of the gunshots and was able to identify the
<v Speaker 1>caliber as a twenty two.
<v Speaker 12>Twenty two has kind of a short crack sound to it,
<v Speaker 12>the nine millimeter has. It's a little heavier and a
<v Speaker 12>little more chunkier.
<v Speaker 1>Ever found knowing this was when kids started to get
<v Speaker 1>out of school. He was worried for the other children
<v Speaker 1>in the community.
<v Speaker 12>I actually dropped the cups and I knew the kids
<v Speaker 12>were getting out of school.
<v Speaker 4>I knew the direction, which was the shops are coming
<v Speaker 4>from those alley.
<v Speaker 12>I dropped the cups and I instantly ran to out
<v Speaker 12>of six foot private defense and I jumped over my
<v Speaker 12>six I climbed up and.
<v Speaker 4>Jumped over my six foot five spence up all the fence.
<v Speaker 4>I hit the ground so hard that my foot.
<v Speaker 12>Blobs came off my commute, and I didn't realize that
<v Speaker 12>until after the.
<v Speaker 4>Place had arrived.
<v Speaker 1>This man, in the face of danger, sprang into action,
<v Speaker 1>jumping his fence and landing in the alley so hard
<v Speaker 1>it blew his flip flops. With this experience in battle,
<v Speaker 1>both in the Navy and the Army, it didn't matter
<v Speaker 1>that he was barefoot in the alley. He looked for
<v Speaker 1>anyone that was hurt.
<v Speaker 12>I saw Lauren Well. I didn't know her name at
<v Speaker 12>the time. I thought I just saw a young girl
<v Speaker 12>laying there, and I ran to her. And as I
<v Speaker 12>ran to her, after tippling the events, I ran to her,
<v Speaker 12>carrying out like a tunnel vision.
<v Speaker 4>When I did and I ran, I didn't know. I
<v Speaker 4>didn't live in the cars.
<v Speaker 12>Everyone was just kind of not there and.
<v Speaker 4>I ran there. I don't know if there was not
<v Speaker 4>a shooter. I didn't know.
<v Speaker 12>I just knew there was kids. I saw a little
<v Speaker 12>girl laying there, and when I approached Lauren. When I
<v Speaker 12>got to Lauren, the military tank kicked in where.
<v Speaker 4>I was supposed to. You know, he says, the situation.
<v Speaker 12>See what's going on in an active shoot or other
<v Speaker 12>other people wounded. Checked the person that you come upon.
<v Speaker 12>And I noticed that I'm not a doctor and not
<v Speaker 12>a nurse, not an arm or anything but my training,
<v Speaker 12>I know when the sun is gone there signs you
<v Speaker 12>look for one. Is there blood like a MASSI amount
<v Speaker 12>of blood so the heart stops, is not going to
<v Speaker 12>push the blood around.
<v Speaker 4>I didn't see much of any out the way she
<v Speaker 4>the way she was laying.
<v Speaker 12>If I never quick leaves her wrist was in a
<v Speaker 12>pig position, or anybody most conscious or was alive, they
<v Speaker 12>wouldn't want there to be in that kind of position.
<v Speaker 1>He wasn't a doctor or a nurse, but he could
<v Speaker 1>tell Lauren wasn't with us any longer when he looked
<v Speaker 1>into her eyes. He was sure.
<v Speaker 4>When I approached Lauren, I knowed it's hard. I don't
<v Speaker 4>want your time. I noticed that.
<v Speaker 12>In what we refer to in the army when I
<v Speaker 12>was the territory as the death place or the death stare,
<v Speaker 12>death knowing the entry.
<v Speaker 4>Like when I got there, it just tried of like
<v Speaker 4>going into.
<v Speaker 12>A bowl, a bowl, and it felt just like that.
<v Speaker 4>Just I didn't hearing something, really I didn't.
<v Speaker 12>It's just it was a flat feeling words, you know,
<v Speaker 12>something that just died or something just happened.
<v Speaker 1>It was too late for Lauren, but John could still
<v Speaker 1>help Mikayla.
<v Speaker 12>And I heard a child off and I left. So
<v Speaker 12>it come down from the alley saying another traveling shop.
<v Speaker 12>And I looked up and that's when I saw Mikayla.
<v Speaker 12>She was standing there and I ran to her and
<v Speaker 12>I put laying her down.
<v Speaker 1>By this time John's daughter had arrived to witness the chaos.
<v Speaker 12>When I laid her down, my daughter was there and
<v Speaker 12>I yelled at her, give me something to pull your
<v Speaker 12>holes with it. And so I got ran to the
<v Speaker 12>house and it felt so fast, and I looked at
<v Speaker 12>it Lauren or Mikayla. I said, your champ even go,
<v Speaker 12>You're gonna be fine. We're gonna get you fixed up.
<v Speaker 4>You're a champion.
<v Speaker 12>And by that time I looked up the hand from
<v Speaker 12>my daughter with the rating to you know, stop the braining.
<v Speaker 1>Michaela was bleeding, but she seemed to be okay. She
<v Speaker 1>was conscious and coherent despite the shocking events. That's when
<v Speaker 1>the enormity of the situation dawned on John.
<v Speaker 12>That's when I kind of came to a little bit
<v Speaker 12>more and realized that all hell's breaking loose. There's just
<v Speaker 12>people everywhere, kids crying, you know, women crying, men, everybody's crying.
<v Speaker 4>They're all over the place.
<v Speaker 12>And I tried to stop everybody try to get him
<v Speaker 12>away Lauren, and people are trying to come out of
<v Speaker 12>the AIE. I try to stop them.
<v Speaker 1>I just have to say, this guy is a hero.
<v Speaker 1>He was on SENE long before the first responders or
<v Speaker 1>the police, and thank god he was. But there was
<v Speaker 1>nothing that could be done for Lauren. As the chaos
<v Speaker 1>of the scene peaked, classmates and citizens alike looked on
<v Speaker 1>in horror as the once vibrant Lauren, the girl they
<v Speaker 1>all knew, lie lifeless at the end of an alley.
<v Speaker 1>A regular warm afternoon in Wichita Falls, Texas, became a nightmare.
<v Speaker 1>McNeil Middle School students would never forget thirteen year old
<v Speaker 1>eighth grader Lauren Londevaso had been gunned down just to
<v Speaker 1>block away from school. Her close friend Michayla Smith was
<v Speaker 1>also shot, but would recover the havoc on that street. Corner,
<v Speaker 1>though was still unfolding. On the next street. Sarah Servantes
<v Speaker 1>saw Garrett running for his life and immediately knew something
<v Speaker 1>was wrong.
<v Speaker 13>As I was riving Downstower, there's a young male running
<v Speaker 13>Downstower towards my vehicle and I pulled it through his
<v Speaker 13>off I mentioned, then there's something wrong there stories why
<v Speaker 13>was writing this is a strange and close both ways
<v Speaker 13>on his seat at Bourn.
<v Speaker 1>When she first saw Garrett running, her mind went to
<v Speaker 1>the more likely scenario that he was running from school bullies,
<v Speaker 1>But when she got to the stop sign and saw
<v Speaker 1>someone lying in the alley, she knew that was more serious.
<v Speaker 6>And what did you do down into the morn?
<v Speaker 13>I usually I thought maybe should hit by a vehicle.
<v Speaker 13>Then that was my first thought. Yeah, I kind of
<v Speaker 13>went through other scenarios and maybe someone attacked her because
<v Speaker 13>there a lot of kids screaming, and I just gotta
<v Speaker 13>run through a lot of things that may have happened.
<v Speaker 1>Regardless of the reason, she knew she had to try
<v Speaker 1>and help. She pulled up to the alley, told her
<v Speaker 1>children to stay in the car, and approached Lauren to
<v Speaker 1>see if she was okay.
<v Speaker 6>I asked her to think, did you think she was more.
<v Speaker 13>Than I'll be passed at the point her eyes first
<v Speaker 13>still open and there was a large wound forehead.
<v Speaker 6>She is she's doing for buying.
<v Speaker 14>Her bread in her arms.
<v Speaker 1>Everything happened so fast, in a matter of a few seconds.
<v Speaker 1>The shots were fired and Garrett ran, John jumped the fence,
<v Speaker 1>and Sarah saw Garrett fleeing as she approached the intersection.
<v Speaker 1>At the same time, Elijah and Hope were ducking into
<v Speaker 1>her backyard, while Crystal ran around to the front. By
<v Speaker 1>the time Sarah Servantez approached Lauren, it had been barely
<v Speaker 1>more than a minute since the shots were fired. Right
<v Speaker 1>behind her was Jamie Lopez.
<v Speaker 15>When I turned on a Trinidad, I saw.
<v Speaker 16>The first noticed a lady standing at the corner kind
<v Speaker 16>of hysterical, waning her hands, and I saw a girl
<v Speaker 16>laying in the alley opening of the alley, so you know,
<v Speaker 16>immediately I pulled over to seeing what had happened and.
<v Speaker 6>I can help him do anything.
<v Speaker 1>Jamie was a home health nurse and had medical training
<v Speaker 1>and knelt down to try.
<v Speaker 13>To help her to see if she was okay, And.
<v Speaker 16>She was up moving and started trying to look over
<v Speaker 16>and I got her turned over.
<v Speaker 15>She was laying old her stomach, so I turned her
<v Speaker 15>over to start looking and I was taxing to start CDR.
<v Speaker 6>I remember.
<v Speaker 17>Seeing there was a futtle run about and where her
<v Speaker 17>heart would have been, and thinking, I'm gonna I don't
<v Speaker 17>know if I'm going to do more damage or not
<v Speaker 17>if I start this on this girl set up where
<v Speaker 17>it went.
<v Speaker 18>And about that time is when Mittagola started running from
<v Speaker 18>that app coming down from the alley, yelling that she
<v Speaker 18>had also been shot, that she needed help.
<v Speaker 1>Realizing Lauren's condition, she decided to focus on Mikayla.
<v Speaker 6>There really wasn't it too before And because I could
<v Speaker 6>tell when iver swept up then do you remember her
<v Speaker 6>eyes were open or globe?
<v Speaker 4>They were open pretty blue? Was she's gone?
<v Speaker 17>There were so many people and everyone was staring, and
<v Speaker 17>I just felt bad that everyone.
<v Speaker 4>Was just staring at their light.
<v Speaker 6>So I kind of play and try to cover up
<v Speaker 6>a little bits.
<v Speaker 1>Jamie had some first aid supplies in her car and
<v Speaker 1>began helping Mikayla. Sarah Servantez was unable to help and
<v Speaker 1>place the first nine to one one call. You don't
<v Speaker 1>know what out anymore. Sarah was barely holding it together,
<v Speaker 1>but she knew how important it was to relay as
<v Speaker 1>much information as possible to first responders.
<v Speaker 6>And playing around and leading.
<v Speaker 1>You did not hear the claiming her coming her nice.
<v Speaker 16>Fire me know where she's leading from?
<v Speaker 7>However, I really her.
<v Speaker 1>Is she's rereading right now?
<v Speaker 7>Okay, she's been.
<v Speaker 4>Laying around.
<v Speaker 1>Cat You touch her and hold of the touch.
<v Speaker 6>Where she's formed taking.
<v Speaker 1>In this tight knit community. It wasn't long before the
<v Speaker 1>news spread through the neighborhood. Michaela wounded and dazed, called
<v Speaker 1>her mother.
<v Speaker 11>I hear her her phone, Testine, So I'm thinking that
<v Speaker 11>maybe she had but and so I'm yelling her name
<v Speaker 11>to pick up and till then she finally and said
<v Speaker 11>she was yelling my name from that first woman. I
<v Speaker 11>thought maybe she was getting into an altercation with another student,
<v Speaker 11>and I know that's not her, and so I kept
<v Speaker 11>telling her to calm down.
<v Speaker 6>And I can't under so interesting, and I asked her
<v Speaker 6>to do that so much time.
<v Speaker 4>And I thought, what's going on?
<v Speaker 6>And then that's when she got home.
<v Speaker 19>Soon shot mama, And I asked the mother and she
<v Speaker 19>said someone shot me and I was like what, and
<v Speaker 19>just went renish.
<v Speaker 6>And I kept asking her.
<v Speaker 4>You don't remember her? She said, Mommy, no shot the chest.
<v Speaker 6>She said, is not.
<v Speaker 1>Mummy, I got shot in the chest. Imagine hearing that
<v Speaker 1>from your child. Mikayla's mother dropped everything and left her
<v Speaker 1>job as an elementary school teacher to rush to her daughter.
<v Speaker 1>Michaela's mother had already made it to the scene when
<v Speaker 1>the Landavaso's got word that something had happened.
<v Speaker 4>I heard her commotion outside.
<v Speaker 20>I heard, I'm not sure her neighbors and something about
<v Speaker 20>kids beating.
<v Speaker 4>Down and then as I was trying to process that,
<v Speaker 4>I heard beyonda just the way she said it, something.
<v Speaker 3>About kids, and there was just something in her voice
<v Speaker 3>saying something something was wrong, sometimes wrong. And as I
<v Speaker 3>was kind of about her room to try to find
<v Speaker 3>out what was going on, I.
<v Speaker 4>Heard the front door close, and by the time I
<v Speaker 4>got to it, the uncle wasn't there.
<v Speaker 3>And just when I went outside, she was already running
<v Speaker 3>down the street and I was.
<v Speaker 4>Kind of called, after.
<v Speaker 18>Where you going?
<v Speaker 21>What are you doing?
<v Speaker 1>Vern Londevaso didn't know what was going on or where
<v Speaker 1>his wife was running. The only clue he had was
<v Speaker 1>something about kids being down and the sound of fear
<v Speaker 1>in his wife's voice before she bolted out the front door.
<v Speaker 1>He hopped into his truck and started driving.
<v Speaker 4>Someone was driving down there in the corner. I remember
<v Speaker 4>at one time stopped and the.
<v Speaker 3>Truck and PA thinking everything kids at that school, it's
<v Speaker 3>not her game.
<v Speaker 4>Bear stopped and called her cell phone and I don't
<v Speaker 4>know anything me rang on one time, but.
<v Speaker 3>Somebody answered the phone and instantly what I heard was screaming.
<v Speaker 4>In at the time that it was beyond.
<v Speaker 3>The screaming, but uh, I heard somebody screaming her name,
<v Speaker 3>and the way she was screaming, Uh, I knew, I knew,
<v Speaker 3>I instant knew it cold and I just knew.
<v Speaker 4>I got another truck and I walked down to the corner,
<v Speaker 4>and as soon as.
<v Speaker 8>I got to the corner, I could see, uh the
<v Speaker 8>crime scene tape.
<v Speaker 4>And as I turned the corner that.
<v Speaker 16>What I I woul.
<v Speaker 4>Almost say that tunnel vision, everything seems kind of like
<v Speaker 4>there was a white fog on everything except for uh,
<v Speaker 4>what were in I saw load lying there.
<v Speaker 3>And she wasn't covered that I was moving around her, and.
<v Speaker 4>I just remember standing at the crime scene tape. They
<v Speaker 4>wouldn't let him go to her. And I could hear
<v Speaker 4>Ganda screaming in the background, but that was about all
<v Speaker 4>I could hear. Uh, and just looking at her in
<v Speaker 4>wonder and uh, I can how can I not do anything?
<v Speaker 4>How come she used to be.
<v Speaker 1>Powerless? Verne watched from a distance as first responders finally
<v Speaker 1>started to treat Lauren Quickly, the two girls were put
<v Speaker 1>into an ambulance headed for the hospital.
<v Speaker 20>Went into the ambulance and as were sitting there and
<v Speaker 20>they were working on her, and that was something back.
<v Speaker 4>That was the first time I had noticed the blood.
<v Speaker 4>I didn't noticed she was on there, but I know
<v Speaker 4>I could see her hair hair to think, you know,
<v Speaker 4>that's that's But also where I heard it was.
<v Speaker 1>Lauren's parents, Vern and Bianca held onto a thread of
<v Speaker 1>hope as they rode with their daughter to the hospital.
<v Speaker 1>But when they got there, they were let into a
<v Speaker 1>family waiting room. Bianca feared it was because because their
<v Speaker 1>daughter was gone.
<v Speaker 4>Oh and he did come in.
<v Speaker 8>When man came in, the old her me, he's started scream.
<v Speaker 4>I was trying to tell her it's not that they're
<v Speaker 4>just here that took.
<v Speaker 8>Us what they're going to do, and and has someone
<v Speaker 8>they told us.
<v Speaker 4>That she was going.
<v Speaker 1>Most people who knew Lauren knew how special she was.
<v Speaker 21>Always something about Lauren. And I know all parents have
<v Speaker 21>that to him about their children. There's something special about
<v Speaker 21>that child. But even in comparison to my sons that
<v Speaker 21>there was just something about them.
<v Speaker 4>And everybody I don't.
<v Speaker 20>Heard explained that she seemed so much wiser than her years.
<v Speaker 20>She always said I remember even being two or three
<v Speaker 20>years old and looking over and then seeing her looked
<v Speaker 20>at me, and the way she was looking at me,
<v Speaker 20>that there was something going on behind there.
<v Speaker 4>And I just think she was just so much more advanced.
<v Speaker 20>I think even think the child would be as far
<v Speaker 20>as her compassion for people, her kindness of just how
<v Speaker 20>tender she was with other people, very.
<v Speaker 6>Kind and open.
<v Speaker 22>My good.
<v Speaker 6>She was very positive about him.
<v Speaker 22>You could help but love her and not just us,
<v Speaker 22>not just a family. But she made friends so easily,
<v Speaker 22>you know, and or we heard the kids at school
<v Speaker 22>would just almost idolized her that she was so popular.
<v Speaker 4>Probably would't many of the promised. It was just how
<v Speaker 4>she interacted with people, especially other children. How kind she
<v Speaker 4>looks to them. I never thought her once be.
<v Speaker 21>Mean to somebody, say anything, quite the opposite.
<v Speaker 4>She went out of her way if she knew if.
<v Speaker 3>Somebody was child, she might have her way to reach
<v Speaker 3>out to that person.
<v Speaker 23>Definitely a happy, beautiful girl.
<v Speaker 22>She had a big heart.
<v Speaker 23>It's always helping her friends. If you're having a bad day,
<v Speaker 23>she was the uplift.
<v Speaker 4>She was very well loved.
<v Speaker 1>Lauren made a positive impact on anyone who knew her.
<v Speaker 1>She always wore a smile when she looked at you
<v Speaker 1>with her beautiful blue eyes, and you just knew she
<v Speaker 1>genuinely cared with the loss of a community sweetheart. The
<v Speaker 1>police were pressed to solve this attack. They needed to
<v Speaker 1>speak with Mikayla and hear her recollection of events.
<v Speaker 7>I remember he stopped in Alice. We all kind of
<v Speaker 7>just like stopped walking, and I was paying attention to him,
<v Speaker 7>and I was looking at him, and like he looked
<v Speaker 7>up at me. We made eye contact for a few seconds,
<v Speaker 7>and then he turned and like he got his webband
<v Speaker 7>and he pointed it at me, and as I was moving,
<v Speaker 7>I got hit, and like I thought, I got hit
<v Speaker 7>in the middle of my chest. And I couldn't breathe,
<v Speaker 7>and Kyral was asking me if I was okay, and
<v Speaker 7>like I couldn't speak, and I was waiting at her
<v Speaker 7>to go, and kind of like motioning for everybody else.
<v Speaker 1>Mikaela heard the w shift shots after she was hit.
<v Speaker 1>After she motioned for the other children in the alley
<v Speaker 1>to run, she wondered why no one else was being hit.
<v Speaker 1>Little did she know that Lauren took the brunt of
<v Speaker 1>those shots. She relayed to the police what she remembered
<v Speaker 1>about the man or boy who did it.
<v Speaker 7>I see between my kid twenty cirt like seventeen eighteen.
<v Speaker 7>He had brown hair and it was like shaggy, kind
<v Speaker 7>of shaggy, big, and he had acne and he had
<v Speaker 7>a big nose.
<v Speaker 1>She said. She locked eyes with the killer and he
<v Speaker 1>was a white male between the ages of seventeen and
<v Speaker 1>twenty with unkempt, long brown hair, acne, and a big nose.
<v Speaker 1>But where her memory failed her was the vehicle he
<v Speaker 1>was driving.
<v Speaker 6>And can you just ride the vehicle? It was a
<v Speaker 6>blood truck.
<v Speaker 7>And it had a silver those silver bars that she
<v Speaker 7>was step on to get in.
<v Speaker 1>As the police addressed the public about the shooting, They
<v Speaker 1>initially released the description that Kayla gave them.
<v Speaker 2>Just right before three point thirty pm, we received a
<v Speaker 2>nine one call in the reference to check welfare and
<v Speaker 2>reference to shots fired call in the fifty Kingston actually
<v Speaker 2>in the alleyway. When we arrived on scene, we located
<v Speaker 2>one subject that had suffered what we believe right now,
<v Speaker 2>keep in mind, this is all still new, it's still
<v Speaker 2>just occurring. We saw we have two individuals that were
<v Speaker 2>suffered from a parent's gunshots. From what I was told
<v Speaker 2>right now, both victims are female. Suspect information the only
<v Speaker 2>thing that we have at this point is possible suspect
<v Speaker 2>driving a black SUV, black truck type vehicle, White male,
<v Speaker 2>shaggy brown.
<v Speaker 1>Here, Mikayla recalled the killer was driving a black truck,
<v Speaker 1>but her memory was flawed. Everyone else saw gold suv,
<v Speaker 1>except for John, the guy who jumped the fence. He
<v Speaker 1>saw both the gold Suv and the black truck. Not
<v Speaker 1>knowing which description was accurate or if maybe there were
<v Speaker 1>two shooters, they released both vehicle descriptions to the public.
<v Speaker 1>The shooter was a young, white male with shaggy brown hair,
<v Speaker 1>acne and a big nose, driving a gold colored SUV,
<v Speaker 1>most likely a Chevrolet Tahoe or a black Dodge truck.
<v Speaker 1>In a couple of days that followed the shooting, there
<v Speaker 1>wasn't a person in Wichita Falls who didn't know of
<v Speaker 1>the tragedy and the description of the killer. The community
<v Speaker 1>banded together to memorialize Lauren at the sight of her
<v Speaker 1>death with her favorite color purple happens to be my
<v Speaker 1>favorite color too. People who didn't even know her came
<v Speaker 1>to pay their respects, like Joe Anne and Bostino Ramirez.
<v Speaker 6>Yes, we heard it on the radio and the news.
<v Speaker 4>Who they were looking for?
<v Speaker 24>It was pretty widely spread throughout news media and social media.
<v Speaker 17>Was it on?
<v Speaker 6>Yes, ma'am.
<v Speaker 14>Plastina wanted to go look at a memorial where they
<v Speaker 14>had started putting morals up for Lauren.
<v Speaker 4>I did not.
<v Speaker 14>It was a bad situation and we didn't really know her,
<v Speaker 14>or we didn't know her at all.
<v Speaker 6>But he wanted to go and just take a drive
<v Speaker 6>a find it.
<v Speaker 1>It was hard for any citizen of Wichita Falls to
<v Speaker 1>not be moved by the tragedy, even if they had
<v Speaker 1>no connection to Lauren at all.
<v Speaker 14>We drove through the neighborhood trying to find where the
<v Speaker 14>memorial was. We kind of got lost, take some streets
<v Speaker 14>we didn't know, and we ended up on Trinidad where
<v Speaker 14>the memorial site it is.
<v Speaker 1>When they found the memorial, there were crying people everywhere,
<v Speaker 1>not wanting to get in the way of those who
<v Speaker 1>likely had a personal connection with Lauren. They waited in
<v Speaker 1>the truck and.
<v Speaker 6>We just didn't want to get out of the truck
<v Speaker 6>and you know, be in.
<v Speaker 14>The way, So we just kind of pulled over to
<v Speaker 14>the side to you know, just wait, maybe able to
<v Speaker 14>clear and then we could see.
<v Speaker 4>But we never knot that chance.
<v Speaker 6>Okay, and why did you not get that chance?
<v Speaker 14>Why we were waiting fun Stato, you know, we said, well,
<v Speaker 14>look out for a vehicle, you know, just to make
<v Speaker 14>sure we don't see the vehicle going by. And we
<v Speaker 14>saw a vehicle drive by as it was the description
<v Speaker 14>of the sub.
<v Speaker 6>It was a gold sub.
<v Speaker 14>We saw that it was a young white male that
<v Speaker 14>they were possibly looking for.
<v Speaker 6>We kind of just followed them.
<v Speaker 14>He turned into Uncle turn Daddy turned into right into
<v Speaker 14>the apartment complex, and of course we followed.
<v Speaker 1>They didn't even know Lauren, but when they saw a
<v Speaker 1>vehicle and driver matching the description of the news, they
<v Speaker 1>decided to follow him. He drove past the memorial and
<v Speaker 1>stopped at an apartment complex mere feet away from the alley.
<v Speaker 14>He went to the back passenger door. He opened the
<v Speaker 14>door and he proceeded to get what looked like a
<v Speaker 14>rifle or something. He tucked it up under his arm
<v Speaker 14>like he put the butt.
<v Speaker 6>Of the gun underneath.
<v Speaker 14>With the blanket some then the wrap it up and
<v Speaker 14>he like ticket towards the apartment complex.
<v Speaker 1>They had the suv, the driver and now the rifle.
<v Speaker 1>Joanne called nine one one.
<v Speaker 4>Immediately I grabbed a pin that was in Faustino's check.
<v Speaker 14>He just scribbled it on the palm of my hand
<v Speaker 14>so that I could while we were.
<v Speaker 6>Calling, let the police. You know the license plate number?
<v Speaker 4>What color ink was that?
<v Speaker 6>It was a purple ink.
<v Speaker 1>She wrote down the license plate number in purple ink,
<v Speaker 1>Lauren's favorite color. What a coincidence. Perhaps her spirit lives on.
<v Speaker 7>We were driving a lot of the accidents that happened
<v Speaker 7>at Trendad and came back and we.
<v Speaker 13>Pulled into a certain road and it goes to the
<v Speaker 13>saut the apartment and then.
<v Speaker 6>As a kid that just.
<v Speaker 13>Drove up in a tapo a jaggie hair and hats
<v Speaker 13>and he got it.
<v Speaker 4>Looks like enlartment.
<v Speaker 7>He had it wrapped in clothes and rankings and he
<v Speaker 7>was trying to get it off in a hurry, and
<v Speaker 7>he just went into apartments.
<v Speaker 1>They were parked a little ways away and watched while
<v Speaker 1>they waited for police to arrive. The suspect exited the apartment,
<v Speaker 1>now without the rifle. He got back in his suv.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he's leading, going.
<v Speaker 4>Is becoming out the foreignment complex.
<v Speaker 1>They expected him to exit the complex the way he entered,
<v Speaker 1>but they lost him when he used an exit on
<v Speaker 1>the other side, almost like an episode of Keystone Cops,
<v Speaker 1>or perhaps a more modern version would be Reno nine
<v Speaker 1>one one. Still, police knew his approximate location and they
<v Speaker 1>had his license plate number. So why put in the
<v Speaker 1>work when you have surveillance? After all, it was only
<v Speaker 1>a matter of time before he would be caught. And
<v Speaker 1>if you're on the government payroll, then what's the rush.
<v Speaker 1>Moments later, the police made a traffic stop of the
<v Speaker 1>gold suv with the shaggy driver. He pulled over and
<v Speaker 1>cooperated with the officers. They asked him to step out
<v Speaker 1>of the vehicle and they padded him down. Then they
<v Speaker 1>searched his SUV, but there was no gun. But they
<v Speaker 1>did find a belt buckle in the shape of brass knuckles,
<v Speaker 1>and there was enough to arrest him on misdemeanor charges
<v Speaker 1>of weapon possession and bring him in for questioning. Twenty
<v Speaker 1>year old Cody Lot didn't work and wasn't in school.
<v Speaker 1>He lived in Seymour, Texas, about a fifty to sixty
<v Speaker 1>minute drive southwest of Wichita Falls. He did have shaggy hair,
<v Speaker 1>acne and a big nose. He was thin and kind
<v Speaker 1>of looked like an evil Timothy shallow May if that helps. Actually,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not sure if the real Timothy Schallo May is
<v Speaker 1>good or evil. So timminy Timothy Shallo May is walking
<v Speaker 1>around these days, he asked me. I don't even know
<v Speaker 1>what that means. Anyway, don't take my word for it,
<v Speaker 1>just google the two people. Cody Lot is his name,
<v Speaker 1>with two teas at the end, he claimed the only
<v Speaker 1>reason he was in town was to feed his mother's
<v Speaker 1>dog while she was on vacation. That and pick up
<v Speaker 1>some money she'd left for him. After all, you know,
<v Speaker 1>like I said, he didn't work at all. He denied
<v Speaker 1>that anything related to guns would be in his vehicle
<v Speaker 1>and explained that since an incident last year, his family
<v Speaker 1>kept guns away from him.
<v Speaker 25>But like I said, I used to be able, like
<v Speaker 25>kindly get away in the villain, but like it was
<v Speaker 25>an incident that happened my son or where I had
<v Speaker 25>it to a sideport for two months.
<v Speaker 26>Ever since then my grandmas had the villains and so
<v Speaker 26>of the lake room.
<v Speaker 4>By no way you have access or township.
<v Speaker 5>Up in that way.
<v Speaker 1>The incident he so casually refers to was an armed
<v Speaker 1>standoff with deputies in Seymour, Texas. His parents reported that
<v Speaker 1>he was at his grandmother's threatening to shoot folks. That's
<v Speaker 1>a quote. The event warranted the Texas Rangers and three
<v Speaker 1>officers from the Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigation Division.
<v Speaker 1>One of the CID officers was a hostage negotiator and
<v Speaker 1>quickly talked Cody out of the house. He was later
<v Speaker 1>ordered to get treatment and diagnosed as bipolar and paranoid schizophrenic.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, yeah, yeah, there's no connection between crazy people
<v Speaker 1>and murder. Just keep telling yourself that, Oh, let's not stigmatoise.
<v Speaker 1>He knew about murder. He fit the description of the suspect,
<v Speaker 1>and he was driving an SUV that also matched the description,
<v Speaker 1>but he was adamant that it wasn't him. The police, though,
<v Speaker 1>knew something Cody didn't, and it had to do with
<v Speaker 1>what else they found in his tahoe.
<v Speaker 4>Anything else.
<v Speaker 24>Well, they found a spent twenty two shell case.
<v Speaker 7>Hmm.
<v Speaker 1>It only took a moment for Cody to explain away
<v Speaker 1>the shell casing. He had been shooting a year ago.
<v Speaker 1>He was being cooperative, just not very helpful.
<v Speaker 27>Girls with her somebody and then whoever did this, we
<v Speaker 27>don't want that to happen to anybody else. Probably, I mean,
<v Speaker 27>from my experience, who ever did this probably needs some help.
<v Speaker 28>Now.
<v Speaker 27>What happened to the girl's terrible Whoever did to this
<v Speaker 27>definitely need some help, man.
<v Speaker 4>And I'm talking about some serious psychological help.
<v Speaker 27>And how are they going to get that unless we
<v Speaker 27>can find out you do.
<v Speaker 1>That and help with Does anyone else get the feeling
<v Speaker 1>that they are talking about him? He claimed to be
<v Speaker 1>a loner and only his mother cared about him. He
<v Speaker 1>claimed his father molested him and beat his mother. He
<v Speaker 1>had a long list of run ins with the law
<v Speaker 1>and seemed to be spirally into a life of drugs
<v Speaker 1>and crime. To the police in addition to everything else,
<v Speaker 1>he seemed to fit the profile of someone who would
<v Speaker 1>randomly shoot two little girls. Of course, he continued to
<v Speaker 1>deny having anything to do with Lauren's death.
<v Speaker 4>I always say that brother.
<v Speaker 25>He's got a long brown hair, and like like, oh,
<v Speaker 25>they didn't say something about you might come by and
<v Speaker 25>give a gun you can, I'd find out, she Tullabean
<v Speaker 25>over text message, she's a joy might come by ride.
<v Speaker 5>That's right.
<v Speaker 28>I don't.
<v Speaker 26>I'm not trying of like in the bus and I
<v Speaker 26>might tell you. I bet I've the verses at you.
<v Speaker 26>But he's just like I've tried to seek out who
<v Speaker 26>he come in and I'm kind of got screwed up.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not trying to throw my step brother under the
<v Speaker 1>bus or anything, but you should definitely look at him.
<v Speaker 5>Wow.
<v Speaker 1>The police didn't believe it for a second. Remember they
<v Speaker 1>had a witness who saw Cody with the rifle. They
<v Speaker 1>started to press harder you were.
<v Speaker 25>And at the same time all this happened, and now
<v Speaker 25>he didn't tell you that seriously.
<v Speaker 1>Because yeah, he finally admitted he was on Trinidad Drive
<v Speaker 1>the day of the shooting, but he was still claiming innocence.
<v Speaker 1>Cody wanted to talk first, but he needed to be
<v Speaker 1>assured that he would be in solitary confinement. He didn't
<v Speaker 1>think he could handle being in prison with real men.
<v Speaker 1>So when officers guaranteed they would make that happen, he
<v Speaker 1>began a new story.
<v Speaker 25>He get ready, this is the story of a size
<v Speaker 25>that patients the finishing.
<v Speaker 4>You know, well, I'm not going to fucking had many
<v Speaker 4>They might overdial that has nothing like out following.
<v Speaker 26>You know, femails for a while now and anything you
<v Speaker 26>can a seen boy on. Absolutely, that's something cold with you,
<v Speaker 26>they would say, absolutely, he is he as hating the
<v Speaker 26>sort of at though I talked about you, Asham, and
<v Speaker 26>I've seen that grows up in munch of the times
<v Speaker 26>of putting other.
<v Speaker 4>Friend and work and who was just oldly with chunk
<v Speaker 4>with your kids. That wasn't no man.
<v Speaker 26>So at the time of just started je seeing me man,
<v Speaker 26>and I thought that was the way I.
<v Speaker 1>Was going to handle with He had seen Lauren walking
<v Speaker 1>with her boyfriend. He described the boy as a little
<v Speaker 1>punk looking kid. That wasn't no man. Those are his words.
<v Speaker 1>Remember that we're talking about two thirteen year olds. Their
<v Speaker 1>relationship sparked off a fit of jealousy in them, and
<v Speaker 1>he decided to shoot her. What a romantic If you
<v Speaker 1>think this doesn't make any sense yet, just wait, It's
<v Speaker 1>only gonna get worse. Twenty year old Cody Lotte only
<v Speaker 1>tried to lie for a little while before the excitement
<v Speaker 1>of sharing his story got the better of him, and
<v Speaker 1>he confessed that's what simple people do. They just offer
<v Speaker 1>up everything all at once. They can't keep their stupid
<v Speaker 1>little mouth shut, so they blab and blab and blab.
<v Speaker 1>Cody Latt admitted he was the only one who shot
<v Speaker 1>Lauren and Mikayla, but his reasoning for why he did
<v Speaker 1>it was even more baffling than the act itself.
<v Speaker 4>More specifically, I mean, what did you do then?
<v Speaker 5>What what happened?
<v Speaker 4>Well, on the day before an article stud and I
<v Speaker 4>was going to just do approach the girl, and I thought, man,
<v Speaker 4>the rocket, I'm a beastful man. I go stucking real
<v Speaker 4>with go. So the a that end cased me.
<v Speaker 26>You know, I was felling a nice handwaythro nothing. You know, well,
<v Speaker 26>I tried, you would be nice to men, they said,
<v Speaker 26>Azon says crazy.
<v Speaker 4>The benefinition of crazy is just refuting.
<v Speaker 28>The same thing.
<v Speaker 4>So as I get the obvious.
<v Speaker 14>Thing that I guess just you know.
<v Speaker 29>Me being look at how I do whatever, meeting and
<v Speaker 29>nice is there's something that amazing being deep you you know,
<v Speaker 29>I have the show us nothing else to because it's
<v Speaker 29>like it's just Elvis girls who just ignored me, a
<v Speaker 29>vicious secting me and I either wanted was an opportunity
<v Speaker 29>to be the set for the entry of her.
<v Speaker 1>He tried to explain that he first thought about introducing
<v Speaker 1>himself to her, but then remembered how young she was.
<v Speaker 1>This too, pissed him off. This is where his rationale
<v Speaker 1>begins to get a little twisted. It's important to remind
<v Speaker 1>everyone that a sign of schizophrenia is disorganized thinking. Somehow,
<v Speaker 1>he went from the thought of her being too young
<v Speaker 1>to the idea that trying to be nice to her
<v Speaker 1>or any girl wasn't going to get him anywhere either,
<v Speaker 1>so he had to change tactics. Sure, if being nice
<v Speaker 1>to a girl doesn't get her attention, the next logical
<v Speaker 1>step is to kill her.
<v Speaker 26>There's anything I just plopped in my head and I said,
<v Speaker 26>you know what I want to.
<v Speaker 24>Do in this book and do this is he gets
<v Speaker 24>something out of my h I start her. I ain't
<v Speaker 24>to go by my car like a couple of days before.
<v Speaker 4>I mean I planed out a little here. I looked
<v Speaker 4>like like gins or something.
<v Speaker 24>To me like that, I was like out something else
<v Speaker 24>like you a BLI so you you pretty much knew
<v Speaker 24>what we're oh man.
<v Speaker 4>I gotched over about a year and then for a
<v Speaker 4>year I had seen her their grand that I had
<v Speaker 4>access to a join it.
<v Speaker 1>He watched her for a year from his mother's apartment
<v Speaker 1>every day, building on his infatuation with her.
<v Speaker 4>You never did, I never even spoke into it this.
<v Speaker 4>I mean I just saw he would look good about.
<v Speaker 24>Man, and she matches my absolutely matched my distribution of food.
<v Speaker 4>I wanted to Cuba prep. Yes, and she was too young,
<v Speaker 4>I know, but she was a trap.
<v Speaker 27>I've never had the opportunity to even get in a
<v Speaker 27>fres other girl that's not beautiful like I've seen those
<v Speaker 27>on them like.
<v Speaker 26>I hate the mean the crushes is never way I
<v Speaker 26>ever have lost.
<v Speaker 4>STI bonds about this girl right on.
<v Speaker 24>I kind of girl I've ever seen and have that
<v Speaker 24>purchase story of porn dyos.
<v Speaker 1>He pined for a woman and when the women his
<v Speaker 1>age wouldn't have anything to do with him. Lauren got
<v Speaker 1>caught in the crosshairs. He found me barely pubescent girl beautiful,
<v Speaker 1>but he equated Lauren's beauty to the women in porn videos.
<v Speaker 1>If you're thinking this guy couldn't get any more out
<v Speaker 1>of touch, I think again.
<v Speaker 24>So I told you, girl, I wasn't wearing loss.
<v Speaker 7>Man.
<v Speaker 4>I was born a prophecy.
<v Speaker 10>You know what I mean.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, I was like, man, it's son of the devil.
<v Speaker 4>This was a deep man, It's so spiritful.
<v Speaker 26>So I go, I have to know, hey, man, I
<v Speaker 26>had it no, but you felt me like, this is awesome.
<v Speaker 4>I had the pasion about it. Page you know, I
<v Speaker 4>need nothing but cattle here. And I don't care what
<v Speaker 4>people said.
<v Speaker 24>She you know, people said my she she never even
<v Speaker 24>thought a chance in life was with iver head like
<v Speaker 24>trust me, I'm sure she said that that her innocence
<v Speaker 24>was gonna slowly start being plunge.
<v Speaker 4>Is you know what that always say? No, he goes
<v Speaker 4>up onish you.
<v Speaker 26>It's like she would have been up going like a
<v Speaker 26>clowdy being rave, or she there would have been.
<v Speaker 4>Something all worse than what I did would have happened
<v Speaker 4>to her.
<v Speaker 24>So I thought I was just gonna go ahead and
<v Speaker 24>stay of her from the needles of the world.
<v Speaker 1>If he couldn't have her, the only thing he could
<v Speaker 1>do to save her from the evils that he knew
<v Speaker 1>would eventually befall her, he had to, you know, sacrifice
<v Speaker 1>her to the devil. Because all of that shit makes sense.
<v Speaker 4>I felt like I need to prove I.
<v Speaker 13>Was a man.
<v Speaker 4>I'll tell you that.
<v Speaker 25>I know.
<v Speaker 4>I didn't know how else think of about it. You know,
<v Speaker 4>I'm gout. I went a head and they went about
<v Speaker 4>it about it, you know, you know what.
<v Speaker 26>Finally wants to show all off to you about fine,
<v Speaker 26>who want to show with pain that's been got warned?
<v Speaker 4>Tweaty and Alice and other.
<v Speaker 1>He was glad he did it so people could feel
<v Speaker 1>his pain. What a little bitch boy? Would I love
<v Speaker 1>a couple of minutes with this kid in a locked
<v Speaker 1>room with no cameras.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, that's a fantasy.
<v Speaker 1>Eventually he would express some regret, regret that he didn't
<v Speaker 1>kill her instantly so you didn't have to hear her scream.
<v Speaker 4>But her scream was it was the saint, And I'll
<v Speaker 4>beat about that to day.
<v Speaker 1>Add up, he said he never intended for her to suffer.
<v Speaker 1>He only wanted for her to die. He didn't regret
<v Speaker 1>what he did, only that he should have done it differently.
<v Speaker 27>Think about that, Michelle already has killed myself, so I
<v Speaker 27>should feeble and shot in the cell.
<v Speaker 1>Hey, hey, Cody, I'm sure that there's plenty of people
<v Speaker 1>in Wichita Falls that feel the same way. It's not
<v Speaker 1>surprising that after Cody admitted to finding the thirteen year
<v Speaker 1>old Lauren attractive, they found several images of child pornography
<v Speaker 1>on his phone. One of the images was confirmed by
<v Speaker 1>the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as being
<v Speaker 1>that of an eight year old engaged in a sexually
<v Speaker 1>explicit act. Cody was arrested and charged with murder, aggravated assault,
<v Speaker 1>possession of a prohibited weapon, and three counts of possession
<v Speaker 1>of child pornography. This guy is going to have a
<v Speaker 1>lot of fun in prison when the inmates find out
<v Speaker 1>not only had he killed a kid, but that he's
<v Speaker 1>also interested in them sexually. You hear that inmates at
<v Speaker 1>the Skyview Unit in Rusk, a creeshional institution that's part
<v Speaker 1>of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. You hear that guys.
<v Speaker 1>His name is Cody Lot with two teas. Anyway, Cody
<v Speaker 1>wasn't charged with capital murder, which meant the death penalty
<v Speaker 1>was off the table at the time. The law in
<v Speaker 1>Texas only allowed capital murder charges to be applied under
<v Speaker 1>a few circumstances, including causing the death of a child
<v Speaker 1>under the age of ten, but Lauren was thirteen.
<v Speaker 28>I hope that Cody Lot gets the fullest senates he
<v Speaker 28>can and it's a shame that the death penalty can't
<v Speaker 28>be can't be instated. I don't want him to get insanity,
<v Speaker 28>because he clearly thought it out, probably for a long time.
<v Speaker 1>Two years after the murder, the trial finally began. Cody's
<v Speaker 1>hair was longer, and somehow he was even thinner. He
<v Speaker 1>looked kind of like white Jesus on meth or Jared Leito.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, his defense tried to play the insanity card,
<v Speaker 1>but Cody wasn't as crazy as he sounded. Well, he
<v Speaker 1>did suffer from a mental illness, and maybe it played
<v Speaker 1>a part in his plan. He thought about committing this
<v Speaker 1>crime for a year. Surely there were moments of lucidity
<v Speaker 1>within that year, a year of opportunities to decide, Nah,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not going to kill her. Maybe I'll just place
<v Speaker 1>some Xbox instead, and after he fired his gun into
<v Speaker 1>an alley full of middle schoolers, he tried to get
<v Speaker 1>away with it. He ditched the gun and then went
<v Speaker 1>back to retrieve it when he thought he was home free.
<v Speaker 1>The bottom line, he knew at the time of the
<v Speaker 1>murder that it was morally and legally wrong. In court,
<v Speaker 1>he sat still, seemingly detached, as the terrified children recalled
<v Speaker 1>the events of that day.
<v Speaker 22>I just hope he has a long, miserable life in
<v Speaker 22>that prison. I hope he never seen a free moment,
<v Speaker 22>and I hope he lives a long time and maybe someday,
<v Speaker 22>when he's old and gray and maybe dan he'll show
<v Speaker 22>some remorse where he's not seen any signs of that
<v Speaker 22>so far. You know, watching him in court, he's not
<v Speaker 22>He's just emotionless, and I think that's in negative of
<v Speaker 22>how he committed such a hand heinous crime and shows
<v Speaker 22>no remorse for it.
<v Speaker 1>After five days of trial, in less than an hour
<v Speaker 1>of deliberation, the verdict was guilty. Then he was sentenced
<v Speaker 1>to twenty years for the aggravated assault on Mikayla, ten
<v Speaker 1>years for each count of child pornography, and a life
<v Speaker 1>in prison for the murder. Of Lauren. He is, though,
<v Speaker 1>eligible for parole on September third, twenty forty six, a
<v Speaker 1>day that's quite fitting because it's one day after the
<v Speaker 1>thirtieth anniversary of Lauren's death.
<v Speaker 30>He robbed so many people, so many kids out there
<v Speaker 30>that day of their innocence, And.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, it feels two years. Sometimes it feels like it
<v Speaker 4>was just yesterday. Sometimes it feels like it was a
<v Speaker 4>million years ago. But we've had this day in.
<v Speaker 30>Our sight since that happened, hoping that the person responsible
<v Speaker 30>for so much suffering would finally face justice for that
<v Speaker 30>and have to do some suffering of his own. The
<v Speaker 30>result of today it doesn't bring Lauren back.
<v Speaker 4>It doesn't make us miss or any less. It doesn't
<v Speaker 4>make your death any less tragic.
<v Speaker 30>There is a kind of a closure that you get
<v Speaker 30>when you know that the person responsible is gonna is
<v Speaker 30>going to suffer.
<v Speaker 1>But that wasn't good enough for the Land of Aso's.
<v Speaker 1>They sought to change the law that governed capital murder charges.
<v Speaker 1>They wanted to raise the age requirement from ten to
<v Speaker 1>fifteen so that killers like Cody Lot in the future
<v Speaker 1>would be able to be sentenced to death. It's something
<v Speaker 1>that keeps coming up over and over again. But I
<v Speaker 1>don't think anyone can truly understand the importance of the
<v Speaker 1>death penalty unless you've had someone taken from you like this.
<v Speaker 1>The need for revenge, the need for justice, for accountability
<v Speaker 1>is overwhelming. Even though you may not agree with the
<v Speaker 1>government killing citizens, this is a case where the citizens
<v Speaker 1>themselves demand it, and they did it too. The following year,
<v Speaker 1>on the day before the third anniversary of her death,
<v Speaker 1>Governor Abbott signed Lauren's Law into effect, raising the age
<v Speaker 1>limit to fifteen years of age.
<v Speaker 9>I'm going to be signing Cineville seven nineteen, which is
<v Speaker 9>known as Lauren's Law.
<v Speaker 20>But we all agree that they're nothing more vulnerable, nothing
<v Speaker 20>more precious than our children, and we have to be
<v Speaker 20>able to change laws to.
<v Speaker 23>Reflect that there are to be future victims that are children.
<v Speaker 23>This is for them, and I know our daughter would approve.
<v Speaker 1>Hopefully, Cody Lott will never get out of prison. Why
<v Speaker 1>should he. The effects of what he did linger in
<v Speaker 1>the minds of her family and friends. It will until
<v Speaker 1>they're dying day, So why shouldn't he have to suffer
<v Speaker 1>until his Crystal suffered panic attacks After the event, many
<v Speaker 1>kids were no longer allowed to walk home from school.
<v Speaker 1>Michaela will always be reminded of the violent end of
<v Speaker 1>her beloved friend every time she feels the bullet fragment
<v Speaker 1>still inside her chest. The devil didn't make Cody Lot
<v Speaker 1>kill Lauren. That's silly. Stop believing in fairy tales. You're
<v Speaker 1>an adult. That was just how his drug riddled brain,
<v Speaker 1>which wasn't too great to begin with, rationalize the guilt
<v Speaker 1>he felt for doing such a thing. He didn't hear
<v Speaker 1>voices shouting commands. He didn't talk to the devil. He
<v Speaker 1>certainly didn't talk to God, that's for sure. He was
<v Speaker 1>just a leech to his mother, a parasite.
<v Speaker 4>To his community.
<v Speaker 1>He was an uneducated, unemployed, lazy piece of shit who
<v Speaker 1>thought the world owed him something. Does this sound familiar yet,
<v Speaker 1>because it describes everyone we've ever talked about over the
<v Speaker 1>last eleven years now. And when the world didn't hand
<v Speaker 1>him a girlfriend, he didn't wonder what he was doing wrong,
<v Speaker 1>And of course not, no, why would you? Why would
<v Speaker 1>you do that? Why not just blame everyone else instead,
<v Speaker 1>blame the world around It's not me, it's everybody, it's
<v Speaker 1>everything right, right? You know how this pattern of thinking
<v Speaker 1>perpetuates and wiggles its way into our brains, every one
<v Speaker 1>of us, not just idiots like Cody. This entitlement, this
<v Speaker 1>sense that somebody owes you something. It's cancer. This is
<v Speaker 1>the result of cancer. Cody Lot never learned the lesson
<v Speaker 1>that sometimes you just can't have what you want.
<v Speaker 7>You just can't.
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't work that way. But then again, it's not
<v Speaker 1>like he even tried to work hard and make a
<v Speaker 1>life for himself. Now, no, that'd be too hard. Instead,
<v Speaker 1>why not take it out on poor Lauren, to which
<v Speaker 1>a good life just seemed to come naturally. A senseless
<v Speaker 1>act committed randomly that only made sense in one man's mind,
<v Speaker 1>but affected those kids and their families for the rest
<v Speaker 1>of their lives. Why blame yourself when you can blame
<v Speaker 1>the world instead. Speaking of being disappointed, this is our
<v Speaker 1>last regular episode before I take a much needed break,
<v Speaker 1>which I promise you is very necessary. We'll have one
<v Speaker 1>more plus episode before we go. We'll see you right
<v Speaker 1>back here next year for season twelve.
<v Speaker 5>Stay safe st st st st st st st
<v Speaker 19>St st stand the st st st stand statist sta