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Dark Cast Network.
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Out of the shadows come the best of any podcasts.
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I'm sorry, and you're listening to Beyond the Rainbow True
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Crimes of the LGBTQ.
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Are you tired of hearing about the Ted Bundies and
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Jeffrey Amazon true crime podcasts? I thought so, who got
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something just for you.
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I'm Pat and I'm Darcy, and we are the hosts
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of Pod of Terror, a true crime podcast that dives
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into lesser known cases from around the world.
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Grab a glass of wine and join us every Thursday
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as we discuss the most vile, despicable human beings on
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the planet.
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It'll be a dark and twisted journey, so don't forget
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your drink. You're gonna need it.
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We're looking forward to say in your next Thursday.
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Murder spoken of curse. Wertzer used a lot proceed with
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caution there. That was my first haiku since high school
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and my disclaimer. Hey they're Rainbow Warriors. Welcome to Beyond
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the Clouds. Ah, I'm just kidding. I wanted to see
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if you're actually paying attention, it's me, your glitter loving host,
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Trixie Mattel. Okay, not really, but I would love to
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see her in person, since she's one of my favorite
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drag queens, and that's what we should do. When we're
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in Denver for the True Crime Paranormal Festival July twelfth
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through the fourteenth, we should go see a drag show together.
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That would be so much fun. If you haven't got
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your tickets for the festival yet, they're still on sell
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and you can type in CJ at check out. That'll
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get you fifteen percent off your ticket price. There'll be
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a ton of great pod hosts and victim advocacy groups partaking.
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Julie Murray and Sarah Turney will be there and they'll
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be presenters talking about their missing sisters, as well as
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Arlene Harbison, who lost her uncle Leon Laureles. I covered
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Leon's case in season thirteen Bits five. If you need
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a refresher, please consider joining my Patreon for ad free
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early release episodes in an extra episode at the end
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of every month. Oh yeah, and I'll appoint a unicorn
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just for you to ride when we take our unicorns
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and listen to an extra episode that's not been covered
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here on the regular show. I believe there's at least
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twenty two extra episodes, so if you join now you'll
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have access to future ones as well as the past ones.
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I'll leave links for Patreon and for the True Crime
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Paranormal Festival in my show notes. Whether you love or
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hate the sound of your voice, I'm still collecting sound
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bites from listeners to say Startcast Network the best in
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indie podcast. I'm and then your name, and you're listening
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to be on the Rainbow True Crimes of the LGBTQ.
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I want to play them at the start of each episode,
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and I'd love to get a few more in for sure,
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and I'll be sure to put the SoundBite script and
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my email address as to where to send it in
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my show notes. Oh yeah, and you don't have to
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have fancy equipment to record it either. A voice recording
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from your phone should work just fine. And I have
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some news to share with everyone. There will not be
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a new episode out next week, and I know I
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sounded happy about that, but I'm not. At least I'm
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pretty sure there won't be a new episode, and you
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can DM me whether or not you'd like me to
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put an episode from another dark Cast show on, and
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if not, that's okay too. The reason there won't be
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an episode is because in the next few days, I'm
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going to be doing a little bit of traveling and
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this is courtesy of the Oxygen Network. I was asked
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by producers for a new true crime show to come
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and talk about the victim of one of my previous cases.
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The case would be that of gay hairdresser Chris Voe.
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He was one of the victims in my Murder as
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a Hairy Business episode. The true crime show is called
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a Plan to Kill And when I get more details
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of when it's going to air, I'll let you know.
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But in the meantime, they're flying me to Orlando for
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a day and then back, so it's going to be
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a whirlwind trip. But I'm pretty nervous and excited about it.
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And that's the reason for my week off. Our Missing
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but Not Forgotten LGBTQ plus person this episode is an
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openly gay man named Sean Michael Spalding. Sean was thirty
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nine years old when he disappeared from his home March fifteenth,
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twenty twenty two. This was in Arlington County, Virginia. His
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roommate is the one who reported a missing to police. However,
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Sean was spotted by someone he knew with the Homewood
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Sweets Hotel in Washington, d C. This is only about
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seven miles from his home, and it was on March seventeenth,
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two days after his roommate reported a missing but Sewn
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has not been seen again after that sighting. Shawn's family
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knows that he would often use Grinder to meet dates,
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and they're worried he might have hooked up with the
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wrong guy, but it doesn't appear Sean vanished on his
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own accord. His phone and bank accounts have not been
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touched since March seventeen, twenty twenty two. Shawn also might
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go by the names of Conrad or Michael. He takes
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medication and he didn't have it with him, but he
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needs it for his mental well being. Shawn is described
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as being five seven, one hundred and forty five to
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one hundred and fifty pounds. He has brown hair and
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brown eyes. I'll post a photo of him on my website.
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There is a monetary reward for information in this case,
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so if you have any please call the Arlington County
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Police tip line at area codes seven oh three, two
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two eight four one eight zero, or the d C
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Police tip line at area code two O two seven,
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two seven, nine zero nine nine the main case. This
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episode kind of disappoints me on several levels, but mostly
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because there wasn't a whole lot of information on the
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victim in the case. Nearly all the information is about
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the killer. But it happened sometimes, and I still feel
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it's a case worth telling because it's been a pretty
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controversial case in the state of Massachusetts. Robert Koslik was
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born in Chicago, Illinois, in nineteen forty nine. He and
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his older sister pretty much had crappy childhoods. Their father
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was incarcerated for mail fraud, and they had an alcoholic
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mother who abandoned them defend for themselves. In nineteen fifty two,
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their mother ended up giving both kids up to a
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Catholic orphanage for a while. By the age of three,
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upon entering the orphanage, Robert knew he was different. He
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felt different, he felt like a girl, but he was
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in the wrong body for me. I really have no
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recollection of being three years old. I think my earliest
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memories are from kindergarten in the first day of school.
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Have you warriors ever thought about your earliest memories? That's
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damn cool if you can remember things from when you
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were a toddler. I'd say. Later in life, he learned
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that what he had was gender dysphoria. Robert also remembers
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being punished by the clergy at the orphanage every time
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he was caught dressing and clothes that were deemed for
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girls only. Basically, he was cross dressing. And this was
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back in the nineteen fifties. By the age of ten,
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Robert and his sister's mother refused to take them back
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into her life, but she did bill him out of
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the orphanage and she had him go live with her father,
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eternal grandfather, who reportedly would rape Robert. This is also
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when Robert discovered alcohol. The drinking numbed his pain. In puberty,
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Robert had a condition called gynocomastia, which is the technical
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term for what I've always just called man boobs. It's
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when a boy gets too much estrogen from their mother
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and his breast are enlarged. A few years later, Robert
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went back to live with his mother and his new stepfather.
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Robert's ginochomastia was flaring up and he showed his mother
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his enlarged breasts. His new stepfather became extremely angry when
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Robert showed his mother his breasts, so he broke a window.
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He then picked up a shard of glass and he
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stabbed Robert with it while his mother was swinging a
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frying pan at Robert. And not long after that incident,
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Robert would run away from his family. He took to
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the streets and he dropped out of high school. He
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began burglarizing homes and shoplifting as a means of survival.
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He also turned to selling his underage body for sex.
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It was during this time Robert got hooked on heroin.
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As Robert became an adult, he worked as a dishwasher,
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a truck driver, a garbage collector, a construction worker. He
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restored furniture. He was a warehouse manager, a packer at
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a condiment factory, and a school bus driver. Finally, he
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enrolled in the United States Army, serving as a private
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until he was discharged for being caught wearing women's clothing.
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It was around this time Robert saw a picture of
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Christine Jorgensen. She's the first documented American to successfully undergo
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gender affirming surgery. At the age of eighteen, Robert went
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to see a doctor about hormone therapy. The doctor said
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he would gladly see what he could do for Robert,
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but in return, Robert would need to engage in sex
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with him, which Robert did for about a year or two.
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At the end of the nineteen sixties, Robert said, well,
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he was taking estrogen. It was the first time in
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his life he felt normal, But then he stopped. He
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started again in nineteen seventy two after being incarcerated briefly
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for a drug and burglary charge. While he was in jail,
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Robert claimed to be gang raped when he got out
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of jail, is when he started the hormone therapy again.
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Robert was never consistent with his hormone therapy treatments for
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one reason or another. Another time he started and then
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stopped because he claimed he was assaulted at a gay
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bar by two gay men, and it was because these
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two gay men didn't think he should transition. If you
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haven't already noticed, there's a definite pattern with this guy. First,
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he's always a victim. Nothing is his fault. Second, he
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makes a lot of excuses, and again he blames others
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while he's doing so. Third, it seems everyone wants em
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for sex. These are three traits that make me go hum,
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which is a single one, but three that's definitely a
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cause to pause for me. By nineteen eighty three, Robert's
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drug and alcohol abuse were so prevalent he admitted himself
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into a drug rehab facility, and this is where he
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met a volunteer counselor named Cheryl mc call. He was
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introduced to Cheryl by his therapist. Cheryl, a divorced mother
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of two, told Robert this she thought all he needed
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was a good woman to feel like a man, and
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then she seduced them again. This is all coming from Robert,
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the guy everyone wants to have sex with. What Robert
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is saying sounds extremely good'ringy, and it's very much like
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what many lesbians have heard throughout their lives. You just
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need to ride a good, hard dick and you wouldn't
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be a lesbian. It's crazy to me how this guy
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finds someone else he states wants them for sex, and
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I kind of don't think that's the way it went
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with their relationship. But oddly enough, he and Cheryl married
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the following year in nineteen eighty four, and lo and behold,
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it did not cure Robert's gender dysphoria. Their marriage lasted
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for six years. The couple even had a child together,
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but Robert still felt like a woman. And then, one
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day in early May of nineteen ninety, thirty six year
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old Cheryl had just come home to their condo in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
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Apparently Robert was not expecting her at all because he
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was wearing her clothing, and she was beyond piss for
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him doing so. According to Robert, Cheryl lost her temper
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and she threw some scalding hot tea at Robert's face.
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He reacted by pushing Cheryl down. While Cheryl struggled to
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stand up, She was able to grab a butcher's knife
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off the counter, and she chased Robert into another room,
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threatening him. Robert picked up a piece of wire that
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was sitting on a table as he ran to another room.
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After that, Robert claims he doesn't remember anything, only waking
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up in a psychiatric hospital days later. He says he
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probably blocked out because of the trauma of it all.
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Cheryl's body was found in the backseat of her car
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at a mall's parking lot. It was found the same
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day she was murdered, but only at night after the
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mall had closed. Cheryl was nude, and she'd been strangled
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with a ligature, most likely the wire. Robert picked up
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our conflicting reports as to whether the wire was a
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clothes hanger or perhaps the wire for a piano. But
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this wire, whatever it was, had been pulled so tightly
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it nearly severed Cheryl's head off her body. Robert called
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police to report his wife missing that same night. He
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asked if they could see if there were any traffic
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accidents that it occurred. He was afraid that his wife
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might have been involved in one. That's when police told
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him about his wife's car being found in the mall
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parking lot with her naked body in it. And since
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we know his spouse is always the first suspect on
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a detective's list, Robert was pulled in for questioning twice
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about his wife's murder. A little after midnight on May
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twenty second, nineteen ninety, Robert, who was wearing women's clothing,
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was out driving. He crashed into a stop sign in
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some bushes. Police who showed up at the scene determined
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that Robert was not intoxicated, and they put him in
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a taxi home. Two days later, Robert was out again driving,
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00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:14.120
but this time. He was in New York and he