Episode 300

<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>Yes, is there did anybody retort a house on Fower
<v Speaker 3>and powers away?
<v Speaker 4>They did, They're on their way.
<v Speaker 5>Okay, do you know if anyone got out, everyone got
<v Speaker 5>out or.
<v Speaker 6>You don't know.
<v Speaker 7>I don't know.
<v Speaker 8>It's episode. Are you picturing a battalion of three hundred
<v Speaker 8>Greece stuff Roman warriors and loincloths violently charging the Persian
<v Speaker 8>armies frontline swords erect? It's just me sorry to disappoint.
<v Speaker 8>That was gayer than true crime obsessed and no, Karen,
<v Speaker 8>that's not a slur, it's literal. Jesus PC culture has
<v Speaker 8>to die already anyway. Welcome to the meaningless call out
<v Speaker 8>of a number that doesn't really matter and affects nothing
<v Speaker 8>at all. This is our three hundredth episode of Sort
<v Speaker 8>in Scale. I still don't know why you people listen
<v Speaker 8>to tragedy for entertainment, but here we are enjoy. About
<v Speaker 8>seventy five miles south of Cleveland, Ohio, one of my
<v Speaker 8>favorite places, near the eastern edge of place called Youngstown,
<v Speaker 8>lies a quiet residential street called Power's Way on most days,
<v Speaker 8>this street is as ordinaries any suburban road. Lawns are mode,
<v Speaker 8>families are gathering for backyard barbecues, and kids are zipping
<v Speaker 8>up and down the street on their bikes. It's a
<v Speaker 8>typical middle class American neighborhood, picturesque, something out of the
<v Speaker 8>Hallmark Channel, a peaceful place where crime rarely makes an appearance.
<v Speaker 8>But in the early hours of March thirtieth, twenty fifteen,
<v Speaker 8>at around three point thirty am, to be precise, something
<v Speaker 8>jolted the entire neighborhood awake. It shattered the usual calm,
<v Speaker 8>and this something thing was far from typical. This something
<v Speaker 8>was criminal.
<v Speaker 9>Ytown one, Oh, I live on miles away.
<v Speaker 4>One of the house is two houses down, blue off.
<v Speaker 6>I don't know if anybody outside.
<v Speaker 5>I'm right by it right now. I don't I don't
<v Speaker 5>know if I outside.
<v Speaker 10>Okay, we'll send them out. Okay, So, but somebody does live.
<v Speaker 5>There, Yeah, somebody doesn't live there, Okay, I got the people.
<v Speaker 4>Were right next door out of the house, all right, we'll.
<v Speaker 10>Send them out.
<v Speaker 8>A massive explosion ripped through the night, shaking the entire neighborhood.
<v Speaker 8>Residents of Powers Way sprang up from their beds, quickly
<v Speaker 8>realizing that a nearby two story house was engulfed in flames.
<v Speaker 10>Nextown is on one.
<v Speaker 9>There's a fire on powers of the right house.
<v Speaker 11>Point piece.
<v Speaker 12>The house is going a real good.
<v Speaker 10>He occupying structures.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, there's the houses burners.
<v Speaker 10>Okay, you out, ma'm am across the street or every
<v Speaker 10>where you're running. Okay, get over there.
<v Speaker 6>It's right here, right on, right here.
<v Speaker 8>Yeah, we got that.
<v Speaker 10>Okay, block Okay.
<v Speaker 8>The fire raged out of control, and onlookers quickly understood
<v Speaker 8>the grim reality if anyone was still inside, I mean,
<v Speaker 8>their chances of survival were next to none.
<v Speaker 6>Down no one.
<v Speaker 9>Yes, we have an explorision over here.
<v Speaker 10>Yeah, we got fire trucks on the way. Do you
<v Speaker 10>know if anybody's still in the house.
<v Speaker 9>Oh my god, hello, pardon, I don't know.
<v Speaker 10>You don't know. Okay, we have fire trucks on the way. Okay.
<v Speaker 6>Did you see anybody leaving the area?
<v Speaker 12>All right?
<v Speaker 9>This place?
<v Speaker 10>Oh my god, Okay, the trucks are on the way.
<v Speaker 10>Did you see anybody in leaving the area?
<v Speaker 5>No, I just go out work and see anybody.
<v Speaker 8>Phone calls flooded the nine to one one dispatch center,
<v Speaker 8>and it wasn't long before dispatchers learned a troubling detail
<v Speaker 8>about the two homeowners. They both had a disability.
<v Speaker 9>And then when one would be your emergency, my neighbor's
<v Speaker 9>house is on fire and their death the pardoning.
<v Speaker 13>The neighbors have his own fire and what and they're.
<v Speaker 9>Dead and they're death, Yes.
<v Speaker 14>Okay, they're on their way.
<v Speaker 13>Are they home home?
<v Speaker 15>I don't know.
<v Speaker 10>Nobody's outside, but it's a big fire and there's an explosion,
<v Speaker 10>I mean our windows explosion.
<v Speaker 9>On our house.
<v Speaker 8>The homeowners were death, and for the neighbors who knew
<v Speaker 8>them well, what they were witnessing was both unimaginable and heartbreaking.
<v Speaker 13>Oh my god.
<v Speaker 10>Starting they go through fright, did the fire are on
<v Speaker 10>the way?
<v Speaker 9>Do you know if the people got out of the house.
<v Speaker 10>I don't know if they were over they're both dead.
<v Speaker 9>Go through freight case the structurally.
<v Speaker 10>Did you see anybody leaving the area?
<v Speaker 16>I see, I see him corner.
<v Speaker 10>Okay, there's the fire trucks and the ambulances are on
<v Speaker 10>the way. Okay.
<v Speaker 8>When firefighters arrived on scene, they immediately began fighting the flames.
<v Speaker 8>Soon after, several police officers arrived as well and began
<v Speaker 8>working to identify the homeowners. They did this by running
<v Speaker 8>the license plates on the cars parked in the driveway.
<v Speaker 10>All the rules are coming back to William E.
<v Speaker 6>Schmidt.
<v Speaker 7>William E.
<v Speaker 10>Schmidt three six three one powers away.
<v Speaker 8>The police confirmed that the home belonged to sixty three
<v Speaker 8>year old Bill Schmidt and his wife, sixty year old
<v Speaker 8>Judy Schmidt. The couple married in nineteen seventy four, the
<v Speaker 8>year of my birth got them old, and by all accounts,
<v Speaker 8>it was a loving marriage. Bill and Judy were the
<v Speaker 8>perfect match and nobody ever doubted that they would be
<v Speaker 8>together forever. Despite being deaf, both Bill and Judy led
<v Speaker 8>full in active lives. Bill was an outdoorsman who spent
<v Speaker 8>time hunting and fishing. He also enjoyed road trips on
<v Speaker 8>his Harley Davidson and was known locally as the grill Master.
<v Speaker 8>That's a cool title. When Bill fired up his barbecue pit,
<v Speaker 8>anyone lucky enough to be in the vicinity knew that
<v Speaker 8>they were about to enjoy one hell of a meal.
<v Speaker 8>As for Judy, she was a typical quilt maker who
<v Speaker 8>loved board games. She was especially social and had a
<v Speaker 8>wide circle of friends. Known for her warmth, Judy had
<v Speaker 8>a maternal touch that led many friends young and old
<v Speaker 8>to think of her as a second mom. With the
<v Speaker 8>homeowners identified, police ran a background check on an address,
<v Speaker 8>looking for any recent reports of incidents at the property,
<v Speaker 8>and as it turned out, there had been a few.
<v Speaker 9>If we have any uh we do.
<v Speaker 10>The last call is in February and it was a
<v Speaker 10>thirty one year old daughter that was missing since September,
<v Speaker 10>and then before that the next closed in September of
<v Speaker 10>twenty fourteen. It's about the daughter menacing her parents.
<v Speaker 6>About the daughter, guarantee you.
<v Speaker 8>Bill and Judy had three adult children, two of whom
<v Speaker 8>were also deaf. What are the chances their third child,
<v Speaker 8>thirty one year old Lynn Schmidt, was not Police reports
<v Speaker 8>indicated that there had been ongoing issues with Lynn. Allegedly
<v Speaker 8>she hit, harassed her parents, and then a few months
<v Speaker 8>later she disappeared, prompting Bill and Judy to report her missing.
<v Speaker 8>As police gathered all this info, firefighters pressed on working
<v Speaker 8>to fully extinguish the blaze. As they made their way
<v Speaker 8>through the charred home, they uncovered something that brought an
<v Speaker 8>Ohio prosecutor into the investigation.
<v Speaker 9>So my name is John Cantalomesa. In twenty fifteen. I
<v Speaker 9>was a Chief Trial Council for the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office.
<v Speaker 9>On Monday, March thirty of twenty fifteen, at approximately three
<v Speaker 9>thirty six am, the Youngstown nine one one senter received
<v Speaker 9>a call for a residential fire at three sixty three
<v Speaker 9>one Powers Way in the city of Youngstown in Ohio.
<v Speaker 15>The Youngstown Fire Department.
<v Speaker 9>While attempting to extinguish the fire to discover the bodies
<v Speaker 9>of two adults in the house.
<v Speaker 8>Inside the home, firefighters discovered the bodies of Bill and
<v Speaker 8>Judy Schmidt. The couple was found dead in their bedroom.
<v Speaker 8>Right away, firefighters suspected foul play. It was clear this
<v Speaker 8>fire was no accident. Bill and Judy were victims of arson, so.
<v Speaker 9>It didn't take long for the Youngstown Fire Department to
<v Speaker 9>determined was arson fire. They're pretty excute a determining whether
<v Speaker 9>something's accidental or arson, and in this piece, all the
<v Speaker 9>firefighters described as smelling the scent of gasoline upon entering
<v Speaker 9>the fire, and they knew right away that this was
<v Speaker 9>an arson.
<v Speaker 8>The firefighters smelled the unmistakable scent of gasoline, then they
<v Speaker 8>spotted the two gas cans tucked just out of sight
<v Speaker 8>near the back of the house. One had a plastic
<v Speaker 8>glove jammed into its neck. Whoever did this had soaked
<v Speaker 8>the inside of the house, drenching the walls and floors
<v Speaker 8>with gas while Bill and Judy lay sleeping.
<v Speaker 2>What a monster.
<v Speaker 8>Then after flicking a flame, the killer fled, leaving behind
<v Speaker 8>burning destruction and death. Later that morning, the arson investigation
<v Speaker 8>led detectives to a nearby Walgreens. Strangely, one of their
<v Speaker 8>leads involved the purchase of some makeup.
<v Speaker 4>And where do you work at Walgreens?
<v Speaker 14>In which store? The store? And at one time was
<v Speaker 14>that store at twenty four hour store? Yes, I'm going.
<v Speaker 17>To ask you about a gentleman that came in to
<v Speaker 17>buy some makeup.
<v Speaker 14>Can you tell me about this?
<v Speaker 12>What was early in the morning, and it was just
<v Speaker 12>me and Michael because we were the overnight.
<v Speaker 18>Shift, and he told me that a guy needed some
<v Speaker 18>helping on some makeup over in asle one.
<v Speaker 12>So I walk over there and he would He told
<v Speaker 12>me that he had a jury thing to go to
<v Speaker 12>this morning, and that night he took out his trash
<v Speaker 12>and something exploded in.
<v Speaker 18>His trash, which is why his face was all burned.
<v Speaker 18>So he wanted some stuff to kind of cover it
<v Speaker 18>up because he didn't want to look like a freak
<v Speaker 18>to the other jury is what he said.
<v Speaker 12>After we picked out like the foundation, he wanted something
<v Speaker 12>for his eyebrows because they had burned off, so.
<v Speaker 18>He wanted to know if there was like an eyebrow pencil.
<v Speaker 8>This Walgreens employee recalled a man who had come into
<v Speaker 8>her store that morning asking about makeup. Something about him
<v Speaker 8>seemed m off. He was dressed in a suit, but
<v Speaker 8>he wore a baseball cap pulled low over his face.
<v Speaker 8>A strange combination, maybe something you would see on Sports Center,
<v Speaker 8>but not a typical ense, you know, especially at Walgreens.
<v Speaker 8>The man nervously explained that he had jury duty in
<v Speaker 8>a few hours he needed makeup to cover up the
<v Speaker 8>bright red flashburns on his face. He also asked for
<v Speaker 8>eyebrow pencils, as his own eyebrows had been burned clean off. Yes,
<v Speaker 8>I know this story sounds familiar, but believe it or not,
<v Speaker 8>it's not the same story we told a few weeks ago.
<v Speaker 8>Apparently there's a lot of idiots out there starting fires. Anyway,
<v Speaker 8>This idiot's story was that he had some garbage that
<v Speaker 8>blew up in his face.
<v Speaker 18>So his trash explained, that's what he said.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah.
<v Speaker 14>Did he say where this trash was?
<v Speaker 18>He said at his house.
<v Speaker 14>Okay, So you see this guy, what does he look like?
<v Speaker 18>Well, he's not much taller than me. He's probably about
<v Speaker 18>maybe four inches hoaller than I am, maybe like five
<v Speaker 18>eight five nine. Okay, he's pretty asky bold.
<v Speaker 14>Was he a white guy, black guy? His panic mill white?
<v Speaker 18>Yeah?
<v Speaker 14>How old would you say he was?
<v Speaker 18>I'd probably say maybe thirty eight to forty.
<v Speaker 14>Do you remember what makeup that he bought?
<v Speaker 18>Yeah, he bought.
<v Speaker 12>I talked him into a maybe leat bebe cream because
<v Speaker 12>that's what I use, Okay, And then he.
<v Speaker 18>Bought mable even brow pencils. I know those two for sure.
<v Speaker 8>Early in the investigation, detectives found themselves with two solid leads,
<v Speaker 8>the strange man buying makeup at Walgreens and the mysterious
<v Speaker 8>absence of Bill and Judy's daughter Lynn Schmidt. But as
<v Speaker 8>the case unfolded, they would discover everything, every motive, and
<v Speaker 8>every twisted, sordid, disgusting detail centered around an unlikely person,
<v Speaker 8>a ten year old named Corn Gump. On the morning
<v Speaker 8>of March thirtieth, twenty fifteen, seen a Youngstown, Ohio home
<v Speaker 8>exploded into a raging inferno. Firefighters successfully extinguished the flames
<v Speaker 8>and found that the homeowners, sixty three year old Bill
<v Speaker 8>Schmidt and his wife, sixty year old Judy Schmidt, were dead.
<v Speaker 8>The married couple had been murdered. They were victims of arson.
<v Speaker 8>This double homicide sent detectives on a long, winding road.
<v Speaker 8>Eventually that path led them to a ten year old girl.
<v Speaker 8>Her name was corn Gump.
<v Speaker 7>So can you give me your name?
<v Speaker 6>Kearn?
<v Speaker 7>Okay?
<v Speaker 18>What's your last name?
<v Speaker 7>Gump? When is your birthday?
<v Speaker 19>January thirty first?
<v Speaker 6>First?
<v Speaker 9>Okay?
<v Speaker 19>And how are you nine years old?
<v Speaker 6>Nine? Okay?
<v Speaker 7>So which pools do you go to? South Range? So
<v Speaker 7>Frage would read you in third?
<v Speaker 18>Third grade?
<v Speaker 6>You like third grade?
<v Speaker 7>What's your favorite subject?
<v Speaker 6>We're reading?
<v Speaker 20>Reading?
<v Speaker 18>Can read it all?
<v Speaker 19>Sometimes?
<v Speaker 7>You what kind of books you read?
<v Speaker 19>Dad, kid, princess books, animal books.
<v Speaker 8>At the time of this interview, Couren was living with
<v Speaker 8>her grandparents, but for much of her life she had
<v Speaker 8>lived with her mom, her younger half sister, and her
<v Speaker 8>mom's boyfriend.
<v Speaker 7>Okay, who did you use to live before.
<v Speaker 19>My mom? Eva me? And then my mom was played?
<v Speaker 7>Okay, what's his name, Junior Junior? Is that his real
<v Speaker 7>name or does he have a different name?
<v Speaker 19>Well, his real name is Robert Robert.
<v Speaker 7>Okay, do you know do you know how old you
<v Speaker 7>were when you moved into his house?
<v Speaker 19>Maybe four or five?
<v Speaker 7>Okay, guess when you moved in Okay.
<v Speaker 8>Coran's mom's boyfriend was forty six year old Robert Andrew
<v Speaker 8>Seaman Junior. He was mostly known by the nickname Junior,
<v Speaker 8>Robert or Bob or Junior, whatever you want to call.
<v Speaker 8>This guy earned a study and more than decent income
<v Speaker 8>by working on an assembly line at General Motors.
<v Speaker 9>Robert Saman was working at a factory, a local factory
<v Speaker 9>we believe it the GM at the time, and he
<v Speaker 9>was living in Canfield with his girlfriend, his biological daughter,
<v Speaker 9>and then his girlfriends a daughter from a previous marriage.
<v Speaker 8>Robert's girlfriend's daughter was Coryn Gump, the ten year old,
<v Speaker 8>and according to Korin, Robert didn't keep his hands or
<v Speaker 8>penis to himself. Fair warning, We're about to get into
<v Speaker 8>some pretty graphic stuff involving children and sexual assault. And
<v Speaker 8>I know that a lot of you subscribe to true
<v Speaker 8>crime podcasts and for some reason can't hear that kind
<v Speaker 8>of stuff, Well, you might want to turn it off
<v Speaker 8>and go listen to some crime junkie instead. If you
<v Speaker 8>can't stomach this sort of thing, then Sword and Scale
<v Speaker 8>may not be for you.
<v Speaker 14>Anyway.
<v Speaker 8>That's enough warning, because we already have the trigger warning
<v Speaker 8>labels on every episode and all that, so you need
<v Speaker 8>more than that. I don't know what to tell you.
<v Speaker 8>Here we go.
<v Speaker 7>What is it that happened with Junior?
<v Speaker 19>He made me?
<v Speaker 9>All right?
<v Speaker 7>So when you said that the junior touched that Junior
<v Speaker 7>raped you, what do you mean by that? What did
<v Speaker 7>he do?
<v Speaker 9>Well?
<v Speaker 19>He made me stuck his bribe bit okay, and he
<v Speaker 19>did it.
<v Speaker 6>To me Okay?
<v Speaker 7>When he when he made you suck his private Where
<v Speaker 7>did this happen.
<v Speaker 19>At in the living room, in the bedroom, their bedroom
<v Speaker 19>or upstairs in my room?
<v Speaker 7>Okay?
<v Speaker 14>Do you remember?
<v Speaker 7>What do you use?
<v Speaker 4>Just started at.
<v Speaker 7>Four?
<v Speaker 19>Five five?
<v Speaker 7>Okay.
<v Speaker 8>In March of twenty fourteen, when Corinne was just nine
<v Speaker 8>years old, she sat in the police interview room. She
<v Speaker 8>used crayons to color on paper. She described how her
<v Speaker 8>mom's boyfriend, Robert Seaman Jr. Repeatedly sexually assaulted her for years.
<v Speaker 7>Did he so he did put his penis in your mouth?
<v Speaker 19>M h okay?
<v Speaker 7>And what what would happen?
<v Speaker 19>He would try to pee in my mouth?
<v Speaker 7>Okay? Did he pee in your mouth one time?
<v Speaker 6>One time?
<v Speaker 4>And what did he say?
<v Speaker 5>Uh?
<v Speaker 19>To swallow it, but of course I did not. Did
<v Speaker 19>you do sweat to spit it out?
<v Speaker 7>Do he know you spit it out?
<v Speaker 19>Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>Yeah?
<v Speaker 7>What did he say?
<v Speaker 19>He said you were supposed to swallow and not spit
<v Speaker 19>it out?
<v Speaker 7>How many times would you say this happened between you
<v Speaker 7>don't know what you say?
<v Speaker 19>Times?
<v Speaker 7>A lot of times, so more than one time?
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 8>Robert Seaman was a monster who forced his girlfriend's daughter
<v Speaker 8>to give him oral sex. Yes, I know it's actually rape,
<v Speaker 8>but we have to describe things so the audience understands
<v Speaker 8>what we're saying. According to Koren, this happened countless times,
<v Speaker 8>and throughout the years things only escalated. To say the least,
<v Speaker 8>what Robert did to Koren was depraved, evil and disgusting.
<v Speaker 8>But you shouldn't need a podcaster to tell you that.
<v Speaker 19>Would climb on top mm hmm okay and kiss me?
<v Speaker 9>Okay?
<v Speaker 7>Where would he kiss you at lips?
<v Speaker 2>Okay?
<v Speaker 7>Would he ask you to pull your pants?
<v Speaker 6>Down.
<v Speaker 7>Yeah, yeah, and then what would he say.
<v Speaker 18>Or what would he do next?
<v Speaker 7>Uh?
<v Speaker 19>Could us that it?
<v Speaker 7>Okay? Would you say anything to do you when he
<v Speaker 7>was doing that?
<v Speaker 5>No?
<v Speaker 9>No?
<v Speaker 7>Do you ever touch you on your boobs? Yes? Yeah,
<v Speaker 7>we're on top of your clothing and read your clothes
<v Speaker 7>and dumblings different?
<v Speaker 9>Okay?
<v Speaker 7>Did he ever did he ever put his penis on
<v Speaker 7>your lulu?
<v Speaker 6>Yes?
<v Speaker 7>Yes? Were your clothes on or off or something different? Off?
<v Speaker 7>And what did he do to it?
<v Speaker 19>Like push me back into it onto him?
<v Speaker 7>Did he put his ps in your bis?
<v Speaker 2>One time?
<v Speaker 8>Koran claimed that between the ages of four and nine,
<v Speaker 8>Robert Siemen had repeatedly sexually assaulted her. Anyway, As it
<v Speaker 8>is often the case in these situations, there was no
<v Speaker 8>evidence to confirm or back up these accusations against Robert.
<v Speaker 8>Even so, the detectives and prosecutors believed Koran. They actually
<v Speaker 8>usually do. And it's a rare instance where women aren't believed.
<v Speaker 8>But you know, tell yourselves whatever you'll want. I tend
<v Speaker 8>to believe a rape victim unless they've lied over and
<v Speaker 8>over and over again in the past, and so should you. Anyway,
<v Speaker 8>I believe her. Judge for yourself.
<v Speaker 15>Well, obviously, She's nine at the time, there was no other.
<v Speaker 9>Evidence other than her statement, but her description of the
<v Speaker 9>assaults and every time.
<v Speaker 15>That something would happen was very compelling.
<v Speaker 9>You know, she had details that a nine year old
<v Speaker 9>shouldn't know.
<v Speaker 8>After Coorin disclosed and described the years of abuse that
<v Speaker 8>she endured, Robert Seaman was arrested and charged with multiple felonies,
<v Speaker 8>which included the sexual assault of a minor, one of
<v Speaker 8>the worst possible crimes you can commit, definitely in the
<v Speaker 8>top three. At his arraignment, Robert pled not guilty.
<v Speaker 9>He was given a very high bond in comparison to
<v Speaker 9>a lot of cases, two hundred and fifty thousand cash
<v Speaker 9>or surety, meaning.
<v Speaker 15>He either to post two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
<v Speaker 9>In cash or get a surety like a bondsman to
<v Speaker 9>come in and vouch for him and saying they would
<v Speaker 9>post if he ran.
<v Speaker 8>Within days of the arraignment, prosecutors were shocked to find
<v Speaker 8>out that Robert had managed to post bond somehow. What
<v Speaker 8>is it with these judges anyway, this predator was now
<v Speaker 8>free to harm other children, but at least he was
<v Speaker 8>given strict conditions, you know, because I'm sure, he'll pay
<v Speaker 8>attention to those since he follows the law and stuff.
<v Speaker 9>As a condition of that bond, he was to be
<v Speaker 9>placed on an ankle monitor that was GPS enabled, and
<v Speaker 9>that he was told he was on house arrest, he
<v Speaker 9>couldn't have any contact with a victim or her family.
<v Speaker 8>Unsurprisingly, Robert violated his bond conditions soon after his release
<v Speaker 8>by having contact with Korn's mom. What was unexpected was
<v Speaker 8>that Robert hadn't initiated this contact. Karin's mother had reached
<v Speaker 8>out to him. And here is a critical detail. Oren's
<v Speaker 8>mom was Lynn Schmidt, remember her, the non death child
<v Speaker 8>of Bill and Judy Schmidt.
<v Speaker 11>So, like the last time I spoke with you, you
<v Speaker 11>hadn't had any contact with Robert. But we had some
<v Speaker 11>concerns from what we had heard that he believed you
<v Speaker 11>were going to recant, and that was that was why
<v Speaker 11>we came to talk to you, just to find out
<v Speaker 11>if there was any basis for that and what your
<v Speaker 11>intentions were in terms of in terms of the criminal
<v Speaker 11>case against Robert.
<v Speaker 8>During the course of their investigation, the detectives working to
<v Speaker 8>put Robert behind bars came across something deeply unsettling. They
<v Speaker 8>discovered that Lynn might actually testify on Robert's behalf. It
<v Speaker 8>appeared she was prepared to take the stand and claim
<v Speaker 8>her daughter had lied about the sexual assault.
<v Speaker 11>Did he contact you from there?
<v Speaker 20>Then?
<v Speaker 8>Now?
<v Speaker 7>I asserved him because.
<v Speaker 15>I knew, right, So how how often did you.
<v Speaker 2>See him there?
<v Speaker 7>I found? I mean I've been there.
<v Speaker 14>I mean, I don't know how many.
<v Speaker 15>Times would've been in there. I just know, you know
<v Speaker 15>when why join why are you going?
<v Speaker 9>Because I want him to think that you know nobody
<v Speaker 9>like nobody else.
<v Speaker 7>I mean, I know other.
<v Speaker 11>People know you know what I mean, But I just
<v Speaker 11>want you want him to trust you.
<v Speaker 8>When detectives questioned Lynn about her ongoing contact with Robert,
<v Speaker 8>her answers were evasive. She claims she was scared of Robert,
<v Speaker 8>fearing he might retaliate against her, her parents, or even
<v Speaker 8>core In, and that's staying in touch with him was
<v Speaker 8>her way of keeping him in line. Sure, Lynn, Sure, Sure, yeah.
<v Speaker 6>I know.
<v Speaker 11>I'm concerned about your parents house too, because of their
<v Speaker 11>their their hard of hearing, right, their lack of hearing.
<v Speaker 11>I don't necessarily believe that he has the news and
<v Speaker 11>even the stomach or the will to to actually do that.
<v Speaker 11>And I you know I want to believe, I obviously
<v Speaker 11>that you're afraid of it. I feel that he knows
<v Speaker 11>full well how to make you this afraid and how
<v Speaker 11>to make you do his wishes in order to get
<v Speaker 11>out of his current predicament. As she's advising you, you
<v Speaker 11>need to remove yourself from being anywhere near him or
<v Speaker 11>having any contact with him.
<v Speaker 8>Despite the warnings to keep away, Lynn ignored this advice. Instead,
<v Speaker 8>she went further. She moved back into Robert's house, bringing
<v Speaker 8>along get this, her younger daughter Ava. It was only
<v Speaker 8>four at the time. It appeared that Lynn had turned
<v Speaker 8>her back on her daughter core In in favor of
<v Speaker 8>the attention and affection that she was getting from Karen's rapist.
<v Speaker 9>We don't know why Karen's mom went back to Robert
<v Speaker 9>Semen after the rape allegations came.
<v Speaker 6>Out in March of twenty fourteen.
<v Speaker 15>She was never able to give us a.
<v Speaker 9>Straight answer as why she went back with Robert.
<v Speaker 15>She her and she took her youngest who was also
<v Speaker 15>the biological child of Robert Semen.
<v Speaker 9>Ave back to the house and lived with him.
<v Speaker 8>It's weird. All these smart people don't know why she
<v Speaker 8>went back, but I do.
<v Speaker 10>I do.
<v Speaker 8>It's dick say it with me. Dick Lynn was now
<v Speaker 8>living with Robert, while her daughter Karen had moved in
<v Speaker 8>with her grandparents because Robert kept raping her and her
<v Speaker 8>grandparents were the murder victims Bill and Judy Schmidt. For
<v Speaker 8>a while, everything seemed calm, but then, on the eve
<v Speaker 8>of Roberts trial for sexual assault, guess what happens? You
<v Speaker 8>want to guess, I'll give you a couple of minutes. Okay, Okay,
<v Speaker 8>here we.
<v Speaker 5>Go, Youngtown nine on what is your emergency?
<v Speaker 15>Yes?
<v Speaker 9>There?
<v Speaker 10>Did anybody record a house on fire and powers away?
<v Speaker 5>They did? Man, and they're on their way.
<v Speaker 12>Okay, okay, thank you.
<v Speaker 4>Okay did you know?
<v Speaker 5>Did you know if anyone got out, everyone got out
<v Speaker 5>or you don't know? I don't know here, okay, all right,
<v Speaker 5>we're getting them down there, thank you very much.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 20>By three am, Monday, March thirtieth, an explosion and fire
<v Speaker 20>at thirty six thirty one Powers Way.
<v Speaker 1>Fire broke out from the bottom of the basement just hush.
<v Speaker 8>Just hours before Robert's trial was set to begin, Bill
<v Speaker 8>and Judy's house exploded and the subsequent flames engulfed their home,
<v Speaker 8>killing them.
<v Speaker 9>The fireman and the fire. Marshall's investigators why that would be,
<v Speaker 9>Why would they hear an explosion? And they said, from
<v Speaker 9>our evidence, we know he went in with those gas
<v Speaker 9>cans and went to the landing of the basement stairs,
<v Speaker 9>and we believe he poured the gas over the.
<v Speaker 15>Side of the stairs down into the landing.
<v Speaker 9>He then must have taken those two gas cans back
<v Speaker 9>outside and set them alongside the door, figuring he'll grab
<v Speaker 9>him on the way to his car, and he goes
<v Speaker 9>back in with the lighter. And when he goes back
<v Speaker 9>in and even just flicks that lighter because that gas,
<v Speaker 9>all those fumes had been building up. Now while he
<v Speaker 9>poured the gas. The investigators and the forensic scientists that
<v Speaker 9>we talked to tuck, what just him flicking that lighter
<v Speaker 9>can ignite still those fumes in the air, and that's
<v Speaker 9>why he hit that flash fern on his face, and
<v Speaker 9>they hear is.
<v Speaker 15>Essentially an explosion from the fire.
<v Speaker 9>Now it also might have exploded like bigger ones that
<v Speaker 9>hits like the house's gas line.
<v Speaker 8>The explosion and fire claimed the lives of Bill and
<v Speaker 8>Judy Schmidt, but tragically they weren't the only victims.
<v Speaker 20>Within a few hours, we know the three people in
<v Speaker 20>the house, ten year old Karn Gump and her grandparents,
<v Speaker 20>Bill and Judy Schmidt, had died in the fire.
<v Speaker 8>And saw them carry maybe ill. Bill and Judy were
<v Speaker 8>not the intended targets of this arson attack, Mark Breakingley,
<v Speaker 8>They were simply collateral damage. Robert's true aim was to
<v Speaker 8>silence his young victim, and he succeeded. When firefighters sifted
<v Speaker 8>through the ash and rubble, they found the bodies of Bill, Judy,
<v Speaker 8>and a small girl. Ten year old Corn Gump was dead.
<v Speaker 8>On March thirtieth, twenty fifteen, an arson fire claimed the
<v Speaker 8>lives of three people in Youngstown, Ohio, ten year old
<v Speaker 8>Koran Gump and her grandparents, Bill and Judy Schmidt before
<v Speaker 8>the flames even had time to fully die out. Some
<v Speaker 8>of Korn's family members had their suspicions about who was
<v Speaker 8>responsible for this horrific crime.
<v Speaker 1>Karin's grandma on her dad's side, thinks this fire was
<v Speaker 1>no mistake.
<v Speaker 2>He was wicked here with evil.
<v Speaker 1>She thinks this man had something to do with it.
<v Speaker 1>Robert's accused of sexual assaulting Corinne. The trial was supposed
<v Speaker 1>to start today. On literally the eve of trial, hours
<v Speaker 1>before this trial was supposed to begin. This victim dies
<v Speaker 1>in a fire.
<v Speaker 8>That's say morning the sexual assault trial against Robert Seaman
<v Speaker 8>was scheduled to begin, and Mahoning County Prosecutor Don Cantala
<v Speaker 8>Mesa was prepared to go forward. Strangely enough, it seemed
<v Speaker 8>that Robert was ready to proceed as well.
<v Speaker 15>It was probably eight thirty nine o'clock in the morning that.
<v Speaker 6>Morning, and he was.
<v Speaker 9>All dressed ready for his trial. And then the judge
<v Speaker 9>ordered the records.
<v Speaker 6>From his GPS.
<v Speaker 9>Bracelet to be backed to the court so that she
<v Speaker 9>could review where that GPS bracelet that he went. We
<v Speaker 9>were able to then see from those records that they immediately.
<v Speaker 15>Fast that before coming to court that morning.
<v Speaker 9>He had stopped at the breaking point of Recovery Center,
<v Speaker 9>for whom maintains his bracelets, and at Walgreens.
<v Speaker 8>The judge presiding over the sexual assault trial was informed
<v Speaker 8>about the fire and Korn's death. When they reviewed the
<v Speaker 8>GPS records from Robert's ankle monitor, they found no indication
<v Speaker 8>that he had visited Bill and Judy's home, though his
<v Speaker 8>tracker did reveal a trip to the headquarters of a
<v Speaker 8>company responsible for monitoring the device that company was called
<v Speaker 8>Breaking Point. When Robert arrived at Breaking Point early that morning,
<v Speaker 8>he requested that his ankle monitor be tightened. Imagine that.
<v Speaker 8>Imagine going to the place that makes your ankle monitor
<v Speaker 8>and requesting that it be tightened. That doesn't raise any
<v Speaker 8>red flags, does it? Anyway? The staff there complied for
<v Speaker 8>the judge and prosecutors. Robert's scheme was pretty clear. He
<v Speaker 8>had slipped off the monitor, driven to Bill and Judy's house,
<v Speaker 8>set the fire, and returned home. Once there, he reattached
<v Speaker 8>the ankle monitor and went to Breaking Point to have
<v Speaker 8>it adjusted so that any evidence of tampering would be removed.
<v Speaker 8>Robert was supposed to be on strict house arrest, permitted
<v Speaker 8>only to leave for court or to meet with his lawyer.
<v Speaker 8>This unauthorized trip to Breaking Point alone was a violation,
<v Speaker 8>which led the judge thankfully to revoke his bond, a
<v Speaker 8>bond he should have never had to begin with. Robert
<v Speaker 8>was taken into custody, and soon after he was questioned
<v Speaker 8>by detectives about the house fire.
<v Speaker 4>Now, you know, are you guys charging me or is that?
<v Speaker 17>Because well, I'm here to talk to you to hear
<v Speaker 17>your side of the story.
<v Speaker 21>You seemed frustrated to me down there, and I said,
<v Speaker 21>let's get this side of the story to put this
<v Speaker 21>to bed quicker.
<v Speaker 4>I didn't burn that house out.
<v Speaker 22>What I'm gonna shape no matter how, there's no way
<v Speaker 22>in how in a million years I touched that house
<v Speaker 22>was near that house.
<v Speaker 8>As expected, Robert denied any involvement in setting the fire,
<v Speaker 8>but the detectives didn't believe him. They humored him, asking
<v Speaker 8>for details though about where he was and what he
<v Speaker 8>did that morning. They already knew.
<v Speaker 14>I don't knew were you tonight out.
<v Speaker 22>I was nervous with the whole you know thing. So
<v Speaker 22>I tried to sleep myself. I don't know, I might
<v Speaker 22>have slept so probably two inch or so.
<v Speaker 2>And I get antsy, and then.
<v Speaker 22>I got out, try to watch the TV and cleaned up,
<v Speaker 22>and you know, just basically I was nervous, you know,
<v Speaker 22>the whole thing.
<v Speaker 4>So before I left, though, I showered, I got a shower.
<v Speaker 22>I just tried to do like chores around the house,
<v Speaker 22>little things that keep me going, you know, And then
<v Speaker 22>can you explain this?
<v Speaker 8>Detectives also inquired about the large burns on Robert's face
<v Speaker 8>and his missing eye. House curiously, Robert claimed that the
<v Speaker 8>burns weren't from the fire at all. He insisted he'd
<v Speaker 8>only received them after being taken back into custody, saying
<v Speaker 8>they were chemical burns he'd sustained in his jail cell,
<v Speaker 8>because you know, jail cells have lots of chemicals in them.
<v Speaker 4>I go in the room. I don't know. I make
<v Speaker 4>my bed.
<v Speaker 22>I turned around, and I didn't get to know.
<v Speaker 4>The guy's saying he has a little gotea on him.
<v Speaker 22>And there's a bottle inside of my room that says
<v Speaker 22>like corrosion or whatever.
<v Speaker 14>It's a spray bottle of bleach. I guess I have
<v Speaker 14>like bleach.
<v Speaker 4>I guess for the tubs or or whatever.
<v Speaker 22>And they put it in a bottle and you could
<v Speaker 22>clean with it what was already in the room.
<v Speaker 4>I went in. You know, the kid came in the room.
<v Speaker 4>He has a go to you. I don't know his
<v Speaker 4>name because he kept taking his arm can off.
<v Speaker 14>I went in the room.
<v Speaker 22>I probably wasn't even in there ten minutes or so,
<v Speaker 22>you know, roughly right about that, you know, I made
<v Speaker 22>my bed. I turned around there he was. He threw
<v Speaker 22>it at me and turned in my head this way.
<v Speaker 22>I pushed and I got to the water as quick
<v Speaker 22>as I could. In the meantime, he grabbed the thing
<v Speaker 22>you know, I don't know. I guess he talked it
<v Speaker 22>a toilet and then he walked out.
<v Speaker 8>The detectives knew Robert was lying, but they continued playing along.
<v Speaker 8>They even offered to help Robert confirm his claim with
<v Speaker 8>a free visit to the burn specialist. Unsurprisingly, Robert wasn't
<v Speaker 8>too keen on taking them up on that offer.
<v Speaker 4>I get what you're saying, and I do, and I
<v Speaker 4>know this. I'm sure that looks to you guys like
<v Speaker 4>I'm guilty.
<v Speaker 14>Say how about this?
<v Speaker 17>Will you go to agronburn to give treatment so we
<v Speaker 17>know exactly what this is.
<v Speaker 14>I already talked to my.
<v Speaker 22>Lawyer today and he got the like they have a
<v Speaker 22>paper upstairs and the paper says on there it's chemical.
<v Speaker 4>And so I'm gonna be able.
<v Speaker 14>I'm trying to say.
<v Speaker 4>So for me to keep doing this, it's like, here's
<v Speaker 4>what here, just hear me, go ahead.
<v Speaker 17>I want to send you to a professional burn doctor,
<v Speaker 17>not in an emergency room, and say, ease doctor, because.
<v Speaker 14>This could put a lot of stuff to bed.
<v Speaker 22>Yeah, And like I said, it's just just like with
<v Speaker 22>how many times you guys have sent someone to the
<v Speaker 22>house right now, you understand like every day out of
<v Speaker 22>the paper, and that torture is my family.
<v Speaker 4>Because I understand you got to keep doing your job.
<v Speaker 14>I get it.
<v Speaker 4>But the point is there has to be some point
<v Speaker 4>where it's redundant.
<v Speaker 15>It's not just sus.
<v Speaker 14>That's what I'm saying. What I'm saying burn to the
<v Speaker 14>bird to a professional.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, you know, that's why I'm saying that it does.
<v Speaker 14>I don't understand.
<v Speaker 17>Where you're coming from, because ecause this could help end
<v Speaker 17>this can put it.
<v Speaker 4>I get what you're saying, but you have to understand
<v Speaker 4>my point of view.
<v Speaker 22>I mean, I'm trying to be as cooperative as I can,
<v Speaker 22>but this is like a witch hunt to me.
<v Speaker 2>At this point.
<v Speaker 8>As far as evidence went, the burns on Robert's face
<v Speaker 8>were bad enough, but detectives had a little bit more,
<v Speaker 8>well a lot more.
<v Speaker 4>I don't want to do that. I mean, I understand
<v Speaker 4>you guys, there's probably.
<v Speaker 14>Well let me let me ask you this. Why would
<v Speaker 14>you go into Walgreens?
<v Speaker 4>Why would I going to Walgreens?
<v Speaker 10>Yes?
<v Speaker 14>Did you buy anything of Walgreens?
<v Speaker 2>I don't think.
<v Speaker 4>And then I was just killing time. That's why I
<v Speaker 4>said that hard from there.
<v Speaker 2>On the corner.
<v Speaker 8>What Robert didn't know was that police had obtained surveillance
<v Speaker 8>footage from Walgreens in case you're a criminal out there
<v Speaker 8>and you're looking to do some criminal activity. It's twenty
<v Speaker 8>twenty five, you, moron. There's cameras everywhere. This footage clearly
<v Speaker 8>showed Robert entering the store and purchasing the makeup. It
<v Speaker 8>was evident that the makeup was used to cover his flashburns.
<v Speaker 14>Let me ask you this, Do you wear makeup? Do
<v Speaker 14>I wear a Macon? Yes, sir?
<v Speaker 4>No, I mean I don't.
<v Speaker 22>I mean I don't hardly wear makeup as far as
<v Speaker 22>you're talking about the cover up for a zip that
<v Speaker 22>I had and when I was calling to trial, so
<v Speaker 22>I put it over a ZiT.
<v Speaker 4>I had my nose.
<v Speaker 2>That's the only thing I do with it, matel.
<v Speaker 17>What about have you ever used eyebrow pencils?
<v Speaker 4>Eye profess and professors.
<v Speaker 8>Robert's lies were unraveling fast, and detectives knew precisely what
<v Speaker 8>he had done that morning. It was written all over
<v Speaker 8>his face. They knew he'd set the fire and ended
<v Speaker 8>three lives. They knew that his crime had literally blown
<v Speaker 8>up in his face. They knew he'd gone to Walgreens
<v Speaker 8>to buy makeup to cover the evidence that was written
<v Speaker 8>all over his dumb, stupid child raping mug.
<v Speaker 9>Because once he went to the jail and all that
<v Speaker 9>makeup came off his face, you could see that he
<v Speaker 9>had like flash burned on his face that had sined
<v Speaker 9>his eyebrows.
<v Speaker 8>As detectives continued to press him, Robert tried to shift
<v Speaker 8>the blame. It's always someone else's fault. In a desperate
<v Speaker 8>attempt to divert attention, he hinted that detectives should look
<v Speaker 8>a little closer instead at Krin's mom, Lynn Schmidt.
<v Speaker 4>But Lynn and the baby had lived with me for
<v Speaker 4>over seven months.
<v Speaker 2>Now, you know, I'm nonsaw.
<v Speaker 4>She hasn't even seen her daughter, you know, Karin one time.
<v Speaker 22>And you know that was the fight thing with her
<v Speaker 22>mom and dad. You know, they had it out, and
<v Speaker 22>you know, she needed a place to say and I
<v Speaker 22>wasn't you know, having my daughter shoot so to say,
<v Speaker 22>you know. So they were more than molkal to be there.
<v Speaker 8>It was true that Lynn had returned to living with
<v Speaker 8>Robert after the sex abuse allegations had surfaced. In fact,
<v Speaker 8>she was at Robert's house on the morning that her
<v Speaker 8>daughter Karen and her parents were killed in the fire.
<v Speaker 22>You know, Lynn unfortunately isn't saving, like I said, with her.
<v Speaker 4>You know, she's getting over half a.
<v Speaker 2>Million dollars with her parents gone.
<v Speaker 4>I mean literally, I mean they have over a half
<v Speaker 4>million dollars in cash in the back.
<v Speaker 22>Everything's entitled in her name, so in no way shape
<v Speaker 22>her form. I mean, I'm not saying that that she
<v Speaker 22>would do. I wouldn't think she would do something like this.
<v Speaker 22>But my point is she has so much money.
<v Speaker 4>When they die, it's like it might even be close to.
<v Speaker 17>Al I'm not trying to be rude, but essentially, you're
<v Speaker 17>going to come into some money too.
<v Speaker 2>No, I ain't coming into the money as.
<v Speaker 14>Long as she's living with you.
<v Speaker 22>Yeah, she was living with me for the years before too,
<v Speaker 22>but she never works. She never brought in any income.
<v Speaker 17>But she's not a half million dollars said, you're going
<v Speaker 17>to get some of that?
<v Speaker 9>All right?
<v Speaker 14>Well, do you think she's going up and leave you.
<v Speaker 4>We're not on that good of.
<v Speaker 2>Terms, so to say.
<v Speaker 8>Lynn certainly appeared to have a motive for wanting her
<v Speaker 8>parents dead, and Robert had no problem throwing her under
<v Speaker 8>the bus, because you know, he's a hell of a guy.
<v Speaker 17>Do you think she could have had the opportunity to
<v Speaker 17>get out of the house.
<v Speaker 15>During the night.
<v Speaker 22>I was probably sleeping at that time. But one thing
<v Speaker 22>that was strange was the door was open, reunited, the
<v Speaker 22>door was open. We always closed the door, like if
<v Speaker 22>she gets out of the middle of the night, we
<v Speaker 22>still close the door.
<v Speaker 4>We have a double door that closes. I were in
<v Speaker 4>the master bedroom where we sleep at night.
<v Speaker 17>Do you think she had an opportunity when you were
<v Speaker 17>sleeping to get out of the.
<v Speaker 2>House and get it back in. Yes, without you knowing
<v Speaker 2>about it, because the door was open. That was the
<v Speaker 2>weird thing that I thought was weird.
<v Speaker 8>Detectives were certain that Robert had started the fire. His
<v Speaker 8>burns and his visit to Walgreens were proof enough, but
<v Speaker 8>that didn't mean that Lynn was innocent. Far from it.
<v Speaker 8>She could very well have known about Robert's plan or
<v Speaker 8>even helped. She might have provided details about how to
<v Speaker 8>get in to the house, where to pour the gasoline,
<v Speaker 8>and the best time to strike. Considering that she continued
<v Speaker 8>to live with her daughter's abuser, her capability seemed disturbing,
<v Speaker 8>but without hard evidence, this all remained speculation kind of.
<v Speaker 9>So we've always from the very beginning suspected that Lynn
<v Speaker 9>knew that Robert was going to do something that morning.
<v Speaker 9>When the detectives first responded to the house. They went
<v Speaker 9>to the early morning of March thirty, twenty fifteen, to.
<v Speaker 15>Do a well check on her, because.
<v Speaker 9>Obviously, if someone's going to kill the grandparents and the
<v Speaker 9>victim of a crime or of the rape trial that
<v Speaker 9>was supposed to.
<v Speaker 15>Happen that morning, we wanted to know.
<v Speaker 9>If anything happened to Lynn as well. And so when
<v Speaker 9>the cops went there, when the house went to Robert
<v Speaker 9>Semen's house, they pounded on the door, and no one
<v Speaker 9>immediately came to the house. They went to around the back.
<v Speaker 15>I founded on the back door. They came back to
<v Speaker 15>the front.
<v Speaker 9>They made entry to the house because no one was answering,
<v Speaker 9>and they found Lynn just watching television in the family room,
<v Speaker 9>and they asked her what she was doing there, why
<v Speaker 9>she wasn't at court, and she said she was told
<v Speaker 9>not to come to court to the next day. However,
<v Speaker 9>both the state and the defense had subpoenaed Lynn for
<v Speaker 9>the trial, and us being the state had subpoenaed her
<v Speaker 9>for that day, so she should have actually been at
<v Speaker 9>court that morning.
<v Speaker 8>As for motive, prosecutors did confirm that if her parents died,
<v Speaker 8>Lynn would stand to inherit a significant amount of money.
<v Speaker 9>When Bill and Judy Schmid had died, they apparently had
<v Speaker 9>had a life insurance policy which listed all three of
<v Speaker 9>their children as beneficiaries, one being Karin's mom, And so
<v Speaker 9>they called us to determine whether we had any information
<v Speaker 9>or any.
<v Speaker 15>Evidence that would link Lynn to the.
<v Speaker 6>Fire, whether we thought she had been involved.
<v Speaker 9>So we thought she had anything to do with the.
<v Speaker 15>Arson and the murder of them, and we told them.
<v Speaker 9>We didn't have anything that said she was involved, but
<v Speaker 9>we didn't have anything specific that said she had nothing
<v Speaker 9>to do with it.
<v Speaker 8>In the end, if Lynn was involved in the murders
<v Speaker 8>of her daughter and parents, detectives couldn't prove it. As
<v Speaker 8>of today, Lynn Schmidt remains a free woman. Robert Seaman
<v Speaker 8>was the only person ever charged for these murders.
<v Speaker 22>I said, I had nothing nowhere near that house. I
<v Speaker 22>only I've never even drove by the street of that house.
<v Speaker 22>I avoided completely circle around. I know, carez there. I
<v Speaker 22>ain't going near that house. You know, why would I
<v Speaker 22>if I had any intention of doing this, why would
<v Speaker 22>this be done right before?
<v Speaker 16>It makes no sense, It makes zero sense for me.
<v Speaker 16>I'm guilt, I look guilty. I'm the one, you know
<v Speaker 16>what I'm trying to say. So, if somebody's did this,
<v Speaker 16>it surely wasn't me.
<v Speaker 17>When people are knocked in the corner, they will do
<v Speaker 17>anything to survive.
<v Speaker 4>It wasn't back in the corner.
<v Speaker 23>I understand that if you could review the case, the
<v Speaker 23>only way that they had was correct. I had her mother,
<v Speaker 23>I had the guardian of light, I had the juvenile record,
<v Speaker 23>I had I mean, I had so much stuff that.
<v Speaker 4>It wasn't even it wasn't even close.
<v Speaker 14>I had her mother.
<v Speaker 8>You know, Robert maintained a facade of confidence, claiming that
<v Speaker 8>he had a strong chance of beating the sexual assault charges.
<v Speaker 8>But this was nothing more than phony. Bravado current statements
<v Speaker 8>were powerful, and she had no reason to lie. A
<v Speaker 8>ten year old wouldn't lie about something like this voluntarily,
<v Speaker 8>not unless they were extraordinarily troubled. And then you got
<v Speaker 8>to ask, why are they that troubled?
<v Speaker 2>At ten?
<v Speaker 8>Robert knew the consequences he faced if convicted, he would
<v Speaker 8>likely spend his life in a federal prison, where as
<v Speaker 8>a sex offender, he'd be in constant danger. As we
<v Speaker 8>all know, a lot of inmates don't take too kindly
<v Speaker 8>to child rapists. Nobody should. That's what wood chippers are for.
<v Speaker 8>Backed into a corner, Robert was far more desperate than
<v Speaker 8>he let on. His reasoning was clear. If he was
<v Speaker 8>headed to prison for life, why not eliminate the one
<v Speaker 8>witness against him. At best, he'd get away with it
<v Speaker 8>and the charges would be dropped. At worst, he'd end
<v Speaker 8>up in prison. All the same, Robert had everything to
<v Speaker 8>gain and nothing to lose. Among the many frustrations in
<v Speaker 8>this case, one glaring issue is that Robert should have
<v Speaker 8>never been released on bail. What the fuck are we
<v Speaker 8>doing in this country with cashless bail? How stupid are
<v Speaker 8>we to come up with that shit? This monster should
<v Speaker 8>have remained in custody until his trial. But even if
<v Speaker 8>bail was granted, it should have been revoked long before
<v Speaker 8>he had a chance to murder Korn and her grandparents.
<v Speaker 8>Why don't judges like Maureen Sweeney understand incentives? I thought
<v Speaker 8>people with law degrees were supposed to be smart.
<v Speaker 21>You advise that you had information about Roberts Seeman violating
<v Speaker 21>his house for rest or possibly violated here is a way,
<v Speaker 21>but he saw her how, you know, but just that
<v Speaker 21>he was leaving a lot, you know.
<v Speaker 14>And then I called him and talked to the first prosecutor.
<v Speaker 14>I figured her name right now. She's like, yeah, yo,
<v Speaker 14>when you see him leave them, call him let me.
<v Speaker 2>Know every time whatever.
<v Speaker 14>So I called her a.
<v Speaker 2>Couple of times.
<v Speaker 8>While Robert was out on bail. His neighbor reported seeing
<v Speaker 8>Robert leave the house multiple times a day at all hours,
<v Speaker 8>despite being under house arrest. When these reports were made,
<v Speaker 8>the court should have been alerted immediately and Robert's bond
<v Speaker 8>should have been revoked, but it wasn't.
<v Speaker 9>When the judge got those records from the GPS company
<v Speaker 9>who was monitoring him, when she was so pitched because
<v Speaker 9>we also saw that he had been leaving his house
<v Speaker 9>all the time. Apparently that breaking point never called the
<v Speaker 9>court to tell them to tell the court that he
<v Speaker 9>was leaving by going to tackle Bell and then going
<v Speaker 9>to the mall and then going.
<v Speaker 6>To get a new suit.
<v Speaker 9>For trial, and they should have been reporting that to
<v Speaker 9>the court, but they never told the court that he
<v Speaker 9>was leaving all this time. And I don't know who
<v Speaker 9>the neighbor was reporting it.
<v Speaker 6>To, but my guess is this state.
<v Speaker 9>If he was reported to someone, and they had reported
<v Speaker 9>it to the police, maybe the court or whoever would
<v Speaker 9>have heard, would have thought, well, if he was really leaving,
<v Speaker 9>we get a report from Breaking Point that said he
<v Speaker 9>was going outside and you know, going other places than
<v Speaker 9>the courthouse or his attorney.
<v Speaker 8>As for the company responsible for tracking Robert Breaking Point,
<v Speaker 8>their failure to do its job eventually didn't surprise anyone.
<v Speaker 8>You see, it turns out that a lot of these
<v Speaker 8>companies are bullshit. This one in particular, Their owner had
<v Speaker 8>racked up nearly as many felonies and fraud convictions as
<v Speaker 8>p Diddy has. Apparently.
<v Speaker 20>Ryan Sheridan's troubles started almost eighteen months ago, when state
<v Speaker 20>and federal agents rated his Breaking Point recovery centers in
<v Speaker 20>Austin Town had another location in Columbus. They also rated
<v Speaker 20>homes owned by Sheridan. A few days later, directors with
<v Speaker 20>the Ohio Department of Medicaid announced they had suspended Breaking
<v Speaker 20>Points contracts. Then in March, federal investigators seized more than
<v Speaker 20>two million dollars from him in May, the US Attorney's
<v Speaker 20>office filed paperwork trying to seize Sheridan's million dollar home
<v Speaker 20>in Latonia, claiming he used Medicaid money to buy it.
<v Speaker 20>Fast forward to October, when a Columbiana County grand jury
<v Speaker 20>indicted him on several drug charges, and just last month,
<v Speaker 20>another indictment. This time federal prosecutors were involved. Sheridan and
<v Speaker 20>five others were named as investigators accused them of running
<v Speaker 20>a forty eight million dollar health care fraud conspiracy.
<v Speaker 8>Don't you just love how the government spends your money?
<v Speaker 8>This story is, without question, both infuriating and deeply tragic.
<v Speaker 8>Every safeguard that should have protected corn Gump failed her.
<v Speaker 8>The courts, the lawyers with their fancy law degrees and
<v Speaker 8>their Ivy League educations, the GPS monitoring system and company
<v Speaker 8>that made it, and even Corin's own mother. All of
<v Speaker 8>them fell short. All of them were huge disappointments. And
<v Speaker 8>in the end, what chance did this little ten year
<v Speaker 8>old girl really have?
<v Speaker 4>None?
<v Speaker 14>None at all.
<v Speaker 8>She was a sacrificial lamb to this corrupt, fucked up system. Eventually,
<v Speaker 8>and as the routine goes, Robert Seman was arraigned on
<v Speaker 8>murder charges for killing Korn and her grandparents. As expected,
<v Speaker 8>he pled not guilty in this circus continued.
<v Speaker 20>Authorities admit they don't know how Semen managed to get
<v Speaker 20>out of his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet that morning, or
<v Speaker 20>how he got back and forth from the Schmids home
<v Speaker 20>to set the fire they believed caused his burns, But
<v Speaker 20>they do believe they had more than enough evidence to
<v Speaker 20>convince a Portage County jury Seemen was so desperate to
<v Speaker 20>get out.
<v Speaker 14>Of his rape case that he'd kill his young victim.
<v Speaker 8>By now, you're probably expecting the typical outcome for a
<v Speaker 8>case like this, something along the lines of Robert was
<v Speaker 8>sentenced to life in prison or Robert was sentenced to death.
<v Speaker 8>But think again, this story has one final twist you
<v Speaker 8>won't like it. Just days before his murdered trial was
<v Speaker 8>set to begin, the judge called prosecutors, defense, and Robert
<v Speaker 8>himself into court for a final status hearing.
<v Speaker 15>So we've been in this status conference. The judge was
<v Speaker 15>asking us.
<v Speaker 9>Everybody ready, So we were done with that. We left
<v Speaker 9>out the back chambers of the court. We walked just
<v Speaker 9>twaining on the fourth floor of the monon Kant Courthouse.
<v Speaker 15>So we walked around the corner.
<v Speaker 9>We got in the elevator and we usually go down
<v Speaker 9>to the basement and go through our tunnel tar office.
<v Speaker 9>As soon as we got back, I got a call
<v Speaker 9>from one of the deputies that he had jumped, and
<v Speaker 9>I said, no, he didn't.
<v Speaker 6>Why are you playing with me?
<v Speaker 9>And they said, no, we're we're hitting a jump. And
<v Speaker 9>my first reaction was as he did.
<v Speaker 8>After the status hearing, Robert was escorted by two deputies
<v Speaker 8>down the courtroom halls back towards his cell. During this
<v Speaker 8>walk out of nowhere, Robert flung himself over a fourth
<v Speaker 8>floor railing.
<v Speaker 13>At approximately ninety this morning, Robert Seaman was having a
<v Speaker 13>final pre trial hearing on the fourth floor in Judge
<v Speaker 13>Sweeney's courtroom. The court adjourned while the deputies were escorting
<v Speaker 13>mister Seamen down the hallway to go back to our
<v Speaker 13>holding cell. He basically took a leap off of the
<v Speaker 13>fourth floor. So we a real quick look at what
<v Speaker 13>took place here. The deputies actually did a great job.
<v Speaker 13>They did what they were supposed to do when they
<v Speaker 13>were escort and it out. And you know, I can't
<v Speaker 13>speak for mister Seamen. He must have had his mind.
<v Speaker 3>Made up murder and arson suspect Robert Seaman is dead
<v Speaker 3>after jumping from the balcony of the Mahone County Courthouse.
<v Speaker 3>Semen is the man accused of killing a little girl
<v Speaker 3>and her grandparents and an arson just over two years ago.
<v Speaker 8>In the end, Robert performed one final act that could
<v Speaker 8>be seen only as a favor to society. He took
<v Speaker 8>his own life. The coward didn't want to face what
<v Speaker 8>was waiting for him in prison. As for the deputies
<v Speaker 8>escorting him, no one seemed to care, and really, why
<v Speaker 8>should they who could blame him?
<v Speaker 14>Are we going to change anything?
<v Speaker 13>Well, we're going to look at that, obviously, but you know,
<v Speaker 13>I don't see any issues with this and I am
<v Speaker 13>certainly not going to lose sleep over this one.
<v Speaker 8>Since lawyers can't put a dead man on trial, the
<v Speaker 8>prosecutors had no choice but to dismiss the charges against
<v Speaker 8>Robert Seaman. In the eyes of the court, he was
<v Speaker 8>never found guilty of anything, dying an innocent man on paper.
<v Speaker 8>Hopefully this one episode of a podcast a few people
<v Speaker 8>might hear. One day, we'll at least get Kurran's story
<v Speaker 8>out to the world, writing this horrible wrong that our
<v Speaker 8>system of laws have created.
<v Speaker 9>We never got to present our evidence to a jury,
<v Speaker 9>but we were so convinced of his guilt in this case.
<v Speaker 6>I mean, not only did we have the pending.
<v Speaker 9>Rape charge where she's listed as a victim and he
<v Speaker 9>knows where she is.
<v Speaker 6>We had the two gas.
<v Speaker 9>Cans at the back door with his DNA and the glove.
<v Speaker 9>We had the makeup that he's found with in the
<v Speaker 9>that morning.
<v Speaker 6>A trial, and him buying the.
<v Speaker 9>Make at that Walgreens that morning along with the eyebrow pencils.
<v Speaker 6>Then we had the pictures of.
<v Speaker 9>His burnt face from once the makeup war off that morning.
<v Speaker 9>Since everything pointed to him as the one who's committed
<v Speaker 9>it and no one else, there was never Once we
<v Speaker 9>had all that evidence lined up, there was never any
<v Speaker 9>doubt in our minds that Robert Seamen did it.
<v Speaker 8>The evidence against Robert was overwhelming, leaving almost no chance
<v Speaker 8>he'd escaped justice. Perhaps the final nail in his coffin
<v Speaker 8>was the DNA found on the plastic gloves stuffed into
<v Speaker 8>the neck of one of the gasoline cans that was
<v Speaker 8>found outside Bill and Judy's home, the home that was
<v Speaker 8>set on fire with them in it. That DNA was
<v Speaker 8>a perfect match for Robert Seaman, and unlike people DNA
<v Speaker 8>don't lie, Robert knew that his life as he knew
<v Speaker 8>it was over, and the fact that he chose to
<v Speaker 8>end his life only under scores his guilt.
<v Speaker 24>I think it's very telling. I think it's very telling.
<v Speaker 24>He knew the evidence against him. Every witness we'd talked
<v Speaker 24>to in preparation for the case that they didn't know
<v Speaker 24>why he was not pleading guilty or not asking for
<v Speaker 24>some kind of plea. So this is very telling to
<v Speaker 24>anyone out there.
<v Speaker 9>We knew he did it, he knew he had the evidence,
<v Speaker 9>and there was no way he was going to get.
<v Speaker 6>Away with this.
<v Speaker 8>There are so many lessons to take away from this case,
<v Speaker 8>but perhaps the most significant is the role single parents
<v Speaker 8>must play in protecting their own children. Above all, a
<v Speaker 8>parent must place their child's welfare first. They must be
<v Speaker 8>the strongest line of defense for their own blood. There
<v Speaker 8>are predators in the henhouse, there have always been, and
<v Speaker 8>there will always be. You better be a good fucking
<v Speaker 8>mother hen If you're going to even lay an egg.
<v Speaker 15>Know who your children.
<v Speaker 6>Are hanging out with.
<v Speaker 15>You know what I mean?
<v Speaker 6>Like their daughter was hanging out with this.
<v Speaker 9>Robert Semen, I always think it's weird when you let
<v Speaker 9>another man into your house with your biological children, who
<v Speaker 9>isn't their dad.
<v Speaker 8>All parents have a responsibility to protect their children, but
<v Speaker 8>for single parents that responsibility comes with quite a bit
<v Speaker 8>of nuance. They must safeguard their kids, and not just
<v Speaker 8>from obvious dangers, but from those that might come disguised
<v Speaker 8>as affection. They can't let their own needs surpass the
<v Speaker 8>safety of their children, and if they do choose to
<v Speaker 8>allow someone into their lives and home, they have to
<v Speaker 8>stay vigilant. The caution is essential. If that caution isn't there,
<v Speaker 8>someone like Robert Seaman can worm their way in and
<v Speaker 8>they will manipulate anyone and everyone to get what they want.
<v Speaker 8>You can't be a mom and a dumb bitch at
<v Speaker 8>the same time. It just doesn't work if you are
<v Speaker 8>a single parent that is also seeking romance. The hard
<v Speaker 8>truth is that you need to stay on guard.
<v Speaker 2>It's sad.
<v Speaker 8>I know it sucks, but that's the world we live
<v Speaker 8>in because in the end, nobody, not the government, not
<v Speaker 8>the courts, not the cops, will protect your kids. Only
<v Speaker 8>you can do that. The innocent child named core N
<v Speaker 8>Gump died in twenty fifteen. She was only ten years old.
<v Speaker 8>If she were alive today, she'd be about twenty. A
<v Speaker 8>young woman just starting out her life, who knows what
<v Speaker 8>dreams lay ahead, what possibilities lay open before her. Tragically,
<v Speaker 8>the legal system and her own mother, and actually the
<v Speaker 8>whole fucking world, to be honest with, you failed her.
<v Speaker 8>We all failed her. Society needs to get their head
<v Speaker 8>out of their ass. It ain't a Disney movie. The
<v Speaker 8>real world is harsh, ugly and disgusting and people can
<v Speaker 8>be also. Hey, go sign up for plus. Tired of begging?
<v Speaker 8>At least buy something to the store, store door and
<v Speaker 8>scale dot com. You guys are cheap as fuck? Did
<v Speaker 8>you know that? Anyway, I'll be here next week regardless.
<v Speaker 8>Until then, stay safe, I guess
<v Speaker 7>S