207: New Graphic Diddy Lawsuit, Ax Murderer Caught, Human Head Found in Box, Liam Payne's Death & Bear or Homicide?
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Sponsored by the Coalition for Medicare Choices. Learn more at medicarechoices.org. Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise, headline highlights edition. Now, before we get started, I have to just do the quick shout out. Tonight is the final show of our live tour. I can't believe that

the tours are already over we've gone to so many amazing cities but tonight is the night it is the final show it's in Denver so if you are in the area definitely come check it out we're gonna have a very very very special guest go out with a bang and gosh that's probably not what I should say but you know what I mean it's gonna be the final show good energy and you can still get tickets at AnnieElise.com on the events tab well I think you can they might be sold out at this point but

But anyway, go check it out. It's our final show and I don't know when we're going to be on tour again. Maybe next year, but honestly, I'm not really sure. I also made an announcement in last week's episode about the fact that we are currently featured as one of Apple's creators we love, which we are so extremely honored to be featured in that segment. And because we are so happy about that, we have done a 40% off price slash on our subscriptions over on Apple Podcast. So I just realized I did a total...

terrible job explaining that. But every Friday, we release a exclusive brand new episode that doesn't get released to the main feed. It's ad free. It's a bonus episode. And to get access to that, you either can get it through Patreon, which is Patreon at Annie Elise, or you can do it directly on the Apple podcast app.

and because we're featured under creators we love we decided to just like offer a mega discount it's only going to last for one more week but it's 40% off the annual subscription to get access to those so it's 52 extra bonus episodes a year and all ad free so check that out and yeah we're really excited about it now let's talk about what's going on this week in the true crime world I mean not only are

are there so many trials going on? I mean, we've got Sarah Boone, we've got Leilani Simon, we have got Delphi. There's so much going on and I'm really trying to keep my head on straight, but there's also so many new cases breaking. We have updates with Diddy, we've got Liam Payne, we've got brand new cases. And I want to start with this one where it's really a question of this man was killed in

or was it a homicide? See, on October 12th, a discovery in the woods of Big Sky sent shockwaves through Montana. This mangled, not my word, their word, but this mangled body of a 35-year-old guy named Dustin Gersom was found inside a tent.

and what was initially reported as a gruesome bear attack now has the authorities kind of questioning everything. What was thought to be this vicious bear turns out to be a vicious murder. Now,

Now, Dustin was a big outdoorsman, and he knew what he was doing when he was out in the wilderness, any time that he would go camping. He was born and raised in Bozeman. He worked in the area as a tradesman, and above all, he was a very, very loving father. But take a listen for a little bit more insight. We lost our brother, our son, our uncle, our best friends, and our dad in the most unimaginable way. Dustin was a great kid. He was born here in Bozeman.

And he worked all over the valley. He could have framed your house. He could have poured your foundation. He could have installed your countertops. He was a hardworking, skilled tradesman. He was a loving, helpful, and adorning father.

So on Friday, Dustin had plans to meet with his friend and go camping for the weekend. Nothing out of the usual. He had done this so many times before. So Dustin's friend waited for him to meet up, but when Dustin never showed, he decided he would just go out and look for him. Maybe Dustin decided to head out early, maybe he wanted to get a head start on setting up camp, or maybe he just lost track of time. So Dustin's friend went to search for him.

and very deep in the woods is where he would find the gruesome site of his friend's remains. Dustin's body was there, mutilated inside his tent.

He immediately called the authorities, telling 911 what he had found and that it looked like it could be a bear attack. That's how horrific the shape and condition of his body was. So detectives and wildlife agencies came to the scene, and they said that his campsite was well-stocked. It was very filled with equipment. Everything looked like he was prepared to stay for the weekend.

So to try to help figure out this bear attack, Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the U.S. Forest Service also came to investigate. But when they did, the officers, who by the way are experts in bear attacks, didn't find any signs of a bear that had been anywhere near the campsite. So, no bear, but a dead body.

The detectives could only ask, what really happened to Dustin? With no evidence of any bear, the case was changed from an attack to a homicide. And once the autopsy was conducted, it only confirmed the homicide theory even more. Now, I just want to give you a little bit of a warning. Sorry to get super graphic here, but Dustin's autopsy report said that he died of, quote, multiple chop wounds, including wounds to his head.

The murder weapon isn't known, but all they know is that something definitely was hard enough to cause damage to the skull and other parts of the body. I mean, chop wounds, skull damage, it feels like it's straight out of a horror movie. It doesn't even feel real, but...

It makes sense as to why his friend initially thought this was a bear attack. It was truly barbaric. And the scariest part of all of this is it's still a mystery. There are no suspects. There are no solid answers. And authorities don't even know if there is still a threat to the community. The county sheriff's office is telling people, yes, okay, be vigilant, especially if you're venturing off into the woods, but it is terrifying.

So we do not have anyone in custody at this time. People have asked me if there's a threat to this community, and the answer is we don't know. We don't have enough information to know at this time, but we do know that someone was out there who killed someone in a very heinous way. So if you're out in the woods, I need you to be paying attention. You need to remain vigilant. If you see anything suspicious, please just call us.

Detectives are also saying that because of the location of the murder and it being so remote, it's making the investigation so much more difficult. This whole case honestly just gives me the chills. I already hate camping. Like, I don't want to step foot in the dirt or camping. Like, it's...

freaks me out. I don't do bears. I don't do wildlife. No, no, no. But this makes it even so much more scary because he was like a seasoned camper. He was seasoned in going out in the wilderness. And my heart just breaks for his family and friends because he was just going out for a camping trip as usual. And now it's this brutal murder and just

a truly terrifying mystery. I think at any point, it's like you always want to stay safe in the woods and everybody always has the danger warnings, especially about bears. And I swear, I don't know if it's just my algorithm, but on my feed every single week, whether it's Instagram or TikTok, I see bears literally in the daylight, like going into somebody's backyard in the valley. And so everybody needs to be careful.

when they go out into the woods right but now you layer on this whole other aspect to it that you need to be scared of literally the boogeyman in the woods who is quote chopping people up it's

So insane to even think about. Dustin was last seen on October 10th in the afternoon, which was the Thursday before he was found. He was driving a black 2013 Ford F-150, and he had been in contact with people while he was driving up to that campsite. However, that's the last piece of information about his whereabouts before his body was found. So detectives are desperately trying to find information, and they're asking all of the residents to come forward with anything that they can think of.

There is someone in our valley that is capable of truly heinous things. Please, if you are in Moose Creek at any time from Thursday to Saturday, please call and talk, even if you think you didn't see anything.

So just to break it down for you one more time, because if anybody has any tips, you know, all information is good information, within reason. Dustin was last seen on a Thursday driving to a campsite in Moose Creek. His friend goes out looking for him on Friday after they had plans to meet and Dustin doesn't show up. And on Saturday, just after 10 a.m., Dustin is found. There are no suspects in custody and there are also no current solid leads.

So please share this story anywhere you can. Share the link to this episode on your social medias because his family deserves to have some sort of answer and closure and know what truly happened and who targeted their loved one. So let's hope that Dustin gets justice and whoever is responsible for this is held accountable.

Now moving over into a case where I talked a little bit about some similarities last week, but it's taking place in Chicago. And last week in Chicago, a truly spine-chilling discovery was made in East Garfield Park. On Thursday evening, just before 6 p.m., police got a phone call from somebody who was walking down the sidewalk and claimed to have found a box that contained human remains.

This person called while just, you know, taking their evening walk with their dog, and they saw this box, originally hoping that it was maybe just an early Halloween decoration and it was a fake head or something like that, but the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed that it was indeed real. It was the remains of a human skull inside that box, which...

It kind of feels like a scene out of that movie Seven, right? I don't know if you've ever seen that, the Brad Pitt movie. It's a classic. But like a human skull found in a box, this time on the side of the road. It feels like a horror movie. And I get that it's October, but like this is so bizarre because that wasn't the first time that human remains were found in Chicago that week. Now the skull has been sent to an anthropologist and they're currently trying to identify who this person was.

They're going to check dental records. They're hopefully going to try to see how this person died or, you know, how they were murdered. But it leaves so many questions. Who was this person? What was their story? How can a box with human remains just be sitting out in the open like that before being found by somebody? It can't be that long. Also, who on earth would leave that out on the sidewalk like that? How did it get there?

Usually if somebody's dismembering somebody, they're disposing of them in places where people will never find the remains. You're not just putting a body part in a box and putting it on a public walkway. It makes no sense. It is so bizarre. And to make matters even creepier, this was the second time, as I mentioned, that week that human remains had been found in Chicago. A few days earlier, police also reported finding human remains, skeletal remains to be exact, in the Bucktown neighborhood.

Now, no information was released about those remains, and both victims have yet to be identified, but there are currently ongoing investigations into both of these cases. And it's just weird. Human remains being found the same week and near the same area? It's just bizarre, right? Now, let's sidestep here a little bit and go over to Missouri, because a Missouri woman has been sentenced to two life terms in prison for a crime that is...

So twisted that it honestly defies human belief.

Back in October of 2022, Amber Waterman from Missouri kidnapped and killed a woman named Ashley Bush. She was a woman from Arkansas who was 31 weeks pregnant. Now, as it turns out, Amber had a gruesome plot to kill Ashley and then claim the unborn baby as her own. And you heard me right, but we've unfortunately seen this case a time or two play out. So this woman wanted to kill Ashley, then to take her child who was literally still in her womb.

It's beyond heinous. It's unfortunately, like I said, one we've seen a few times and it defies all logic. And the worst part in this is her husband was also in on it. He knew about the kidnapping and the murder. And the two of them just wanted to raise this unborn child that wasn't theirs as their own. I mean, how deranged is that?

that. So how did all this happen? Ashley was already a loving mother of three, and she was soon welcoming number four. While she was pregnant, she had some complications, so her doctor told her that she needed to take a break from work. So Ashley got onto Facebook, and she began looking for a work-from-home type of job. Unfortunately, though, that's when she met somebody with the name Lucy Barrows. Now, this Lucy Barrows was a fake Facebook account made by none other than Amber Waterman.

Amber, or quote-unquote Lucy, told Ashley that there was a possible job opening and that she could help her get the job. So after initially meeting, the two women were meant to travel together to meet so-called Lucy's boss to discuss the job even more. Now, even though Ashley's fiancé, Josh Willis, said he felt uneasy about the situation, Ashley decided to go through with this little mini road trip.

So on October 31st, Josh dropped her off in the morning at 10 a.m. to meet, you know, Lucy, and he was going to pick her back up after the meeting at around 3 p.m. However, that afternoon when he came back to pick up Ashley, all he saw was a car with Ashley and this mysterious Lucy person inside of it zooming by him without stopping. Josh even said that the driver made eye contact with him and just kept driving with his wife in the car.

So Josh tried to follow them in his car, but unfortunately he ended up losing them. And then he lost Ashley forever.

Amber drove Ashley back to her home in Missouri and carried out her disgusting, twisted, sinister plan. Then, that same day, hours later, first responders were called to a store and they were told that there was a baby there not breathing. At the store, the baby was pronounced dead. Amber told the responders that she had given birth to this baby inside a truck on the way to the hospital and that it was stillborn. But

But the truth was, Amber killed Ashley by trying to remove her unborn baby from her stomach. So she not only killed this soon-to-be mother of four, she also killed the unborn baby. After forcibly removing the baby from Ashley, Amber, with the help of her husband, wrapped up Ashley's body in a tarp, then burned it and moved her remains to another location.

Which, I mean, this is just pure evil. I don't even understand how somebody could do this. Not only how deranged it is to try to pass off a child as your own, but to commit such a barbaric act against another human being. It blows my mind. So in November of 2022, Amber Waterman was charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of kidnapping, with the prosecutor also saying that he was seeking the death penalty.

Her husband, Jamie, was also charged with one count of being an accessory to the kidnapping. Her sentencing date was October 15, 2024, and she was sentenced to two life terms in prison without the eligibility for parole. Her husband pleaded guilty to helping with the kidnapping, and he could get up to 15 years in federal prison without parole as well.

Which I hope that that is justice and brings some sort of closure to Ashley's family. But I don't even know what would give you peace in that moment. As a husband, as a parent, as a family member, it's just...

So unbelievable. Now I'm going to pause for a minute here and I'm going to then get into the Diddy updates because as you can imagine, there is a lot going on with Diddy. We've got a lot to talk about. I just need to chug some water really quick, mentally prepare myself, and then I'll be right back.

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All of them were accusing Diddy of aggravated sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation. These lawsuits spanned from 2000 to 2022, and one of which was brought forth by a girl who said she was just 13 years old when Diddy drugged and raped her at one of his house parties.

She's 13 years old. Now, she's unnamed right now, but she said that she was 13 back in 2000, that she went to New York to go see the MTV Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall, but she didn't have a ticket. She kind of just stayed outside during the awards, hoping she could get in, hoping she would get a ticket, and she wanted to go to one of the after parties.

So while she was waiting, she met a limo driver who worked for Diddy, and he apparently said she, quote, fit what Diddy was looking for. I mean, this girl was a full-on child, so I think that that is just in and of itself an absurd thing to say. Like, oh, you're just what Diddy's looking for. It's

But she was flattered and she wanted to go to an after party. So she went to the after party. When she was inside, she had to sign an NDA. And she drank something that started to make her feel a bit woozy and just out of it.

She said that she went to lie down in one of the bedrooms, and that's when Diddy and two other unnamed celebrities, a man and a woman, all came inside of the room. She said that the male celebrity allegedly ripped off her clothing and then raped her while Diddy and the female celebrity watched. After that, Diddy then allegedly took his turn and sexually assaulted her while the male and female celebrities watched that assault.

After the ordeal, she said that she stumbled out of the house and to a gas station that was nearby where she asked for help.

Because the accusation is a rape against a 13-year-old child, that that unnamed celebrity will eventually be revealed. There will be a separate civil suit against that person, as well as a criminal investigation. These are very, very serious allegations. And even though

P. Diddy's legal team and other people will do all they can to keep these individuals' names secret or private. It will come out.

Now, one of the other lawsuits was brought forward by a man who said that he was only 17 years old at the time. In 2022, he said that he was an aspiring artist and Diddy drugged him at a party and sexually assaulted him. The lawsuit said Diddy told the boy, quote, he could make him a star.

Now, officials said that all of these new lawsuits filed do mention other celebrities' names, both male and female, but none of them are publicly named yet. Which, I cannot imagine what will happen to Hollywood if all of these names come out, and I'm really, really hoping that they do.

You know there are already countless conspiracy theories just going absolutely crazy on social media. I touched on it a little bit last week, but people are saying that Jay-Z and Beyonce have been in on it with Diddy. Some people are saying Beyonce is the mastermind behind the deaths of Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, and even TLC's Left Eye. People are saying that every time celebrities get an award, they for some reason, you know, work in a thank you Beyonce into their speeches. And it's kind of a wild theory, honestly, but...

I have seen crazier things happen, but this is just conspiracy. Now, the theory being with that is that if the artists thank Beyonce, she will, quote, you know, like, spare their lives or they won't come after them. People have also said that Justin Bieber must have been involved when he was a teenager, and some people have even said that Kanye has been the good guy all along, really trying to warn everybody about Diddy, and that that's kind of what made him mentally spiral.

I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy. Some of these personally to me feel a little bit out there, but I know that there are a lot of powerful people in play in Hollywood. So I think there's probably some truth to it. I don't know what that expression is, right? That like somewhere through the weeds is the truth. That's not the expression. I'm just saying that. But I'm sure there's some underlying truth in the nature of like all these powerful celebrities. But...

Do I think there's truth to the exact people that people are naming? I don't really know. Who knows? What do you guys think? But conspiracy theories aside, just last week, another lawsuit was brought against Diddy. This one was from a woman in California named Ashley Parham. Now, her lawsuit is truly, truly gruesome and graphic, so I want to give you a little bit of a warning. But she says that Diddy gang raped her.

And the reason he did that was for revenge because she had said that she thought he was involved in Tupac's death. This was back on a video FaceTime call back in 2018. She said that on FaceTime, she told Diddy that she, quote, wasn't interested in him because she knew that he had something to do with the murder of rapper Tupac. Now, again, just want to give you one more warning, guys. This is definitely graphic. But she says that a month later, Diddy and his friends allegedly set her up to be gang raped.

She said that she was drugged, raped, and held at knife point, all with Diddy saying that she would pay for what she said on that video call. Now, while all of this was going on, Diddy allegedly told her, quote, her life was in his hands and that if he wanted to, he would take her and she would never be seen again, end quote. He even violently assaulted her with a remote control. I mean, it is barbaric.

The lawsuit also says that police did get called to the scene. Neighbors had called 911, and Ashley also went to the hospital a few weeks later after this assault because she was still in pain.

Now some of the details in that lawsuit, which you could read it verbatim, and if you want me to start reading these actually verbatim, I definitely can. Just let me know in the Q&A section on Spotify or in the Apple Podcast Review section. But in this...

She talks about how when they all arrived, like, they're taking turns with her. He assaults her with that TV remote, that they're threatening her, then that they all go to the back patio area and they're kind of, like, laughing. I think she says that they're smoking weed or drinking, and that's when she, like, comes and pulls her strength together, puts a t-shirt on, and she says she, like, holds a knife by her side and goes and confronts them.

But she also had outlined in this how he put the oil all over her body, which allegedly has some sort of GHB component that makes your body, I don't know if it goes still or numb or what it is, but it is very, very graphic. And

Again, if you want me to start reading those verbatim, I certainly can, but I just wanted to give you more of a summary. And then if you want to find all of the details on your own, you can search for them, but tell me what you want. And I mean, there's definitely no shortage and I'm sure there will be more. So going forward, I can certainly read those if you want.

Now, no surprise, Diddy and his lawyers are denying all of the charges, saying, quote, the truth will prevail. And Diddy's attorneys say that he has never assaulted any male, any female, any minor, nothing, and that all of these lawsuits are being brought forward by people mostly for publicity. And as of right now, Diddy is still being held without bail in Brooklyn, and his trial is set to start on May 5th, 2025.

Now going into another case that has to do with an axe murderer, it's kind of wild. So Kathleen Krosnick was murdered 40 years ago with a single axe blow to the head. And it was a case that would become one of the oldest and coldest cases in America.

That is, of course, until now, four decades later. This case, which is also known as the Brighton Axe Murder, has finally come to a close. But let's rewind a little bit. So in 1982, the brutal murder of a young wife shocked the quiet community of Brighton, New York.

Jim Krausnick said that he came home from work one very cold winter night to the horrific sight of his wife Kathleen lying in their bed dead with an axe lodged into her head. Now, a little bit of background on the couple. They were high school sweethearts. They met in high school, they both attended Western Michigan University, and they dated all throughout college. Then they got married in 1974, and four years later, Kathy gave birth to their baby girl, Sarah.

When Sarah turned three, the family packed up their bags and they moved to Brighton, New York, where Jim got a job working as an economist for Kodak, you know, like the old school film company. So that same year that they moved to New York is the same year that Kathy died. On February 19th, 1982, the day of the murder, Jim told police that he left for work at 6 a.m. and returned home at 4.50 p.m. He said that he saw that the garage door had been left open and he also saw broken glass on the floor by the front door.

Also, by the front door was a mall, which is a type of axe. So he says that he then ran upstairs, which is where he found his wife's body, lying in bed with an axe to the side of her head.

He ran next door to find their daughter Sarah, and she luckily was unharmed, but he grabbed her and ran to their neighbor's house to ask for help. And that neighbor is who called 911. Now inside of the house, it looked like there had been some sort of burglary. Valuables and jewelry were scattered all over the place, doors were left open, clothing was kind of, you know, like strewn and thrown about everywhere. But the odd thing about this burglary was that nothing from the house was actually taken. And

and both the axe and that maul that was by the door belonged to the family. So the investigators quickly believed that the burglary was staged, and they began to suspect the husband Jim of staging this burglary and then murdering his wife. However, detectives didn't find any fingerprints or DNA. However, they did find a faint footprint on a trash bag inside the home, and I'm just going to say remember that for later on.

Authorities argued the scene was staged by someone who had no idea what a burglary looked like. The house wasn't ransacked. In fact, there was cash on the dresser in the room where Kathy was killed that wasn't taken. The broken glass, the seemingly precise placing of that mall. They wanted us to believe that the mall was used to break that pane of glass. That silver tea set barely disturbed. And when you looked at the pieces that don't fit,

The reason they don't fit is because it was a staged burglary. So autopsy reports show that Kathy died in the early morning between 4.30 a.m. and 7.30 a.m. And since there was no solid evidence connecting Jim to the murder, and Sarah was only three years old, so she couldn't give any reliable witness statements, the case went cold.

And it would stay that way for 40 years. Now, in those 40 years, there were some big changes. I mean, for one, Jim remarried three more times. The first two were, you know, brief. But in 1999, he married his current wife, Sharon. And him and Sharon stayed together all until the end.

Then, in 2014, there seemingly was a breakthrough in the case. A career criminal from Rochester named Edward Larrabee, who was in prison for attempted murder, confessed to the murder of Kathy. That was right before he died in prison. So, everybody kind of thought, okay, that's it, I guess. The cold case was finally solved. But the authorities were not buying it.

Edward's confession was just not adding up, and he had mix-ups that just didn't match the case at all. For one, he said that Kathy was a brunette and was heavyset, when really she was blonde and had a very small frame. He also said that he had sexually assaulted her and then murdered her. But investigators distinctly said that they found no evidence of a sexual assault.

So with all of this inaccurate information and this inaccurate confession, the case ended up remaining cold. However, in 2015, the FBI decided they were going to get involved and they reopened the case.

They called in forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who took a look at the case on his own. And after looking at all of the evidence, the doctor said that Kathy had actually died at around 3.30 a.m. in the morning, not a window around 6.30 or 7.30 in the morning, meaning that her husband Jim was likely home when she was killed. So after four more years of investigation, Jim was indicted by a grand jury in 2019.

and his trial started in 2022. Jim, 71 years old at the time, pleaded not guilty, maintaining his innocence and his love for his wife. And by Jim's side, the entire trial was his daughter Sarah, also his wife Sharon and other family members. Now Sarah is now a grown 44-year-old woman, and she said that her father was failed by the system, and that he was now being tried for a crime that he absolutely did not commit.

I've been blessed with the most extraordinary parents. Sadly, they have both been taken from my life. My mother's killer got away with her murder and my father's life has been taken by a failed justice system that convicted him of a crime he did not commit.

Now, a crucial part of the jury's evidence was that shoe print that I mentioned earlier, the one I told you to remember. There was a photograph of this shoe print on a trash bag at the crime scene. And there was also a photograph of a pair of Jim's old boat shoes. So prosecutors called an expert shoe witness to testify that those footprints were specifically made by Jim's shoes. Investigators say the print was from special footwear, a boat shoe.

And why boat shoe? And so there's a picture in that bedroom where you can see next to the bed, you can see these boat shoes. And whose shoes are those? And those are James Krasnick's shoes. He's a boat shoe wearing guy and we don't have murderers running around in February in the wintertime wearing boat shoes and killing people. On November 7th, 2022, Jim was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in prison after delivering his closing statement.

To this day, it's still very difficult for me to talk about the circumstances that surrounded her death. All I see is Kathy with an axe in her head and Sarah standing in the hallway, disheveled, with an empty and distant look on her face. I did not murder Kathy. I love Kathy with all my heart and with all my soul.

Sharon said that Jim's family knows that he's innocent and that they plan to appeal the jury's decision because they wanted to make sure that justice could be served.

However, a year later, in May of 2023, Jim passed away in prison from cancer. So the question is, was justice served or did they get the wrong guy? Also, what about the staged crime scene? I mean, what do you guys think? It sounds like there was some sort of staged thing. Usually if the weapons come from inside the home and nothing was taken, it's a little bit of a mystery.

it's staged. Usually, I forget what the exact statistic is, but I remember hearing from law enforcement, or maybe it was a detective, I can't remember, but they had said that statistically, if somebody is going to come in to burglarize a home or even commit a murder, they generally bring their own weapon. They don't go into a home looking for a weapon. So the fact that the two weapons came from inside the home, then you layer on the fact that everything

everything looked to be a mess and that things had been rifled through and jewelry was thrown about but nothing was actually taken what did they do what was that person's end purpose so I think that's why there is also a lot of speculation that he was involved from the start so the case is closed but it could remain a mystery to many people so let me know what you think

Now, I want to talk about a very, very sad case that is ongoing and new information is being released, it feels like every day. And it's the death of the One Direction member, Liam Payne. Now, this is a recent case that I don't know about you guys, but it almost still doesn't feel real. One

One Direction star Liam Payne died last week in Buenos Aires after falling from a hotel room, and he was only 31 years old. Now let's revisit what happened, because on October 16th at 5.07 p.m., Liam fell from the third floor balcony of his hotel room, and he died from those injuries. Now this news shocked the entire world. Everybody was taken aback, nobody thought that it was real, and until it was finally confirmed, people thought it was just a rumor.

But I want to take a look at what was happening before he fell. So Liam and his girlfriend Kate Cassidy were in the area on a trip, and they had been documenting the trip on social media with all different pictures, all different videos, things like that. They even attended a former One Direction singer Niall Horan's concert to support him, which took place on October 2nd, so just a couple weeks earlier. But then on October 14th, Kate flew home to Florida by herself, saying that she was just ready to get home.

Meanwhile, Liam stayed back at the hotel. Then, the day of Liam's death, just minutes before falling from the hotel balcony, the hotel where Liam was staying reportedly called 911. They were asking for help, and they were asking for them to send somebody immediately because, according to them, one of their guests was under the influence of drugs and was breaking things inside his hotel room. Now, the call was made in Spanish, but this is the translated version.

We have a guest that is off his head on drugs and alcohol, he told the operator. He is in a room that has a balcony, and we are a little afraid he will do something that puts his life at risk. However, when the police got there and arrived, Liam had already fallen, and he was pronounced dead on the scene by the police. And as of right now, they have said that they have ruled out anybody else being involved.

Police say that Liam's room was found trashed, there were drugs and alcohol everywhere, and it looked like Liam was suffering from some sort of mental breakdown because of the drugs, and that when he fell from his hotel room, he could have been semi or totally unconscious. He could have had absolutely no idea what was going on. Now, the drugs that were found in his room were a snow-like powder, take what you will with that,

Colazepam, which is a nervous system depressant, and also over-the-counter medications. And once the initial tox report came out, one of the drugs directly linked to Liam's death was said to be pink cocaine.

Now, this whole pink cocaine thing, I swear, I don't know if it's just all the rage now or if people are just learning about it, but I remember talking about it, I think in one of my first Diddy videos. And I was like, can somebody tell me what pink cocaine is? Like, I grew up in a party atmosphere and people at these parties were always doing drugs. I never saw pink cocaine, but apparently it's like a thing now. And I think there was even a girl, an influencer, who, did she get into a car crash under the influence? I can't remember, but I've heard about this.

probably no less than five times in the past 30 days. Now this so-called pink cocaine is a powder, and it's a mix of ketamine, molly, opioids, or even other substances. It can also have caffeine, hallucinogens, or bath salts in it, and it might not even have cocaine in it at all.

It's pink because food coloring is added after the fact, and it's just like some crazy drug cocktail, which seems incredibly dangerous to take. And because it's a street drug and so many different things can be laced into it, there's really no way of knowing what exactly is in the mix. That's what makes it so dangerous.

Two members of the hotel staff are also being investigated for allegedly smuggling the drugs into the hotel for Liam. They apparently smuggled it in in a box of what looked to be Dove soap. And also, like I said before, this was released from the initial talks report that was leaked to the media. The full report might not be available for quite a few weeks. The case is currently being investigated by Argentina, and the officials there are in touch with the UK Foreign Office.

Outside of the hotel, heartbroken fans are all gathering, lighting candles, and singing songs for Liam. Liam was so important because he was always like a big brother to them, to the boys in the band, and also to us, like the community that we make, the Directioners. He was always so happy and so grateful with everything. He was struggling with hard times, but he always...

make us happy. It's, of course, very emotional and very highly sensitive for people right now because there are concerns that he struggled with mental health. There are concerns of the drugs. There are, of course, as you can imagine, conspiracies going every which way online, and people are having a very emotional reaction to this. Now, unfortunately, Liam had opened up about struggling with sobriety in the past. In 2014,

In 2020, he said that he decided to go to rehab and he wanted to focus on his sobriety. And just hours before his death, he also posted on social media saying what a lovely day it was in Argentina, which made his death all the more shocking to his fans, to his loved ones, and to his family. All four One Direction singers, Harry, Louis, Niall, and Zayn released a joint message on Liam's death. The message read, "...were completely devastated by the news of Liam's passing."

Liam's family also said,

Liam will forever live in our hearts and we'll remember him for his kind, funny, and brave soul. We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and we ask for privacy and space at this awful time. So many other celebrities have also released messages about Liam. I mean, Simon Cowell has, Justin Bieber, Halsey, Kourtney.

his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, and his ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole, and so many more. I mean, it's just so clear that everyone is feeling the loss right now, and it was just so sudden. And it also was heartbreaking that he was likely alone when he fell.

As I briefly said, right now there are a lot of conspiracies going around. Some people are saying that it was no accident. Some are saying that he could have jumped. Some are saying he was miserable for years, which all I can say right now is that fans are definitely devastated by his loss, and my heart goes out to all of his loved ones. This was just such a tragic death and tragic situation. So I will keep you updated with new developments, and I do want to know what you think about this case.

There is a lot going on in the true crime world, and as I said, there are quite a few trials happening right now simultaneously. So we used to do a lot of trial updates. If that's something that you still want, where it's like a weekly update of what went down in the trial that week for a specific case, definitely let me know over on Spotify Q&A or in the Apple Reviews on Apple Podcasts because...

I'm thinking of bringing it back in a different way because there are so many trials not only right now but also coming up in the near future. So if you guys do want those trial recaps, definitely let me know. But I wanted to keep today's episode more to just actual cases and breaking cases rather than the ongoing trial stuff.

Other than that, if you haven't listened to Monday's episode, go back in the feed, listen to that. It is absolutely deranged where two friends basically film a murder as a home movie. It's sick. And they're on recording. You can hear them plotting and planning this and like boasting afterwards. It's truly unhinged. So we released that a couple days ago on Monday and you can catch up with that.

that. Otherwise, if you feel like you still need your true crime fix going into the weekend, every Friday we release those bonus exclusive ad-free episodes. You can get access on Apple Podcasts and right now for one more week, 40% off. So check that out. And if you are in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And if you're in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And if you're in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And if you're in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And if you're in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And if you're in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And if you're in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And if you're in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And if you're in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And if you're in the Denver area, come to Denver tonight. We'll meet after the show. We do a free meet and greet, photos, meetings, talks, all the things. And

And you can see a brand new exclusive case, my very, very special guest who's joining, and it will be the last show to wrap up the tour. But that's all I got. Gotta get going on stage soon. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of Headline Highlights. Please, if you have 30 seconds and you're listening to this on the podcast app,

leave a rating, leave a review. It helps push this podcast out into the algorithm so that more people see it. And I would just really appreciate it. It's a free way to support. All right, thank you guys so much. And I will be back on the mic with you very soon and on Monday with a very wild deep dive into a new case that is like aligned perfectly with spooky season. So until then, stay safe and watch your back and take care of yourself and each other and all the things. All right, bye guys.