Episode 292

<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 advice.
<v Speaker 3>That cool smart, like the devil anside me? Who loves less? Lastest?
<v Speaker 1>Who was that weird sounding woman at the intro? You're
<v Speaker 1>about to find out? This is season twelve, episode two
<v Speaker 1>ninety two, Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that
<v Speaker 1>the worst monsters are real and literally all around you.
<v Speaker 1>It's fucking terrifying. It's enough to make you want to
<v Speaker 1>crawl in a hole and just listen to podcasts. Just
<v Speaker 1>a reminder that we don't do this for free. If
<v Speaker 1>you'd like to show and want to support it, head
<v Speaker 1>on over to Swordinscale dot com, download the app on
<v Speaker 1>your Android or Apple device, and become a plus supporter
<v Speaker 1>or a sashole, as we affectionately like to call our fans,
<v Speaker 1>because we love people so much. In a relationship, it's
<v Speaker 1>easy to mix up being needed with being wanted, especially
<v Speaker 1>when you're in love. The dependency can feel like a
<v Speaker 1>sign of closeness, but as time goes on, needing someone
<v Speaker 1>can become more important than wanting them, and that's when
<v Speaker 1>problems begin. The distinction between being needed and being wanted.
<v Speaker 1>Might not seem like a big deal at first, but
<v Speaker 1>it can make all the difference in whether a relationship
<v Speaker 1>lasts or it falls apart. When someone depends on the
<v Speaker 1>other for their happiness, their self worth, and even their identity,
<v Speaker 1>it's no longer about love. It's about something else entirely control.
<v Speaker 1>The fear of losing that person isn't because of love.
<v Speaker 1>It's because their whole sense of self is tied to them.
<v Speaker 1>It's not about wanting a life with them anymore. It's
<v Speaker 1>about being scared of a life without them. When someone
<v Speaker 1>feels like they have nothing to lose, they'll do anything
<v Speaker 1>to hang on and keep their life from falling apart,
<v Speaker 1>even if it means crossing lines they never would have
<v Speaker 1>thought to cross. This kind of unhealthy reliance doesn't just
<v Speaker 1>hurt feelings, It ruins lives and the aftermath. It often
<v Speaker 1>affects the people who at least deserve it. Outside the
<v Speaker 1>police department in Plantation, Florida, the parking lot is still
<v Speaker 1>dotted with a harsh orange glow of street lamps. It's
<v Speaker 1>a little after four am on June twenty eighth, twenty eighteen.
<v Speaker 1>The sun won't be up for at least another couple
<v Speaker 1>of hours. Outside, it's a balmy seventy eight degrees with
<v Speaker 1>ninety three percent humidity. Oh boy, do I not miss that?
<v Speaker 1>It's like a sauna every day. The humidity makes it
<v Speaker 1>feel even hotter. The air is thick and moist, so
<v Speaker 1>much so that it feels difficult walking through it. Inside,
<v Speaker 1>though it's almost chilly, the fluorescent bulbs cast a uniform light,
<v Speaker 1>making the small room feel more impersonal. A little boy
<v Speaker 1>sits quietly with curious eyes. He can sense there's something
<v Speaker 1>that the adults aren't telling them.
<v Speaker 3>Do you ever get in trouble at home?
<v Speaker 4>Sometimes?
<v Speaker 3>What happens? What happens when you get in trouble?
<v Speaker 5>I don't usually remember, since it was a long time ago.
<v Speaker 6>I usually do that.
<v Speaker 5>Last six Oh, okay, so you're a pretty good kid.
<v Speaker 1>Adrian was seven years old. The detectives are trying to
<v Speaker 1>gauge his understanding of right and wrong and whether he
<v Speaker 1>knows how to lie. He just witnessed something horrible, which
<v Speaker 1>is impossible for his undeveloped mind to understand.
<v Speaker 4>Can you tell mister Micaul you live with again?
<v Speaker 1>I don't know.
<v Speaker 3>I didn't write it down.
<v Speaker 6>Mom.
<v Speaker 4>Her name's Nastia.
<v Speaker 5>I usually call her Nasenka since that's how call hern Russian.
<v Speaker 3>And who else you live with?
<v Speaker 4>And dad his name is Mark.
<v Speaker 1>Adrian lived with his mother Anastasia and his father Mark.
<v Speaker 1>They all lived in his grand mother's town home. It
<v Speaker 1>was nice and spacious, about eleven hundred square feet, with
<v Speaker 1>two bedrooms and two bathrooms. There was plenty of room
<v Speaker 1>for a Grandma Barb and her three cats, but it
<v Speaker 1>got a little crowded when her son Mark and his
<v Speaker 1>family found themselves down on their luck and moved in.
<v Speaker 5>We share the sandom insuffa. She sleeps with the cats.
<v Speaker 1>Grandma Barb gave up the biggest bedroom so the family
<v Speaker 1>of three could have a little more space. It wasn't ideal,
<v Speaker 1>but they were having a bit of a rough patch
<v Speaker 1>after being recently evicted. Of course, little Adrian didn't understand
<v Speaker 1>any of this. It was summer and he was living
<v Speaker 1>a kid's dream, staying up late and watching TV. He
<v Speaker 1>explains that the night before he had watched cartoons before bed.
<v Speaker 1>He was mesmerized by the colors and the sounds coming
<v Speaker 1>from the TV, oblivious to the brooding turmoil in his home.
<v Speaker 3>When you go to sleep, do you watch TV to
<v Speaker 3>go to sleep.
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 7>Do you remember what you were watching last night when
<v Speaker 7>you were going to sleep?
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, where were you?
<v Speaker 2>Watching?
<v Speaker 4>Zada's House? The loud House?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's a cool show I like.
<v Speaker 5>And also when I finished chanout House, I watched Spungeblow Swear,
<v Speaker 5>Pierced smoothe.
<v Speaker 3>Oh okay, who put that movie on for you? Oh?
<v Speaker 5>It just came up of nandemly when the Talent show
<v Speaker 5>was over.
<v Speaker 7>Okay, so when a Loud House was over, the SpongeBob
<v Speaker 7>movie came on.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, by itself.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Adrian didn't know it yet, but that would be the
<v Speaker 1>last care free evening in front of the TV that
<v Speaker 1>he would experience in a long time.
<v Speaker 3>Did you get ready for.
<v Speaker 7>Bed all by yourself?
<v Speaker 8>Uh?
<v Speaker 5>Huh? I usually seek in the big bed?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>Did you fall asleep in the big bed?
<v Speaker 4>Last three I have today?
<v Speaker 1>In the bedroom they shared, there were two beds. Squeezed in.
<v Speaker 1>Next to the full size bed was a smaller kid
<v Speaker 1>size bed. It was obviously for Adrian, but recently Anastasia
<v Speaker 1>had started sleeping in the little kid bed. That night,
<v Speaker 1>after watching the SpongeBob movie, Adrian took a melowtonin gummy
<v Speaker 1>and got ready for bed. He fell asleep in the
<v Speaker 1>big bed next to his dad Mark. Anastasia was already
<v Speaker 1>sleeping in the little bed next to the door.
<v Speaker 8>Was mommy and dad in the bed with you?
<v Speaker 7>When?
<v Speaker 4>No, just start with me?
<v Speaker 5>Oh, sleeping in on the did bed?
<v Speaker 7>Do you remember where you were when you woke up today?
<v Speaker 4>Oh? I think it was. I think it was for something.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you know. How do you ever know it was
<v Speaker 3>for something?
<v Speaker 6>No?
<v Speaker 4>I just see.
<v Speaker 7>Oh you just thought that you didn't see a clock
<v Speaker 7>or anything. Now did something wake you up?
<v Speaker 3>Or did you wake up by yourself?
<v Speaker 5>When dad was trying to wake mom up? That wake
<v Speaker 5>me up?
<v Speaker 7>How did that wake you up?
<v Speaker 3>Oh?
<v Speaker 4>Because he was.
<v Speaker 1>Talking at four am? Adrian woke up because you heard
<v Speaker 1>talking in the room. Mark was trying to wake up Anastasia.
<v Speaker 1>Adrian thought this was so she could get ready for work.
<v Speaker 1>He knew she had just gotten a job.
<v Speaker 3>Was your mom saying anything?
<v Speaker 4>Oh she didn't, she's sleeping. I'm so hard. I'm not
<v Speaker 4>sure she was sleeping.
<v Speaker 5>Oh you said that? Oh, because when dad was trying
<v Speaker 5>to wake her up, she didn't wake up.
<v Speaker 4>That's why she had it and drag her to the couch, and.
<v Speaker 5>That's so that's how I saw the blood.
<v Speaker 1>Even a seven year old knows what blood is and
<v Speaker 1>that blood outside your body is bad. But Adrian didn't
<v Speaker 1>really understand what was happening, so he tried to make
<v Speaker 1>sense of it. Adrian thought his dad was just trying
<v Speaker 1>to wake up his mom for work, but she wasn't
<v Speaker 1>waking up when Mark dragged her to the couch. Adrian
<v Speaker 1>didn't understand the danger. If any adult had woken up
<v Speaker 1>to this scene, they would immediately be filled with fear,
<v Speaker 1>but in Adrian's innocence, he just watched with wonder.
<v Speaker 5>Well, I don't know why, but at niece, I know.
<v Speaker 5>And my mom got the.
<v Speaker 4>Big bubble on her head. Then when Dad can't wake.
<v Speaker 5>Her, Dad couldn't.
<v Speaker 4>Wake her up since she was snoring.
<v Speaker 5>Also, she had never slurred before, and Dad, how did
<v Speaker 5>Dad's going was gonna wake her up? Into the couch
<v Speaker 5>because she got she also got the dead dirty with
<v Speaker 5>her blood on her head, That's why she couldn't do it.
<v Speaker 5>So she was sleeping so hard. So Dad dragged her
<v Speaker 5>on the floor and I saw blood.
<v Speaker 7>Oh and you said mommy was snoring.
<v Speaker 4>Oh, yeah, she had never did.
<v Speaker 5>That's how that figured out something was wrong with her it.
<v Speaker 4>Then she saw that was the blood in her hair.
<v Speaker 3>Oh and then you heard your mommy snoring.
<v Speaker 7>She never did snoring before.
<v Speaker 9>Okay, now might.
<v Speaker 4>Think she's going to the hospital. I think.
<v Speaker 1>This poor kid had no frame of reference for what
<v Speaker 1>he witnessed. The plots from cartoons don't really prepare a
<v Speaker 1>kid for experiencing death, and that's exactly what he saw.
<v Speaker 1>His mother wasn't snoring, That was her body losing the
<v Speaker 1>ability to clear the mucus from her throat. He heard
<v Speaker 1>his mother's death rattle. Seconds after his father dragged his
<v Speaker 1>mother from the room, Grandma Barb came in and grabbed him.
<v Speaker 1>She took him to her bathroom and shut the door.
<v Speaker 1>She left him for a moment to grab her phone
<v Speaker 1>beside her bed. When she returned, she called nine one one.
<v Speaker 1>Adrian had to be confused and likely afraid, but he
<v Speaker 1>knew nine one one was the number to call for help.
<v Speaker 5>I stayed in the bathroom with Strama since she didn't
<v Speaker 5>want me to step in the blood.
<v Speaker 4>She called nine one one, and she also.
<v Speaker 5>Called on of the amblien. She also caused the amblion
<v Speaker 5>so mom couldn't go go into hospital.
<v Speaker 4>Again.
<v Speaker 5>That's like dad did it, orly because mom has to
<v Speaker 5>go doing her hospital work.
<v Speaker 4>And this morning.
<v Speaker 1>Adrian explained everything he saw and heard his mother snoring,
<v Speaker 1>his father dragging her, and the blood on the bed
<v Speaker 1>and the floor. His grandmother took him to the bathroom
<v Speaker 1>so he wouldn't step in the blood. It's difficult to
<v Speaker 1>listen to knowing he didn't fully understand the real reason
<v Speaker 1>he was in the bathroom, he tried to make sense
<v Speaker 1>of it with a child's rationale. His mother, Anastasia, was
<v Speaker 1>a doctor. He knew she had just started a job.
<v Speaker 1>The only reason they were up so early had to
<v Speaker 1>be for his mom's work. In Adrian's young mind, mom
<v Speaker 1>had a booboo, but Grandma called an ambulance so the
<v Speaker 1>ambulance would take her to the hospital and fix her up,
<v Speaker 1>just in time for her to start her shift. The
<v Speaker 1>poor kid didn't get it. He was an innocent in
<v Speaker 1>the purest sense of the word.
<v Speaker 5>Seeing the surgery to people in the hospital, Oh okay.
<v Speaker 4>Was anybody else there when you came out of the bathroom?
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, some policces? Yeah yeah, okay, Then what did
<v Speaker 4>you ever seeing I saw Don went to jail for
<v Speaker 4>some reason.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know why. Oh okay.
<v Speaker 1>Adrian didn't know that his mother was dead. He didn't
<v Speaker 1>understand his father was arrested for her murder. Maybe it's
<v Speaker 1>better that he didn't get it. He was too young
<v Speaker 1>to process the full nature of what happened, which is
<v Speaker 1>a blessing in his case. But he's not likely to
<v Speaker 1>forget his mom and dad anytime soon, and the memory
<v Speaker 1>of them, I imagine, will haunt him for years to come.
<v Speaker 1>He'll never see his mother again or fall asleep next
<v Speaker 1>to his father. They won't be there to wake him
<v Speaker 1>up and take him to school. The events of that night,
<v Speaker 1>the trauma he experienced, will eventually shape his understanding of death.
<v Speaker 1>It'll shape him as a person, his whole personality. The
<v Speaker 1>lasting impact, which only the adults involved understood, will be
<v Speaker 1>the loss of his innocence. On the morning of June
<v Speaker 1>twenty eighth, twenty eighteen, seven year old Adrian woke up
<v Speaker 1>to the sound of his father talking. Even at such
<v Speaker 1>a young age, he knew something was wrong. He was
<v Speaker 1>confused by his mother's snoring and the boo boo on
<v Speaker 1>her head. He rationalized the events in his mind without
<v Speaker 1>being able to draw the connections between them. His mother
<v Speaker 1>was hurt, his father was arrested, but he didn't understand why.
<v Speaker 1>Fourteen years earlier, in two thousand and four, Anastasia first
<v Speaker 1>traveled to the US from her native country Belaris. She
<v Speaker 1>used the trip to practice her English, and by two
<v Speaker 1>thousand and five she moved to Florida permanently, want better
<v Speaker 1>place to pursue her dreams than the land of opportunity.
<v Speaker 1>She wasn't alone, though, she had a close friend with
<v Speaker 1>her who also moved from Belaris.
<v Speaker 3>Did you guys go to college together? Not the same college?
<v Speaker 10>I went to FIU on a Stasia went to AU
<v Speaker 10>and it was a little bit than I did. Then
<v Speaker 10>I pursued legal Korea went to NSU Law School, and
<v Speaker 10>she went to NSU as well.
<v Speaker 3>Well, actually that was the same school, but a different
<v Speaker 3>college for the university.
<v Speaker 1>Right, Okay, this is Hannah Yamorlik, Anastasia's best friend. Anastesia
<v Speaker 1>sort of followed her to the US. They were so
<v Speaker 1>close that after Anastasia gave birth to Adrian, she asked
<v Speaker 1>Hannah to be his godmother. Of course she said yes.
<v Speaker 10>And since two thousand and five she stayed and we
<v Speaker 10>I mean we lived together for some time, but then
<v Speaker 10>she moved out, but we still stayed close and to
<v Speaker 10>state friends.
<v Speaker 1>The two were both determined women with ambition and goals.
<v Speaker 1>Anastesia quickly enrolled in college and started pursuing a degree.
<v Speaker 1>By the time she neared the end of her bachelor's degree,
<v Speaker 1>she had met a man, Mark Berkowitz.
<v Speaker 10>Which she worked at Trump Hotel and he worked there
<v Speaker 10>as well, and that's how they met each other, and
<v Speaker 10>that's how they started dating. Okay, we hang out a lot.
<v Speaker 10>Then they got married, she got pregnant, and I was
<v Speaker 10>their friend. I mean I wasn't Mark's friend, but I
<v Speaker 10>was an a stagious friend. And because I communicated.
<v Speaker 1>With Mark a lot, a romance sparked between Mark and Anastasia,
<v Speaker 1>but she didn't let that distract her from her goals.
<v Speaker 10>Yeah, she was always at the computer. I mean she
<v Speaker 10>enjoyed it. It's not like she had to do it.
<v Speaker 10>And she was a bride student. When like many student
<v Speaker 10>fieled the exams, she passed them and with good grades.
<v Speaker 3>And she was very dedicated. She felt like this is
<v Speaker 3>what she wanted to do. She wasn't enjoying it, even
<v Speaker 3>though she wasn't required, like to do some reading.
<v Speaker 10>She was just like going through the books or reading
<v Speaker 10>some stories materials because this is what she liked.
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia was an achiever. She set her side on something
<v Speaker 1>and didn't stop until she got it. She did more
<v Speaker 1>schoolwork then was required because she actually enjoyed it. This
<v Speaker 1>was a stark comparison to her husband Mark. Here's Grandma
<v Speaker 1>Barb describing Mark as a child.
<v Speaker 2>No heeded school. He was probably dropped out in ninth grade.
<v Speaker 2>You know, he was very He was always a difficult
<v Speaker 2>kid and always getting in trouble. And he was a
<v Speaker 2>very tough kid. And thank God my Brian, my younger.
<v Speaker 3>Son, God bless him.
<v Speaker 2>He learned from him what not to do. That's why
<v Speaker 2>he turned to be such a good son.
<v Speaker 1>Between Grandma Barb's two sons, Mark was the black sheep.
<v Speaker 1>He couldn't seem to stay out of trouble. He dropped
<v Speaker 1>out of school his freshman year and started working a
<v Speaker 1>series of jobs and hospitality. He also struggled with his
<v Speaker 1>mental health.
<v Speaker 7>While he's vipoler has he been diagnosed with that. Psychiatristy
<v Speaker 7>and I had a list of all his medication.
<v Speaker 1>Sam Mark suffered from bipolar disorder. He would swing between
<v Speaker 1>manic episodes and bouts of depression. His uncontrollable swings in
<v Speaker 1>emotion and his decisions during these swings made him prone
<v Speaker 1>to getting into trouble. It wasn't long before the troubled
<v Speaker 1>teenager became a convict.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, he hands a record even when he was thirteen.
<v Speaker 2>Honestly in a trouble, drugs problems. Yeah, I mean he
<v Speaker 2>drive me through hell right, three.
<v Speaker 3>Of my cars.
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia didn't care about Mark's troubled past. It didn't matter
<v Speaker 1>to her. His past was just that the past. She
<v Speaker 1>was young, in her twenties. By the time she met Mark,
<v Speaker 1>he was in his early thirties and had a good
<v Speaker 1>job at a luxury hotel. Mark had become wiser with age.
<v Speaker 1>He seemed to have calmed his rebellion youth a bit.
<v Speaker 2>But it didn't bother her because she was set as
<v Speaker 2>far as her career. It was from the main goal,
<v Speaker 2>and you know, nothing was not going to stand in
<v Speaker 2>the rings.
<v Speaker 3>She's very intelligent. She knows she could do it.
<v Speaker 2>She's one of the top forty and in her graduating class. No, no,
<v Speaker 2>you know nothing was going to get in the way.
<v Speaker 2>She's going to achieve her goal and make all her
<v Speaker 2>dreams come true.
<v Speaker 1>The romance bloomed and they both had a sharp eye
<v Speaker 1>on their future together. Mark was going to work and
<v Speaker 1>support Anastasia as she earned her degree.
<v Speaker 3>And as soon as you.
<v Speaker 2>Told me, she took when they got married at the
<v Speaker 2>courthouse here in Fort Liuderdale that she wanted to go
<v Speaker 2>to school to become a doctor and she wasn't going
<v Speaker 2>to work.
<v Speaker 3>And I guess Mark was fine with that. He worked
<v Speaker 3>at the Fountain Blue.
<v Speaker 7>He was in love with her, I mean, he was
<v Speaker 7>supporting her.
<v Speaker 1>Once Anastasia became a doctor, Mark could chase his dreams,
<v Speaker 1>dreams a high school drop out with a record could
<v Speaker 1>never seem to afford with a string of dead end jobs.
<v Speaker 2>When she graduates. You know, he wanted to open a restaurant.
<v Speaker 2>He had all these big dreams, you know, like his
<v Speaker 2>dream also was to be like DJ and he liked
<v Speaker 2>all this, you know, he loves music.
<v Speaker 1>So their future was set. They had a plan and
<v Speaker 1>Mark and Anastasia could see the path before them. They
<v Speaker 1>just had to walk it. But turmoil was just around
<v Speaker 1>the corner.
<v Speaker 10>She was going to be a doctor she was going
<v Speaker 10>to for several years. She was studying and everything, and
<v Speaker 10>there were people and.
<v Speaker 3>He was a loser.
<v Speaker 10>I mean, he couldn't keep any job that he could get,
<v Speaker 10>maybe because of his drug abuse. He was suppressed and
<v Speaker 10>he lost every job. As quickly as see got this job.
<v Speaker 1>Mark found himself trapped in a cycle of self loathing.
<v Speaker 1>He'd fuck up at work for one reason or another,
<v Speaker 1>get fired, and fall into a deep depression. And these
<v Speaker 1>bouts of depression would last a while, then like a
<v Speaker 1>swing of a pendulum, Mark would rebound, get another job
<v Speaker 1>and always right with the world again, at least in
<v Speaker 1>his eyes. The cycle continued until one day Mark spun
<v Speaker 1>out of control. Adrian was about one year old and
<v Speaker 1>they were living in Miami Gardens. This incident would change everything.
<v Speaker 3>And her parents were here.
<v Speaker 10>They were visiting Anastasia, and they were visiting them like
<v Speaker 10>to see the child.
<v Speaker 3>I think he was.
<v Speaker 10>High, he was under something. He didn't look like he
<v Speaker 10>was a cypercal Mark. When he's sobered and he started
<v Speaker 10>yelling at the parents. He studied his mom monastagious. Mom
<v Speaker 10>said something, but he missed into because he doesn't speak English,
<v Speaker 10>and she says something in Russian, but he misinterpreted and
<v Speaker 10>thought that was something in.
<v Speaker 3>English, right, and it was something like bad about him.
<v Speaker 10>So he started yelling at her parents and Anastasia trying
<v Speaker 10>to defend the parents, but he got angry with her
<v Speaker 10>and he attacked her. He pushed it on the bed
<v Speaker 10>and tried to strangle her.
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia was trying to diffuse the misunderstanding between her husband
<v Speaker 1>and parents, but Mark lost it, grabbed Anastasia and threw
<v Speaker 1>her on the bed. He straddled her body and wrapped
<v Speaker 1>both hands around her throat. Her stepfather had to pull
<v Speaker 1>him off. Anastasia and her parents grabbed one year old Adrian,
<v Speaker 1>hid with the neighbors and called the police. Anastasia was frightened.
<v Speaker 1>Mark had never acted so violently before. She didn't know
<v Speaker 1>what to think or what to do. Of course, the
<v Speaker 1>police didn't either.
<v Speaker 3>So after this incident, the parents left.
<v Speaker 10>The husband spoke to her. I mean he was begging
<v Speaker 10>to take him back. He said, it's not going out
<v Speaker 10>happen again. And I mean she did take him back.
<v Speaker 10>I mean, I mean she was a very vulnerable.
<v Speaker 3>Steed, she was without work, she was a student, she
<v Speaker 3>had a child. I mean, so I don't know.
<v Speaker 10>She probably believed that he can change, but after some
<v Speaker 10>period of sim it looked like he stopped.
<v Speaker 3>Or she convinced him to star.
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia knew she couldn't raise Adrian and go to school
<v Speaker 1>on her own, so she convinced herself that this was
<v Speaker 1>a one time thing and Mark could change. After Anastesia
<v Speaker 1>took him back, Mark seemed to turn his life around.
<v Speaker 1>He really put in the effort to be a better
<v Speaker 1>man for his family. He stopped his illicit drug use,
<v Speaker 1>got another job, and actually seemed happy.
<v Speaker 2>Mark was doing okays, just controlling his medication, and he
<v Speaker 2>was working at the Renaissance. He was exercising, he was
<v Speaker 2>mentally feeling good about himself.
<v Speaker 1>And things were okay for a while. All the while
<v Speaker 1>and the stage I kept working towards her degree. By
<v Speaker 1>the time Adrian turned six, they lived in an apartment
<v Speaker 1>across the street from Grandma Barb. Then something happened, something
<v Speaker 1>that would be the catalyst for change in their relationship.
<v Speaker 7>The downfalls started after they got evicted.
<v Speaker 2>It lovest prados I found out after wishing that when
<v Speaker 2>they moved in with me, that the reason they were evicted,
<v Speaker 2>and it lost Paudus Apartments in December.
<v Speaker 3>Is because she took out some money from this Mark Tony.
<v Speaker 7>She took out some money from the student loan.
<v Speaker 2>And gambled it so they didn't have enough money for rent.
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia liked to gamble. It was the only thing she
<v Speaker 1>did for fun. She spent the rest of her time
<v Speaker 1>studying and being a mom. So every once in a
<v Speaker 1>while she would blow off some steam at the casino.
<v Speaker 1>It's just that she rarely won, so things.
<v Speaker 2>Started going down hill. I cours I lived across the street.
<v Speaker 2>He was really upset that she did that. He was
<v Speaker 2>ready upset having to move in with me and and.
<v Speaker 3>He blamed her.
<v Speaker 1>Mark resented Anastasia for what she did. He turned his
<v Speaker 1>life around for her. Now he was forty two years old,
<v Speaker 1>and he relied on his mother for a place to live.
<v Speaker 1>Makes you feel like a real loser when you get
<v Speaker 1>divorced and have to move back in with mom. As
<v Speaker 1>an adult male, it can really do a number on
<v Speaker 1>your self confidence if you're not careful. Mark felt that
<v Speaker 1>he should have more to show for his life life.
<v Speaker 1>Being where he was in life, he felt like he
<v Speaker 1>was right back where he had started Anastasia's life was
<v Speaker 1>moving forward with lightning speed, while his life was standing still,
<v Speaker 1>and it was all her fault, but he tried his
<v Speaker 1>best to move past it. In March twenty eighteen, Anastasia
<v Speaker 1>became a naturalized citizen, a milestone she had been waiting
<v Speaker 1>on for years. She was now a full fledged citizen
<v Speaker 1>of the United States and only a month away from
<v Speaker 1>becoming a doctor. Anastasia could not have been happier. She
<v Speaker 1>was so close to the goal she'd worked so hard
<v Speaker 1>to achieve, and she wanted to celebrate.
<v Speaker 2>He was working in for Advice, okay, and he got
<v Speaker 2>offered management job there and I said, that's.
<v Speaker 3>Great, Mark.
<v Speaker 7>I mean they must really like you and have confidence.
<v Speaker 3>And manage it.
<v Speaker 2>So that month was okay, and she was supposed to
<v Speaker 2>have her gradual party at the Vice.
<v Speaker 3>And he was going to get a discount.
<v Speaker 1>Dude, okay, Well the discount fell through. If you ask
<v Speaker 1>Grandma Barb, she'll say Mark quit. But the truth is
<v Speaker 1>he was fired. Mark was caught skimming. Skimming is a
<v Speaker 1>childish scam of patting the check so the customer pays more,
<v Speaker 1>essentially giving the scammer a larger tip. In Mark's case,
<v Speaker 1>he was pocketing vouchers for espresso. He would apply the
<v Speaker 1>coupon to the customer's bill after they paid. He'd make
<v Speaker 1>like ten bucks each time. He got caught when upper
<v Speaker 1>management noticed the vouchers being used, when they knew that
<v Speaker 1>the espresso machine was broken. Oops. Mark was busted and
<v Speaker 1>it ruined Anastasia's graduation party plans, all for again ten dollars.
<v Speaker 1>At a time, the tension between the two was higher
<v Speaker 1>than ever. I mean, what a fucking loser.
<v Speaker 2>So anyway, so that was a disappointment, you know, that
<v Speaker 2>was that was a big argument. She was very upset
<v Speaker 2>with him with that fact that that didn't work out.
<v Speaker 2>So now it hasn't been working since. So the friction
<v Speaker 2>i mean got worse then because she didn't want to
<v Speaker 2>talk to him.
<v Speaker 3>She was upset he wasn't going to talk to her.
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia was pissed. She didn't ask Mark for much, but
<v Speaker 1>when she did, she was routinely disappointed. Mounting tensions at
<v Speaker 1>home couldn't have come at a worse time. Anastasia was
<v Speaker 1>days away from graduation and tried to remain focused. Mark
<v Speaker 1>two tried to play the role of dutiful husband, but
<v Speaker 1>the rift between them was already too great. As her
<v Speaker 1>graduation day approached, she couldn't have been more excited. But
<v Speaker 1>when the day came, she didn't seem to want to
<v Speaker 1>share it with Mark or Grandma barp I.
<v Speaker 10>Saw that the husband was very angry with her because
<v Speaker 10>she didn't want to hold his hand.
<v Speaker 6>She was.
<v Speaker 10>Like, shouldn't want him to be there, but he wanted
<v Speaker 10>to be there. He felt like he's being rejected. He
<v Speaker 10>wanted her attention, and he was giving her like a
<v Speaker 10>very hard time.
<v Speaker 3>He was insulting her.
<v Speaker 10>Basically. I mean, he brought her to tears. And that
<v Speaker 10>was a special day.
<v Speaker 1>It was Anastasia's special day. She spent the better part
<v Speaker 1>of a decade working towards that day. But Mark couldn't
<v Speaker 1>help but want to share in his wife's success. After all,
<v Speaker 1>they were partners. He'd helped her get to where she was.
<v Speaker 1>Her success was their success. Yeah, yeah, that's it. In fact,
<v Speaker 1>it was his his success. It was it was Mark Mark.
<v Speaker 1>Mark had done it all. I mean, he'd you know,
<v Speaker 1>kept the going. Anastesia couldn't have done anything if it
<v Speaker 1>hadn't been for Mark.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>Needless to say, Anastasia didn't see it that way Anastasia
<v Speaker 1>her success was despite Mark.
<v Speaker 2>He would want to come up and kiss her huger
<v Speaker 2>and she would shove him away. Her girlfriends were there,
<v Speaker 2>and she completely ignored Mark.
<v Speaker 3>She said she didn't like him.
<v Speaker 2>They would touch her and she was disappointed in him.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, Mark felt rejected. I mean, I could
<v Speaker 2>see that she didn't want them.
<v Speaker 1>That day, surrounded by all their graduating doctors, Anastasia was
<v Speaker 1>embarrassed by her unaccomplished husband. She had a vision for
<v Speaker 1>the rest of her life that didn't include Mark. Mark
<v Speaker 1>was confused and angry. This wasn't part of their plan.
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia's graduation was supposed to be the start of the
<v Speaker 1>rest of their lives together, but it wasn't shaping up
<v Speaker 1>that way. Anastasia shunned Mark in front of her friends
<v Speaker 1>and his mother. Of course, Mark pitched a fit. He
<v Speaker 1>disappeared with the car, leaving Anastasia crying. When he returned
<v Speaker 1>an hour later, he gave Anastasia the keys and told
<v Speaker 1>her he was walking home. His manipulative attempt at guilting
<v Speaker 1>her worked. She and her friends picked him up and
<v Speaker 1>took him with them to celebrate.
<v Speaker 10>Was going to Harroka mean to have like some lunch
<v Speaker 10>and maybe like celebrate. She got afraid, and she said
<v Speaker 10>that if you're not going to pick him up and
<v Speaker 10>take him with us, I don't know what.
<v Speaker 3>He's going to do to me in the house when
<v Speaker 3>I'm going to be back.
<v Speaker 1>But Mark couldn't let go of Anastasia's disrespect towards him,
<v Speaker 1>and she was very aggressive.
<v Speaker 10>He was screaming on hey, yelling, and he was very agitated,
<v Speaker 10>and he was very angry.
<v Speaker 3>I mean even I was scared of him.
<v Speaker 1>The argument continued and grew until Mark finally saw only
<v Speaker 1>one path forward.
<v Speaker 10>He was the one who started the conversation. Maybe we
<v Speaker 10>should get divorced, he started, He started, and she was
<v Speaker 10>happy that he was the one who started the conversation.
<v Speaker 3>But again from what I heard from the parents, he
<v Speaker 3>took his words back.
<v Speaker 10>Several days later, he changed his mind, but she didn't
<v Speaker 10>want to like change, I mean, she was determined to
<v Speaker 10>get divorced.
<v Speaker 1>Anastagia was secretly thrilled Mark brought up divorce first, and
<v Speaker 1>she intended the file. Even that he changed his mind.
<v Speaker 1>There was just one little issue, Adrian.
<v Speaker 10>Her main concern was that she had a child she
<v Speaker 10>was supposed to start working at the hospital.
<v Speaker 3>The schedule at the hospital is very specific.
<v Speaker 10>You have to be there early and I mean you're
<v Speaker 10>finished very late. So she was very concerned. Who is
<v Speaker 10>going to be taking the kids to school and pick
<v Speaker 10>the kid back from school.
<v Speaker 3>So she was trying to maintain the friendly relationship with
<v Speaker 3>the in law and maybe with the husband so that they.
<v Speaker 10>In the future, even though she's going to divorce him
<v Speaker 10>and moral they still can try and help her, like
<v Speaker 10>in some.
<v Speaker 1>Way, maybe Anastasia was about to embark on a successful
<v Speaker 1>career as a doctor. She wanted to ditch the dead
<v Speaker 1>weight of an unaccomplished husband, but she needed his help
<v Speaker 1>for the sake of their son. The long hours that
<v Speaker 1>the job demanded conflicted with Adrian's school schedule, So Anastasia
<v Speaker 1>tried to maintain a good relationship with Mark and his mom.
<v Speaker 1>It just wasn't easy.
<v Speaker 2>After graduation, she was like, Okay, I don't need you anymore.
<v Speaker 3>Attitude my friends.
<v Speaker 2>I talked to it and said she's going to dub
<v Speaker 2>him after she she doesn't need him anymore. I mean
<v Speaker 2>that's and that was the way his thinking was. But
<v Speaker 2>I could tell that they were going for them further apart.
<v Speaker 1>Mark knew that Anastasia was preparing to move out. She
<v Speaker 1>told him as much, but he refused to accept it. Instead,
<v Speaker 1>he would pick fights, usually about money, and often very petty.
<v Speaker 1>Living in a place he didn't want to be with
<v Speaker 1>a wife who clearly didn't love him was wearing on him,
<v Speaker 1>and his mental state was starting to deteriorate.
<v Speaker 2>They would fight a lot, and because you know, she
<v Speaker 2>was a real screamer, she could be a drama queen
<v Speaker 2>and she would provoke him and then they you know,
<v Speaker 2>get into like a war zone. They were toxic for
<v Speaker 2>each other, and Mark said he was feeling like he
<v Speaker 2>was being used.
<v Speaker 1>Mark felt like he was being used because after nine
<v Speaker 1>years of marriage, he was about to have jack shit
<v Speaker 1>to show for it. He was a broke, forty two
<v Speaker 1>year old, bipolar, unemployed man living with his elderly mother.
<v Speaker 1>He had no career prospects in his life was about
<v Speaker 1>to divorce him. So definitely the kind of guy that
<v Speaker 1>they give out popularity trophies too. After everything he did
<v Speaker 1>for her, this is the things that he got. He
<v Speaker 1>felt like he was owed something, you know, because like.
<v Speaker 10>In the recent months there was police called to her
<v Speaker 10>house many times, and she told me a lot about
<v Speaker 10>all the situations. During one of the situations, she was
<v Speaker 10>hiding in the closet because he was pursuing her in
<v Speaker 10>the house. There was one point in time, the recent time,
<v Speaker 10>when Aastasia had so I stand on her knees.
<v Speaker 3>And beg him not to touch her because I mean
<v Speaker 3>he was raising her.
<v Speaker 7>Arm and I was so embarrassed. But they hadn't such
<v Speaker 7>a flight.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, she would prove all camp because they hated
<v Speaker 2>each other and they knew they were getting a divorce.
<v Speaker 3>I can tell they both wanted out.
<v Speaker 1>Three times the police had to respond to that home.
<v Speaker 1>One time Mark was put on psychiatric hold. The most
<v Speaker 1>recent time, Mark was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant.
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia couldn't have been more thrilled.
<v Speaker 3>Ash Station was relieved. Yeah, and she thought.
<v Speaker 2>She asked her friend who's a lawyer, and it said
<v Speaker 2>because Mike has a bad track record, and that he
<v Speaker 2>was going to be until December thirteenth.
<v Speaker 3>Then she was like relieved.
<v Speaker 2>She said, well, maybe six months in jail, we'll give him.
<v Speaker 2>He'll get straightened down and get his head together. So
<v Speaker 2>she was relieved, and I was like, oh God.
<v Speaker 1>No, we're fighting, and I had read the release date
<v Speaker 1>on the Sheriff's office website, but it was inaccurate. The
<v Speaker 1>outstanding warrant was for unpaid child support. Oh yeah, Mark
<v Speaker 1>had another son many years earlier. By this time, the
<v Speaker 1>kid was a full grown eighteen year old man. Anyway,
<v Speaker 1>all Mark had to do was sign a promisory note
<v Speaker 1>saying he would pay back the child support, and he
<v Speaker 1>was released.
<v Speaker 7>Anyway, he comes out.
<v Speaker 3>On course, he's.
<v Speaker 2>Even more furious because you know, he's thinking, you know,
<v Speaker 2>she's ruined my life.
<v Speaker 7>I had my track lead it, I'll ever get another job.
<v Speaker 3>You know, he's really really depressed.
<v Speaker 7>You didn't care about anything.
<v Speaker 1>With Mark's return, Anastasia's fear grew. His erratic behavior and
<v Speaker 1>outbursts of anger were getting more frequent and more unpredictable.
<v Speaker 1>She was frankly afraid of him.
<v Speaker 2>A couple of days ago, I said, well, of my
<v Speaker 2>own knives, and she says, I have him hidden under
<v Speaker 2>the bed.
<v Speaker 7>Didn't she just say I'm afraid of him, or she's
<v Speaker 7>afraid of him because he you can tell that he
<v Speaker 7>hated her.
<v Speaker 1>And just when Anastasia thought it couldn't get any worse,
<v Speaker 1>Mark found text messages between her and another man.
<v Speaker 3>So you're saying Mark saw the text messages.
<v Speaker 10>Yeah, he saw some of the text messages, but they
<v Speaker 10>were very neutral. There was nothing romantic or nothing. One
<v Speaker 10>of the text messages said that my husband was arrested again.
<v Speaker 3>Online. It says that the release date is December something
<v Speaker 3>like that. Well, it's good.
<v Speaker 10>Because I'm going to have like enough time to move
<v Speaker 10>out and she's not going to like prevent me from
<v Speaker 10>doing it. Well, I don't think he thought that there
<v Speaker 10>was an affair, but the fact that maybe she was
<v Speaker 10>communicating with another man and they were talking.
<v Speaker 3>About their relationship living. I mean, he kind of knew
<v Speaker 3>that she was living. In fact, it's going to happen.
<v Speaker 1>The text messages, of course, infuriated Mark. There was no
<v Speaker 1>way he could be in denial. Now the proof of
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia's betrayal was in writing right before his eyes. He
<v Speaker 1>accused her of having an affair, the ultimate betrayal. She
<v Speaker 1>tried to explain it was just a work colleague, but
<v Speaker 1>Mark wasn't buying it. Needless to say, Mark's anger sent
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia's fear and anxiety through the roof.
<v Speaker 10>So yeah, she would normally lock herself in the room,
<v Speaker 10>especially like during the night the last couple of weeks,
<v Speaker 10>so maybe a week that he asked her not mark.
<v Speaker 10>Mark asked to not to lock the door. That he
<v Speaker 10>convinced her that he would sleep on the kid's back.
<v Speaker 10>He was like he was pressing. He was trying to
<v Speaker 10>convince her that he's not going to give any trouble
<v Speaker 10>to her. And I don't know why watch she locked
<v Speaker 10>the door.
<v Speaker 1>Despite her fear, Anastasia unlocked the door and allowed Mark
<v Speaker 1>to sleep in the room. She was just tired of
<v Speaker 1>arguing and gave in. She would be gone soon anyway,
<v Speaker 1>after her first paycheck. She would have a place of
<v Speaker 1>her own. Besides, she never thought he was capable of
<v Speaker 1>well anything really, but certainly not hurting her while she
<v Speaker 1>slept next to their son.
<v Speaker 10>She always thought that he's a coward. He's not capable
<v Speaker 10>of like doing it in cold blood. She never thought
<v Speaker 10>that she would. I mean, he would do it when
<v Speaker 10>she's asleep, or like the child is actually next to her.
<v Speaker 3>I mean she was like she was mistaken.
<v Speaker 1>I mean she was mistaken. You know how they say
<v Speaker 1>hindsight is twenty twenty, well after Anastasia's untimely death, the
<v Speaker 1>events of the days proceeding took on a whole new
<v Speaker 1>ominous overtone.
<v Speaker 2>The night where Mark was pacing in the room and
<v Speaker 2>staring at her while she was sleeping, and she said
<v Speaker 2>that was kind of freaky.
<v Speaker 3>She just turned over.
<v Speaker 10>She woke up in the middle of the night and
<v Speaker 10>she saw him standing by her bad looking at her
<v Speaker 10>so ada, and she asked him, why are you here
<v Speaker 10>looking at me? And he said that I cannot.
<v Speaker 2>I can sleeping, you know, because he hasn't been sleeping.
<v Speaker 2>And she said, that's kind of strange. He's been staring there,
<v Speaker 2>watching him sleep, and now I think he must have
<v Speaker 2>been planning it.
<v Speaker 1>Two nights earlier, Mark was pacing and watching Anastasia's sleep.
<v Speaker 1>At the time it was weird, but now it's downright scary.
<v Speaker 1>The next night, Grandma Barb also noticed some strange behavior
<v Speaker 1>from Mark.
<v Speaker 2>So I didn't notice something strange, and she mentioned that too.
<v Speaker 2>He's making me nervous and pacing, walking back and forth
<v Speaker 2>them like something's going through.
<v Speaker 1>His mind, and I was like, uh, well, Adrian was
<v Speaker 1>sitting on the couch watching SpongeBob. Mark was in the background, pacing,
<v Speaker 1>contemplating the murder of his wife. When the movie was over,
<v Speaker 1>Adrian took his sleep gummy and crawled into bed with
<v Speaker 1>his father. My Barb went to sleep. Around midnight, Mark
<v Speaker 1>Herder shut the bedroom door. He lay there in the
<v Speaker 1>room with his family, but he didn't sleep. His mind
<v Speaker 1>was racing through every little wrong Anastasia had ever committed
<v Speaker 1>against him. He played out his future without her, no house,
<v Speaker 1>no wife, no kid, no family, no life. With everything gone,
<v Speaker 1>he had nothing to lose. His mind was unraveling.
<v Speaker 2>And then all of a sudden, Mark opens the door
<v Speaker 2>and he says, I killed Anastasia, like look what I did?
<v Speaker 2>And Isa, oh my god, and he says, come here,
<v Speaker 2>look look I killed her, and he grabbed her arms
<v Speaker 2>at see like that. Well no, no, no, she was
<v Speaker 2>already on the floor, but I mean he just wanted
<v Speaker 2>kind of turn her hand this way to see.
<v Speaker 3>That she was dead.
<v Speaker 1>At four a m. Mark burst into his mother's room
<v Speaker 1>and told her what he'd done. He'd killed Anastasia. By
<v Speaker 1>this time, Adrian was awake, probably rubbing the sleep from
<v Speaker 1>his eyes as he witnessed his father dragging his mother's
<v Speaker 1>limp body out of bed and down the hall.
<v Speaker 7>He says, I want to call the police. I'm going
<v Speaker 7>to jail.
<v Speaker 8>You.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's like he had a plant.
<v Speaker 2>And it said like he has no life, yeah, his
<v Speaker 2>problems remember, And he was like, I'm proud to look
<v Speaker 2>what I did.
<v Speaker 1>After Mark told his mother what he did, he dragged
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia further down the hall and into the living room.
<v Speaker 1>Barb didn't hesitate for a moment.
<v Speaker 2>Aden is in the room and I.
<v Speaker 7>The first thing I thought about was say Adrian, and I.
<v Speaker 2>Read the room and I got at Amrien, let's just
<v Speaker 2>go in the bathroom, and Abrim likes his I saw
<v Speaker 2>blood and oh god.
<v Speaker 1>Grandma Barb took Adrian to the bathroom and locked the door.
<v Speaker 1>She wasn't sure what he had already seen, but she
<v Speaker 1>didn't want him to see anything else. She was also
<v Speaker 1>afraid of Mark. She clearly didn't know what he was
<v Speaker 1>capable of.
<v Speaker 6>Please one side just kills his life. Please frame sim yes,
<v Speaker 6>I don't know with the nine yes right now, I am.
<v Speaker 1>If you missed it. In the background, you can hear
<v Speaker 1>Mark asking for the phone, that cordial and calm voice
<v Speaker 1>at the end saying hi, Yes, that was Mark. His
<v Speaker 1>voice sounds so much like his mother's that the operator
<v Speaker 1>didn't even realize he was on the call.
<v Speaker 6>But I don't want my son killed my wife.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, where is he right now?
<v Speaker 9>A grown a floor from the blanket over?
<v Speaker 7>My son is in the bathroom for my mother.
<v Speaker 3>Do you know how long it has happened?
<v Speaker 11>I just killed her?
<v Speaker 2>Play?
<v Speaker 3>But does he still have the knife right now?
<v Speaker 7>No?
<v Speaker 1>I hit it with a hammer.
<v Speaker 7>I'm sorry, you're the one who did this?
<v Speaker 3>Or yes, I killed her.
<v Speaker 1>Mark was calm and matter of fact. His demeanor wasn't
<v Speaker 1>what you'd expect from a man who just murdered his wife.
<v Speaker 1>He almost sounded relieved.
<v Speaker 3>And you don't have the knife?
<v Speaker 7>Were on you anymore?
<v Speaker 12>I did not have a knife.
<v Speaker 6>I killed her with an okay, sorry, okay, right.
<v Speaker 3>You're dead, up the blood and everything.
<v Speaker 9>I don't want my son to see you hold your son?
<v Speaker 3>Seven? I go bad.
<v Speaker 9>But is there a reason that you did this?
<v Speaker 6>If you're going to leave me?
<v Speaker 2>Okay, are you feeling any thoughts yourself of hurting yourself
<v Speaker 2>at all?
<v Speaker 3>Now?
<v Speaker 12>If some arrest me, the rest of my life and
<v Speaker 12>jail so I'll never see him again.
<v Speaker 6>Let me say by the Adrian st Let me say,
<v Speaker 6>by the Adrian, what are you talking to my mom?
<v Speaker 1>You're anything?
<v Speaker 6>I love you, okay, I love you. Okay.
<v Speaker 3>Where is he? Huh?
<v Speaker 7>Why are you going?
<v Speaker 4>Dad?
<v Speaker 6>Dad?
<v Speaker 7>He's going to jail?
<v Speaker 12>I love you?
<v Speaker 9>Are you?
<v Speaker 6>And the arri.
<v Speaker 1>Mark said goodbye to his son and walked outside. Officers
<v Speaker 1>arrived for the fourth time in as many months and
<v Speaker 1>arrested Mark without incident.
<v Speaker 6>I'm here, I'm here, no reason for why, yes, sir.
<v Speaker 1>When detectives got around to interviewing Mark, it was around
<v Speaker 1>eight am. The orange glow from the street lights in
<v Speaker 1>the parking lot had since been replaced by the early
<v Speaker 1>morning sun picking over trees in the east. Inside. Mark's
<v Speaker 1>at calmly as he didn't have a care in the world,
<v Speaker 1>but his deep set eyes stared forward with a terrifying intensity.
<v Speaker 13>I was looking at her, and I was just thinking,
<v Speaker 13>she's so evil.
<v Speaker 3>Why do you think she's evil? Mark?
<v Speaker 9>Because she turned, she lied to me. She proved heart, what.
<v Speaker 12>You were supposed to be with each other forever, you
<v Speaker 12>were supposed to move in the apartment. She's backstet me,
<v Speaker 12>betrayed me. I seemed like she guessed she had to
<v Speaker 12>plan the whole time, and she.
<v Speaker 9>Ended up using me. I guess you know, you know
<v Speaker 9>it was hurtful.
<v Speaker 12>How could she do that to me on the day
<v Speaker 12>she graduates. I'm just a very unstable person. I just
<v Speaker 12>flipped from one place to another, you know, I just
<v Speaker 12>I can't control my emotions. It's hard being bipolar because
<v Speaker 12>your emotions go this.
<v Speaker 9>Way and it goes that way. And like, you know,
<v Speaker 9>I'm good, I'm good, I'm bad, I'm bad. I'm good,
<v Speaker 9>I'm good, I'm bad, I'm bad. But I know I'm
<v Speaker 9>absolutely freaking out. It's because as I am, What did
<v Speaker 9>you use? I used to hammer. I didn't want to
<v Speaker 9>do it when I freely didn't.
<v Speaker 3>That's just.
<v Speaker 2>Said.
<v Speaker 9>It's the voices. I do it, do it, do it,
<v Speaker 9>do it?
<v Speaker 12>And I'd walk up, put the hammer and closs your
<v Speaker 12>head and I'd walk away and close my eyes, and
<v Speaker 12>I just did it.
<v Speaker 3>Why the hammer though.
<v Speaker 9>I didn't. I hate knife. I don't do it with
<v Speaker 9>a knife.
<v Speaker 7>Okay, was there anything special about it or anyan?
<v Speaker 9>No, dang, it was spontaneous. I hate knife. I don't
<v Speaker 9>want her to scream in front of my kid.
<v Speaker 3>I don't want to see her at meaning my kid
<v Speaker 3>back to death.
<v Speaker 14>You hit somebody in the head with the fucking hammer,
<v Speaker 14>they're out that's it.
<v Speaker 9>You're out. You get somebody in the head with the
<v Speaker 9>baseball bat, They're out.
<v Speaker 1>That night, as Anastasia and Adrian slap it, Mark got
<v Speaker 1>a hammer from his mother's toolkit. It was old and
<v Speaker 1>missing one of its claws in the back. Mark held
<v Speaker 1>the hammer inches from Anastasia's head, his mind in conflict
<v Speaker 1>with itself. Do it, don't do it?
<v Speaker 4>Do it?
<v Speaker 8>Don't do it? Do it, don't do it, don't do it,
<v Speaker 8>do it, do it, don't do it, don't do it,
<v Speaker 8>do it, don't don't do it, don't do it. Don't
<v Speaker 8>do it.
<v Speaker 1>Don't do it. Don't don't do it.
<v Speaker 8>Do it, don't do it, don't do it, do it,
<v Speaker 8>don't do it?
<v Speaker 6>Do it?
<v Speaker 8>Do it.
<v Speaker 1>He tried to work up the courage to kill her,
<v Speaker 1>but his mind kept backing him out of it each time.
<v Speaker 1>Then suddenly he swung. Anastasia's skull cracked open like the
<v Speaker 1>shell of an egg.
<v Speaker 11>I know she's gonna die because I see the gashes
<v Speaker 11>in the blood in her head.
<v Speaker 12>I can see like a piece of brain sticking out
<v Speaker 12>and shit.
<v Speaker 9>So you know, she made noise, and like Adrians, she snoring,
<v Speaker 9>turn around and go back to sleep and I pulled
<v Speaker 9>her out very quickly.
<v Speaker 12>I remember pulling her out very quickly, and then I
<v Speaker 12>had to shrinkly or to put her out.
<v Speaker 9>Of her misery.
<v Speaker 1>When Mark grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her
<v Speaker 1>from bed, a trail of blood was left behind from
<v Speaker 1>the gaping hole in her head. He stopped for a
<v Speaker 1>moment to show his mother what he did, and then
<v Speaker 1>continued to the living room. Then he wrapped an electrical
<v Speaker 1>cord around her neck and finished her off.
<v Speaker 9>And I did it very quick. I did it very quick,
<v Speaker 9>and I was very slick. And I said something to her,
<v Speaker 9>but I'd rather not say it.
<v Speaker 12>Okay, I'll say it because I'm the fuck I'm going
<v Speaker 12>to lecterature it was, I said, you tore my heart up,
<v Speaker 12>you de tried our family.
<v Speaker 5>So was this sole media?
<v Speaker 1>Mark was ricocheting between manic explanation and crippling sadness, to
<v Speaker 1>the point where he could barely talk. Even though he
<v Speaker 1>was crying, his words showed no remorse. He didn't feel
<v Speaker 1>guilty about killing Anastasia or traumatizing Adrian for life. He
<v Speaker 1>confessed to what he did, but his explanation of why
<v Speaker 1>would show just how twisted his mind had become a
<v Speaker 1>nightmarish scene unfolded in the early morning hours of June
<v Speaker 1>twenty eighth, twenty eighteen. Seven year old Adrian's innocent mind
<v Speaker 1>tried to rationalize the horror, believing his mother simply had
<v Speaker 1>a booboo and that his father was just trying to
<v Speaker 1>help her. Anastasia was an immigrant who moved to this country,
<v Speaker 1>learned English, and pursued her dream of becoming a doctor.
<v Speaker 1>Mark troubled since youth, struggled with his mental health and
<v Speaker 1>addiction into adulthood, but tried to provide for Anastasia an Adrian.
<v Speaker 1>But after Anastasia's graduation, everything changed. She acted as if
<v Speaker 1>she didn't need him anymore, but she was just really
<v Speaker 1>fed up with all of his failures. Mark saw this
<v Speaker 1>as a betrayal. In the following weeks, his mental health
<v Speaker 1>started to unravel. The paranoia took over.
<v Speaker 11>I mean, basically, I supported her for ten years.
<v Speaker 9>Once she went to medical school, and.
<v Speaker 11>You know, and you know, paid all the bills and everything,
<v Speaker 11>you know, and then you know, once the last of
<v Speaker 11>my job or anything, things started to get very sour.
<v Speaker 11>And then she ended up graduating school. She was, you know,
<v Speaker 11>she became a doctor.
<v Speaker 1>Mark is sitting across from the detective, looking tired and
<v Speaker 1>speaking softly. His life with Anastasia had fallen apart, and
<v Speaker 1>he feels like she destroyed it completely. He's trying to
<v Speaker 1>explain how everything unraveled, and his voice shakes as he does.
<v Speaker 12>The day that she graduated, she didn't come up hug
<v Speaker 12>or kiss me or anything. She went directly to her friend.
<v Speaker 12>She completely ignored me and blew me off.
<v Speaker 11>And I was just heartbroken by that because we were so close,
<v Speaker 11>Like she's like, I don't want you anymore, You're stupid,
<v Speaker 11>You're idiot, Like she would always undermine me and everything
<v Speaker 11>I just don't want. I was like completely blindsided by
<v Speaker 11>you know, I was destroyed.
<v Speaker 9>It was hurt, you know.
<v Speaker 1>Mark expected gratitude on Anastasia's graduation day, a sign that
<v Speaker 1>all of his sacrifices were appreciated. Instead, in his eyes,
<v Speaker 1>she betrayed him when she walked past him with her
<v Speaker 1>success in hand. That moment was the final straw. The
<v Speaker 1>deep love they once shared had curdled into jealousy and resentment.
<v Speaker 1>Mark admits that something inside him was breaking slowly steadily.
<v Speaker 1>He couldn't control it. He paced in the dark dwelling
<v Speaker 1>on her perceived betrayal. His mental state, already fragile from
<v Speaker 1>years of bipolar swings, was unraveling faster than he could grasp.
<v Speaker 12>I just the last few days of been pacing, I
<v Speaker 12>came concentrate.
<v Speaker 9>I have the devil inside my head, you know, like
<v Speaker 9>I'm just just like killer, killer, Killer.
<v Speaker 3>She's gonna leave you.
<v Speaker 9>I don't want her to leave me. I love her.
<v Speaker 9>I'd rather have her dead than than her leave me.
<v Speaker 1>The admission comes out slowly, the weight of his words
<v Speaker 1>heavy in the room. Mark's mental state shifts between love
<v Speaker 1>and violence, need and control. In his fractured mind, killing
<v Speaker 1>her was the only way to keep her. If he
<v Speaker 1>couldn't have her, no one would. We all know how
<v Speaker 1>it goes.
<v Speaker 4>You know.
<v Speaker 15>She I looked at her phone and she's talking to
<v Speaker 15>another guy and she's cheating on me. Gosh, she's like sweetie,
<v Speaker 15>and you know all that, you know all I'm blushing,
<v Speaker 15>you know what I mean.
<v Speaker 1>So then when you write the text messages and I
<v Speaker 1>just want.
<v Speaker 3>To understand, and you.
<v Speaker 11>Felt sad, But what else did you feel when you
<v Speaker 11>saw her saying sweetie?
<v Speaker 12>Oh? I felt angry, okay, and just voices in my head,
<v Speaker 12>it's son and son, so and so.
<v Speaker 1>Mark's jealousy boiled over. In reality, there was no affair,
<v Speaker 1>but Mark's mind twisted the truth, turning innocent texts into
<v Speaker 1>evidence of infidelity. Or maybe it's because he can't read
<v Speaker 1>that well. Either way, he couldn't control his emotions anymore.
<v Speaker 1>The voices in his head grew louder, more relentless, until
<v Speaker 1>they drowned out everything else.
<v Speaker 12>I see a lot of black I see a lot
<v Speaker 12>of shadows that I see.
<v Speaker 9>It's coming towards me. I see black cruise. That is
<v Speaker 9>all I wanted. It was just a family. That's all
<v Speaker 9>I wanted, Like forts old, I don't know in set
<v Speaker 9>a family, that's all I wanted. So mean to me,
<v Speaker 9>it's just so mean to me.
<v Speaker 12>She can't have a family with me, She cannot have
<v Speaker 12>a family with anybody else.
<v Speaker 9>And now it's it.
<v Speaker 1>Mark's confession teeters between self pity and delusion. He blames
<v Speaker 1>his mental illness, claiming to see shadows and black crows,
<v Speaker 1>Yet he can't admit that his possessiveness and fear destroyed
<v Speaker 1>everything he wanted, a family, stability, love, everything.
<v Speaker 3>She betrayed me.
<v Speaker 13>You don't sit there with somebody for eleven years, married
<v Speaker 13>for nine years, have a child and a family, only
<v Speaker 13>support her.
<v Speaker 12>I supported her so proud of her every time. That's
<v Speaker 12>take to everyone. Was going to be a doctor. She
<v Speaker 12>had a beautiful future. But that beautiful future was supposed
<v Speaker 12>to be with me.
<v Speaker 1>The pain in his voice is real, but twisted by possessiveness.
<v Speaker 1>Mark didn't see Anastasia as an independent woman, as an equal. Instead,
<v Speaker 1>he saw her as a part of himself, a token,
<v Speaker 1>a status symbol, and now that part was leaving him.
<v Speaker 1>Her betrayal wasn't just personal, it was the destruction of
<v Speaker 1>his identity. Without her, he was nothing.
<v Speaker 6>You know.
<v Speaker 3>The Prinsan did warn her.
<v Speaker 2>I mean she she was very afraid of him, and
<v Speaker 2>you know, she should have left him a long time ago.
<v Speaker 10>We tried to persuade her to move out of the house,
<v Speaker 10>and we said, why don't you divorce him.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, we're gonna help you. We're gonna, like people
<v Speaker 3>work together, We're going to help you.
<v Speaker 10>And she would say that I'm scared because I brought
<v Speaker 10>this issue up several times, and he always told me,
<v Speaker 10>if you want to divorce me, you'll see what's going
<v Speaker 10>to happen.
<v Speaker 7>You know, if somebody helping you pay through college is
<v Speaker 7>not worth the trauma or the hell you go through.
<v Speaker 7>I don't know why she was so desperate.
<v Speaker 1>It sounds like he's.
<v Speaker 3>She lives and she.
<v Speaker 7>So that's that was and then and then she didn't
<v Speaker 7>need him anymore.
<v Speaker 3>Well, she got her citizenship.
<v Speaker 4>She's pretty much good to go.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, from the outside, it was clear to everyone Anastasia
<v Speaker 1>could have left Mark long ago, but she stayed. She
<v Speaker 1>needed Mark, but she didn't realize how much he needed her.
<v Speaker 10>I think that he just couldn't accept the fact that
<v Speaker 10>she's going to be a successful ball to she's gonna
<v Speaker 10>move out of that house, and she's gonna leave him
<v Speaker 10>to live his miserable life with his mom. Because he
<v Speaker 10>knew he's gonna have no future, he has no job,
<v Speaker 10>he had criminal history, and he just couldn't let it happen.
<v Speaker 3>I killed her. I killed her.
<v Speaker 14>That's it, that's it. There's nothing afterwards. I deserve to
<v Speaker 14>go to the penitentiary. You know, the hardest motherfuckers on earth,
<v Speaker 14>a bright bitch of shit out of me rate me,
<v Speaker 14>but I deserve that. I don't give a fuck. You know,
<v Speaker 14>you read what you sold.
<v Speaker 1>You know there's a strange acceptance. In Mark's words, he's
<v Speaker 1>resigned to his fate, knowing the only thing left for
<v Speaker 1>him is punishment. Yet even now he feels justified, as
<v Speaker 1>if Anastasia's betrayal warranted the murder. The conversation shifts to Adrian,
<v Speaker 1>the other victim of his actions. Mark, despite his confessions,
<v Speaker 1>doesn't fully comprehend and what he's done to his Son's
<v Speaker 1>a bathroom.
<v Speaker 3>I want to say to my Sonny, Adrian, I love you.
<v Speaker 9>I gotta go, And he said, Daddy, where are you going?
<v Speaker 12>Like, you know, he doesn't know what he doesn't know
<v Speaker 12>it being you know, he didn't.
<v Speaker 3>Know what happened.
<v Speaker 9>You know you? Yeah, I'm like, I love you. I
<v Speaker 9>love you too, Daddy, Bye bye. That's the last timer
<v Speaker 9>I've see.
<v Speaker 1>He's convinced that Adrian doesn't understand and that he didn't see,
<v Speaker 1>But he did. He saw everything. The house they all
<v Speaker 1>shared wasn't that big. When Mark dragged Anastasia's body from
<v Speaker 1>the bedroom to the living room, he was only five
<v Speaker 1>feet away. Adrian had to step over his dead mother
<v Speaker 1>to get to Grandma Barb's bathroom. How could he not
<v Speaker 1>see everything? Anastasia's body lay right there I's vacant with
<v Speaker 1>an extension chord wrapped around her neck.
<v Speaker 3>You don't think your son didn't see this? You honestly
<v Speaker 3>think that.
<v Speaker 6>I know so.
<v Speaker 11>Oh you don't know so because your son's blocking stuff
<v Speaker 11>out and what the trauma that's gonna he's going to
<v Speaker 11>go through the rest of his life.
<v Speaker 3>I know, I understand.
<v Speaker 9>I don't think very guilty about that. I don't think
<v Speaker 9>you feel guilty about that.
<v Speaker 3>I did.
<v Speaker 12>I think right now you're kind of you can cooperative
<v Speaker 12>up to this point, which is very good because you're
<v Speaker 12>being honest.
<v Speaker 3>I'm here about the facts, but my main thing is
<v Speaker 3>is the respect for your son. I love my son
<v Speaker 3>very much. If you love your son that much, then
<v Speaker 3>I'm trying to understand that.
<v Speaker 1>How do you equate of love versus what you just
<v Speaker 1>put your son through?
<v Speaker 3>He didn't see that much.
<v Speaker 1>Mark can't face the truth. The trauma will stay with
<v Speaker 1>Adrian forever, but Mark is too far gone to accept it.
<v Speaker 1>He loves his son, but his actions have destroyed any
<v Speaker 1>chance at normalcy.
<v Speaker 9>Oh, I want to tell you that. Oh God, that
<v Speaker 9>feels so so bad for my son. I feel horrible
<v Speaker 9>that I committed this crime.
<v Speaker 3>I did not.
<v Speaker 9>Want her to destroy my family. She rips apart my heart,
<v Speaker 9>but I'm the one that destroyed it. Kill me.
<v Speaker 1>Sir Mark's greatest fear that his family would fall apart
<v Speaker 1>became a reality, but not because of Anastasia. He destroyed
<v Speaker 1>it himself. He did a good job ensuring that Adrian
<v Speaker 1>would grow up without either parent present. Mark didn't get
<v Speaker 1>the death penalty, he was sentenced to life in prison
<v Speaker 1>her first degree premeditated murder for the death of his wife.
<v Speaker 1>Adrian was left in the custody of Grandma Barb until
<v Speaker 1>twenty nineteen, when Anastasia's parents adopted him and took him
<v Speaker 1>back to Belarus. Grandma Barb passed away from natural causes
<v Speaker 1>on February ninth, twenty twenty four, at the age of ninety.
<v Speaker 1>Mark and Anastasia's relationship was built on a strong foundation.
<v Speaker 1>As Anastasia became more independent and needed Mark less, he
<v Speaker 1>felt like he was losing his purpose when he lost
<v Speaker 1>his job and saw Anastasia succeed. He couldn't see a
<v Speaker 1>future with her and made a drastic decision, driven by
<v Speaker 1>fear and resentment. He felt that losing her meant losing
<v Speaker 1>everything that defined him, leaving him with nothing to lose.
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't love, It was toxic dependency that led to
<v Speaker 1>Anastasia's death. It blurred the lines between love, control, and possession.
<v Speaker 1>Mark believed it would hold them together, but it ultimately
<v Speaker 1>tore them apart, leaving devastation that even Adrian couldn't escape.
<v Speaker 1>Adrian witnessed his mother's murder and was caught in the
<v Speaker 1>crossfire of his parent's toxic relationship, leaving invisible scars that
<v Speaker 1>may never heal. He may never fully understand why his
<v Speaker 1>father did what he did. Carry the weight of that
<v Speaker 1>night with him forever. Every memory of his parents, once
<v Speaker 1>tied to love and safety, will be shadowed by violence
<v Speaker 1>and loss. The childhood innocence that allowed him to rationalize
<v Speaker 1>his mother's booboo is gone, replaced by a reality far
<v Speaker 1>too heavy for a child to bear. As he grows older,
<v Speaker 1>the ripple effects of that night will likely shape his relationships,
<v Speaker 1>his sense of trust, and his understanding of love, forcing
<v Speaker 1>him to navigate life haunted by the actions of those
<v Speaker 1>who were supposed to protect him the most. That story
<v Speaker 1>was written by our senior producer, Evan Ziegelman. If you
<v Speaker 1>like it, you'll find a whole lot more like it
<v Speaker 1>at swordanscale dot com.