Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
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Whoa. I mean, I thought I was throwing you for a loop. You just blew my mind. I know. I know you paused, but you never do. I was thrown off. Yeah. And that for me, that pause was like 10 years.
Do you want to tell people why you just referred to yourself as let me override your thing? Someone, I'm sorry, I can't remember who it was, but all credit and praise go to this person, Brookie Spears. Love. You can tell everyone actually because I want to hear the words come from your mouth. Okay. Well, first of all, we had a party this past weekend. What a weekend.
The best. It was fucking... So good. I'm still high. Me too. My voice is a little funny too. It felt very much like Barbie Unhinged episode for me. It was wild. Yeah. I had a Celsius also, which I forgot. Oh. Yeah. That explains it. So I was, you know, I was a little nervous. We had our, for those who don't know what we're talking about, our Psychopedia one-year anniversary episode.
party. I was going to say Anavisiversary Shizzo. Can you go back and say that? We had our one year psychopedia Anavisiversary Shizzo. I almost messed it up. But I didn't. In New York City. And it was amazing. At Chica and the Don. Yes. Shout out to them. Go there. Beautiful place. Really, really nice. Amazing staff too. So easy to work with. Very accommodating.
We had a beautiful turnout. Thank you so much to everyone who came out and all the plus ones that were dragged out by their significant others. Part of me wanted 500,000 people to be there, even though the space only held 80. Yeah. It was full.
What we did was we put out a call for RSVPs on Patreon first and then publicly. Got filled up quick from the Patreons, but then we had some people who RSVP'd once I made the second announcement, but it was only two announcements, and I almost wish, like...
And not that I wish I didn't do the public announcement, but it was full. It was full from the Patreon. It was the perfect full, though. It was perfect. Yeah, but it got a little hot in there for a second. Oh, I loved it. We had people come out from Missouri. Missouri. California. Yep. Lots of New Jersey. Yep. People making eight-hour drives from Youngstown, Ohio. Yes. Oregon. And this is not to say they did that because we're so great. They did it because...
They love the podcast. What's the difference? It feels different. I don't know. Well, I was going to say. It's more about them than us. They did it because they're family. Yes. And that's what you do for family. Exactly. And we are so grateful to everyone who came out. And if you didn't come out, that's okay. Yeah, 100%. I put this on my Instagram page. We're going to be coming to you guys soon enough. Yeah. Wherever you are, we're going to figure it out.
But we had the best time. It was an amazing celebration. It was like a dream. I felt like I was floating all night. It was amazing. It was pretty good. I was hugging everyone, like genuinely just did not want to let people go. It might have been weird. Yeah. Maybe. I saw a couple of people said it was a little weird. It might have been. I can't. I have no boundaries when I'm filled with love like that. Yeah. No, I hear you. So the reason she introduced herself as Investigator Spears, a.k.a. Brookie Spears. A.k.a. it's Brookie, bitch. Is because...
She did, not only did she do a Britney Spears impression, she did a Britney Spears show. Yeah. It was like we were doing the giveaway stuff. We had a little raffle, which by the way, I have to say this publicly. I don't know if you know why it went so poorly, the raffle. No, I don't. I didn't even know it went poorly, to be honest. I was sweating bullets because we had a hundred tickets, ripped them apart down the middle.
I gave out whatever it was like 70 or 80, but then Dave, firefighter Dave, who showed up in firefighter gear, put all 100 in the bowl that I was picking from. So I was picking numbers that weren't even like there. And then once I realized that, the sweat really started. Oh yeah, that's terrible. I had no idea. Honestly, it went beautifully. I had no idea. All right, good. So then she goes, I have a surprise. Yeah. Wait a minute. Are you impressed that I was able to keep that from you?
Uh, yeah. Yeah. I think that might have been the most impressive element of the whole thing. Um, why? Because it was something that you've been like teasing me about, giving me shit about. Oh, but you knew the payoff was going to be great. Yeah, I know. So the holdout was well worth it. Yes. So keep going. Oh yeah. So she kept it from me, which, uh, which was necessary because I was in charge of the music as, as it should have been. Yeah.
You were jamming. Oh, my God. All night. So she goes, let me have your phone. And I'm like, what do you need my phone for? So I see her type B-R-I. I was like, get the fuck out of here. What are you doing? So Oops, I Did It Again starts playing. Live in the studio.
In front of everyone there and everyone's smartphone in my face. And if you feel, if you were there, because people obviously couldn't hear you that were far away, like out of earshot. Yeah. I feel your pain. Chica and the Don is opening because Mr. French, what it used to be, was flooded. So we asked him for a mic. He goes, it was wrecked in the flood. Oh, that's why. Okay. Yeah, otherwise we would have had a little Britney Spears and a Python to go over. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, she's saying, I heard it. It sounded good.
And I was satisfied. And then I stepped off the banquette and let her have her moment. And we posted video of it on Instagram, PsychopediaPod. So with all that said, it was a temperature taker for us to know, feel confident going out into the world, doing live shows because people came for love. Yes. They came for love. I think if we did a show...
Same amount of love, but like there will be much more of a payoff for people who come out rather than just having long, awkward conversations with me because I wouldn't shut up. And it was what it was, but I enjoyed every second of it. Same. So with that said.
We are here in our studio. If you're on YouTube, check it the fuck out. I want to do a tour of the studio at some point. It's a wall, but it's a beautiful wall. Yeah, but walk everyone through what it is. Yeah, yeah. I think that would be fun because it was fun for us to put together. But with that said...
We love the reviews. We've seen some. We've been sending them. Apple, Spotify, the Q&A on Spotify. I love those. Yes. And it helps us. So if you're not subscribed yet, like, what are you doing? Hit that. Hit that subscribe. Smash that like. Hit that subscribe. Ring that notifications bell. Oh, my God. Real quick.
There was a guy who made a, it was either a tweet or a video. He said his son is watching so much YouTube that he said goodnight to him and his son said, make sure to like and subscribe. Oh, God. That was his, that's how he thought you said like goodbye. Oh, my God. Fantastic. That's,
So good. So Apple, yeah, rate, review, subscribe, share, whatever you guys are doing is working. We're almost growing too fast. I'm uncomfortable with it, but it is what it is. Lies. Also, patreon.com slash psychopedia pod. If you want more of us, it's over there and it's in excess over there. Sure is. You get episodes of Psychopedia Unhinged, which are I'm in the driver's seat, she's in the passenger seat, and she's having fun now. I love it. At a point it was like...
I'm no longer being run over by the car you're driving. You're in it. I'm in it. But you're still scared. Yeah, I'm still holding on for dear life. I'm driving too fast. Seatbelt is tightly fastened. It's raining. Yeah, right. But yeah, I think with that said, I just wanted to let people know that came to the event that we loved it and we're so glad you came. And to the people who couldn't make it, don't feel bad because like she said, we'll come to you. Yes, sir, we will. So without further... Wait. Without further... Ch-ch-chia.
Let's hear about the case. What was that? The people who know now. Okay. Okay. So I just want to tell you that I'd be thinking like you're going to like where we're going this week.
What? Yeah. Banshees of InnoShare, for those of you who don't know. That's what I'd be thinking like. You're blowing my mind because I have a list of movies that you need to see for the Patreon episode we're doing after this. You did the list? Which is the Lucha Libre. Yeah, I did a list. And Banshees of InnoShare is on there. All right. Okay. That's what I was thinking like. So I'm just giving you a little teaser. But.
We're going to Ireland. We're going to Ireland. This is for our Ireland people. Exactly. And all the other people. It's for everybody. Yeah. But this is what I was working on when I posted that picture and I said to our wonderful Irish listeners, this next one's for you. Also, I don't even think you know this. Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. This is part one of a two-parter. Ooh. We're doing a two-parter because this case is huge. Huge. First of all, it's huge information.
in content, but it's also one of our most highly requested cases. Really? Once I start, once I start going with this case, people who know true crime are going to lose it. Okay. All right. So this is part one. Okay. You ready? I'm ready. Art is subjective.
so is post-homicide body disposal. Ooh, that's getting, it's your business. Yeah. Yeah. Just as one person's Jackson Pollock splatter paint masterpiece may appear as nothing more than a toddler's fridge decoration, the art, and that's in air quotes, of hiding a body can range from the absurdly lazy to the diabolically ingenious. Some criminals, despicably, might just toss their dark secrets out like last week's trash with barely any perverse creativity at all.
Meanwhile, others approach the task with thought and a sickening sense of flair. From a hasty ditch in the woods to dousing remains in accelerants and lighting a match, to weighing down a body and dropping it into water, the entire world, unfortunately, becomes a murderer's canvas. It's dark and it's twisted, but in the gruesome gallery of crime, it seems body disposal methods are as varied as the genres in an art museum.
The ultimate strategy in the morbid act of hiding a deceased victim is mostly a testament to a killer's resolve to evade justice and demands both nerve and a dash of twisted imagination. And among these dark strategies of hiding a human corpse emerges arguably the most gruesome one, dismemberment.
Practical as dismemberment may be, it emerges as the rarest form of post-homicide body concealment. Really? Mm-hmm. This method generally stands out due to its gruesomeness and complexity, unless you're going to toss the dismembered body parts into a shallow canal that runs right through Dublin.
making it possible for a passerby to easily discover a putrid, still decomposing leg floating by with a sock still clinging on the rotting foot. Is that what happened? That's what happened.
This horrific discovery sets the stage for us to delve headfirst into a case that stands as one of the most brutal in Irish history. And without a doubt, as I mentioned, one of our most requested cases. Because today we are talking about none other than the Scissor Sisters. No idea. That was so anticlimactic.
The sisters, the scissoring sisters. By the way, I'd be remiss if you're watching on YouTube and I didn't mention the fact that I shaved. And that I'm wearing green. Yeah. Well, you knew. I knew. I just made a mistake on my facial hair. I shaved too low, so I had to take the whole thing off. But it will be back probably, I don't know, I'm kind of like in the smooth phase here. Superb timing. I look young as fuck. You do. You look a lot younger. Yeah. All right. Can we get into the case? You tell me. I don't know.
Sisters Linda and Charlotte Mulhall grew up in Killclare Gardens, a working class area in Tala, South Dublin. Their parents, Kathleen and John Mulhall, married as teenagers and had six children, three boys and three girls, including Linda and Charlotte. Very Irish. Kathleen, originally from the Travelling Community, which is a nomadic indigenous ethno-cultural group in Ireland...
faced a turbulent marriage with John, who was the family's primary breadwinner. Question. Yes. Is the traveling community a new way to say the other word? It's not the same thing as what is... Gypsy. Yes, exactly. It's not the same thing. Peaky blinders. Yes, exactly right. Those are the Romani. Got it.
So John was known for his violent behavior and heavy drinking and often directed his rageful abuse towards Kathleen. My ancestors are not known for moderation. Despite their challenges, though, the couple stayed married for 29 years, finally divorcing in 2002 after all six of their children were grown.
Shortly after the divorce, Kathleen began a serious relationship with a man named Farah Noor, who was a Kenyan immigrant that moved into the Mulhall family just as John moved out.
Fearing John's violent threats, which he aimed at Farrah after blaming him for the dissolution of his marriage, Kathleen and Farrah were compelled to relocate to Cork City, seeking refuge from John's wrath in a desperate bid to escape his reach. It wasn't the drinking and the violence. It was this guy's life.
being in existence, right? I'm joking. Sarcasm. Very Irish of me to be sarcastic. Missed it entirely. I'm sorry. Because you said he blamed the dissolution of their marriage on him. Not the fucking drunken rage and the violence. Exactly right. Yeah. It was all everybody else's fault. But apparently, John made it clear that he actually intended to kill Farrah for snatching up his wife. And he did.
And Farrah believed that he'd go through with it. Yeah. So at this point, John wound up moving back into the family home. And about three and a half years later, Kathleen and Farrah returned to the area...
rented an apartment in Ballyboe, and despite the previous threats, decided to just reconcile the past and move on. So now they're all back in the same area. John's living in the family house, and Kathleen and Farrah are living separately in a rented apartment. Okay. Shout out to Joanne McNally, by the way, and my Therapist Goes to Me podcast. Yes. Big, big shout out. This one is defo for you. Defo!
Linda Mulhall, the eldest child of Kathleen and John, grappled with depression and a deep-seated despair for most of her life. She dropped out of school early and often sought refuge in alcohol and drugs, particularly heroin, as a means of coping. Really? Yep.
Linda's life was further marred by a series of destructive and physically abusive relationships. And by the age of 30, she found herself a single mother to four children. The one who got into heroin. Yes. Okay. The eldest of the children. And she's an adult now. I'm saying the children of the siblings. Yeah, yeah.
During what was already a particularly dark period in her life, her circumstances deteriorated even further when her most recent partner, Wayne Kinsella, was convicted of physically abusing all four of her children, often with an electrical cable. Following Wayne's arrest, social services intervened and placed Linda's children into care, though they eventually returned home after Linda moved back in with her alcoholic and violent father, John.
Really? Back in with him? She was desperate. She was a single mother, four children. They were taken away from her. It may have even been part of the terms of getting her kids back. I don't know if that's really the case, but at least she had a roof over their heads and some semblance of a family. That's what I was thinking like. That's what I'd be thinking like. But by all accounts, she was a loving mother. There's going to be a lot of shit we're going to say about her, but by all accounts, she was good at that. And people can be more than one thing. Well,
Well said. Yeah. Very well said. Well, I'm speaking to one person in particular who DM'd me on Tank Sinatra. He's like, I don't understand this true crime thing. How do you reconcile it? I was like, bro...
People have aspects, brother. Well, it is tough, honestly. Like, I remember when I first became a mother and I only self-identified or thought that I should self-identify as being a mother and like nothing else. Not an independent woman, not a working woman, not a wife, not a friend, not a... Like, I'm a mother and that's it. Yeah. It took a little while for me to be like, you can actually be all of those things. In college, one of our professors asked us as an exercise, who are you? And it was infuriating because I was like...
I said, I'm Tank. She goes, no, that's your name. Who are you? And I was like, well, I like Jay-Z. She goes, no, no, no, that's what you like. Who are you? And I was like, I don't fucking know. Whoa.
Which made me never identify as one thing ever again. Yeah. And it actually got me a little lost for a while. Was this like a philosophy class? It was communication. Yeah. Yeah. I was called up to like the podium in a big college lecture, death education. Shocking that I would register for that class. Yeah. And we did this exercise, speaking of exercises, and the professor said, I'm going to say a word and you're going to tell me the first word that comes to your mind in response. So he goes, towel. Towel.
I go, Brad Pitt. No idea why. Okay. He goes, sex. I go, Brad Pitt. Like in front of everyone. Got a big laugh. Yeah, it was good. Oh, yeah. I don't know how funny it is now, but it was funny at the time. It was good. It was good. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big ROAS man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend.
My friend's still laughing me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com slash results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. So despite the joy of being reunited with her children again, Linda still felt tremendously lost in life.
Those close to her during this period noted her profound and obvious yearning for love and connection. They noticed that she struggled to let go of people when she hugged them, a sign of her deep emotional turmoil, isolation, and just desire for human contact. That's sad. Oh, yeah. That's sad.
Now, Charlotte Mulhall, nine years younger than her sister Linda, led a transient lifestyle, frequently oscillating between periods of stability in Kilclair Gardens and sudden, months-long disappearances. She was embroiled in sex work, struggled with drug abuse, excessive drinking, and severe depression. Charlotte was the one who introduced her mother, Kathleen...
to sex work as well, taking her to an area known as Lad Lane, just off Bagot Street, to teach her how to sell herself for 50 or 60 euros a session. Both mother and daughter would occasionally work the streets together. A little bit of a unstable, I want to say, family? Yeah, loose boundaries. Yeah, I mean, no judgment. Survival sex work is a profession. It is what it is. People got to live.
But they sort of all struggled with some serious stuff. Sure, yeah. Charlotte's legal troubles, speaking of troubles along the way, led to minor convictions for which she was sentenced under the Probation Act in October 2005, which is a legal provision allowing for the dismissal of charges under conditions aimed at rehabilitation. So she was in and out of, like, jail and getting convictions, but always with the aim of rehabilitating. Yeah. Yeah.
Needless to say, life was far from easy or pleasant for the Mulhall women, and Kathleen, Linda, and Charlotte each faced significant hardships in their own ways. So when Charlotte's 22nd birthday approached in March of 2005, they saw it as an opportunity to momentarily escape their difficulties.
The previous year, Charlotte had endured a particularly somber 21st birthday, sinking into a deep depression and making a firm resolution to never experience such despair on her birthday ever again. So she was determined to make her 22nd birthday memorable and filled with better moments. Did you ever have a sad birthday?
Well, that should tell you because nothing jumps to mind, I guess. Well, good for you because when I was 22, I had just stopped drinking. Yeah. Just stopped drinking and stopped smoking weed because I, no, I'm sorry. I was still smoking pot at this time. It was like one month before I would get sober. I went to the Blue Hanu where I was working by myself and got a cheesecake. And there's pictures of it. I know. That is so sad. I didn't have any friends. Why didn't you call Firefighter Dave? I didn't know him then.
22? Yeah. No, it was like 24, 25 when we connected. Oh, okay. Yeah. Because he would have been there for you. I know that. That's a sad thought. I don't like it. So you can understand how she was determined to make her 22nd birthday much better than her 21st, right? And she wanted to ensure that it was going to be one to remember. And indeed, it turned out to be just that, though perhaps not in the ways anyone might have expected or hoped. Hmm.
On Sunday, March 20th, which was technically the day before Charlotte's actual birthday, but the day on which she decided to celebrate her birthday. As people do. As people do. As they do. Charlotte and Linda began drinking vodka together at 11 a.m. Sick. Sounds like a great time. They got ready together at Linda's house, which was really John's house, put on enough black eyeliner to make a raccoon sweat, and polished off the entire bottle of vodka by the time they caught the number 77 bus into Dublin city center.
It was a sunny day, but dark clouds were gathering, literally and metaphorically. It is Ireland.
The bus eventually got into town at about 1.15 p.m., and by that point, the streets were filled with tourists who had been there to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, which I looked into because, you know, this was the 20th, so it was three days after. So why are people still celebrating it? Well, okay. But apparently, since St. Patrick's Day was on a Thursday that year and very close to the weekend, many people just kind of continued to celebrate into the weekend. Yeah, for sure. That makes total sense. What doesn't make sense to me is when towns near us
have a fucking St. Patrick's Day parade on March 4th. What is that? It's like, that's not St. Patrick's Day, dude. That's, call it something else. Why does that happen? I don't know. They get nervous. They want to make sure that, I don't know. They get nervous. We got to do the parade. We got to do the parade. Let's just do it. Let's just do it. Something I would do as just like an early person and like, you know, like I was handed papers in college a week before they were due because I was so nervous I would miss it if I didn't. Wow. Yeah. Could not relate less. I know. I know.
All right, so anyway, the point is that people were drinking and partying, which only added to the overall let's throw caution to the wind vibe that Linda and Charlotte were already vibing with. When the sisters got off the bus, Charlotte called Kathleen to invite her to join them. Kathleen indicated that she and her boyfriend, Farrah, were just wandering around Upper O'Connell Street together anyway, so said that she would meet the girls somewhere in the middle, and they decided to meet at a McDonald's.
which they did. When Linda and Charlotte got there, they saw Kathleen and Farrah holding hands and sipping cans of beer together, which seemed like a good sign that things were going well between them.
Farrah was typically horrifically abusive towards Kathleen. So the sisters were happy to witness this rare moment of peace and happiness where they were holding hands and drinking together. So this is Linda and Charlotte. Yes. Oldest and... Her sister was nine years younger than her. Pretty big age gap. They run into their mother with her new boyfriend, Farrah, who's Kenyan. Mm-hmm.
Right? Very good. Is the mom doing sex work at this point? I think, yes. That's my understanding. With Charlotte, right? Correct. Okay. Yeah. Just trying to get a feel for the run-in, the encounter. Okay, yeah. So the four of them meet at a McDonald's and decide that they're going to all party hard together.
But while we're on the topic of Farah and his typically violent disposition, let me tell you a little bit about him so you know exactly who just joined the party. Okay. At this point in the story, Farah Swala Noor was 39 years old and 10 years younger than his girlfriend Kathleen. He initially came to Ireland in December 1996 and falsely presented himself as Shalila Salim, a Somali refugee whose family had perished in Mogadishu amid the Somali civil war.
Did he really say his name was Shillelagh? Like, he thought that sounded Irish or what? No, he was trying to say he was a Somali refugee. Yeah, but Shillelagh is Irish as fuck. Yeah, I don't know what that's about. My name is Shamrock. I am... What? What's your name? He looks around. Guinness.
But Chilele, Chilele's wild. Okay. I'm going to work on letting go. Okay, I'm waiting for that to happen. You're going to wait a long time, but I'll do it quietly. So this is not true. He was not a Somali refugee who lost his entire family in the Civil War. All right? He was actually Kenyan, and his family was alive and well.
Facing deportation by the Department of Justice, Equality, and Law Reform, Farah managed to successfully appeal for Irish citizenship in March of 1999, largely due to the fact that he'd fathered an Irish-born child. And how did he wind up fathering an Irish-born child? Well, in 1997, he raped a mentally disabled 16-year-old Chinese girl named Lynn who later gave birth to his son.
In fact, two other women, both of whom also bore his children, reported having been raped by him as well.
Wait, so he had three kids out there, all products of rape? Yes. Well, he actually had at least five children scattered around the world, none of whom he supported or showed any particular interest in, three of whom were confirmed as being products of sexual assault. Did he rape people so that he could get citizenship? Like, what the fuck? Excellent question. I never even went there. I think he raped people because he's a fucking sick perpetrator.
Obviously. No, but I'm saying, and then I think he was able to leverage the product of that. Wow. Horrible. Farrah's criminal history included four convictions for offenses like intoxication, threatening and abusive behavior, and assault. Throughout his time in Dublin, Farrah faced a total of eight charges related to disorder and assault, including one sexual assault case where a knife was discovered at the scene by the guardie.
And while his pattern of behavior, especially his violence towards women, was noted with concern by the Gardaí, he still was constantly released and allowed to just continue doing what he was doing. What is the Gardaí? Oh, it's the police force in the Republic of Ireland. Oh, okay. So Farrow lived in various Dublin locales throughout his time there, including the coastal town of Dun Laoghaire, the Dublin suburb of Farnsworth.
Fur house and the inner city before he eventually moved in with Kathleen. I practiced. I know. I could tell. Yeah? I thought you were laughing at my pronunciations. Maybe on Patreon because I'm not going to do it here. And I'm not going to do it now. Okay. I will sing Over in Killarney, which is a song that my grandmother used to sing to us. And I will cry. Oh. It is what it is. And you're really going to sing it. It's not going to be like a Britney thing that you drag out because you're scared. That's a great idea, actually. Okay.
But then we got to throw another party so that you can sing publicly. No problem. Okay, so let's get back to the birthday celebration. Since no one had enough money to drink at an actual bar, Linda, Charlotte, Kathleen, and Farrah headed to North Earl Street where Farrah bought a large bottle of vodka from the off-license while Kathleen picked up three bottles of Coke from a newsstand. So the women all emptied half of their Coke bottles onto the road and then topped it off with vodka while Farrah drank his portion straight up from the bottle.
With their makeshift cocktails in hand, the group continued walking through the streets, sipping their drinks, and actually enjoying themselves at this point. Drinking vodka and Coke out of a Coke bottle. Yeah. Right? Okay. Except for Farrah, who was swigging straight from the bottle. Yeah. Then Charlotte suggested they head off to Liffey Boardwalk to chill on one of the benches and continue their drinking.
Originally designed as a scenic walkway for tourists and workers along Dublin's River Liffey, the boardwalk had largely become a haven for drug dealers and addicts
drawing from nearby methadone clinics. So it wasn't like a great area. It's like 8th Avenue in Penn Station. Yes, it is. Yeah. But this environment, while avoiding... No, 8th Avenue in New York City. Sorry. Yeah, what did you say? I said 8th Avenue in Penn Station. It's 8th Avenue from Penn Station to Port Authority. There's like... I knew you meant outside of Penn Station. Yeah. This area, though, was avoided by most people, but the Mulhalls felt comfortable there. They just kind of found a spot amongst this quote-unquote disreputable crowd.
Then, as they continued drinking their vodka, Linda discreetly offered Charlotte one of the several ecstasy tablets she had in her pocket. Charlotte eagerly accepted, referring to the pills as butterflies, and excitedly toasted Linda with her vodka and coke as they took the drugs.
Seeing her daughters dropping E right in front of her, Kathleen then experienced a serious case of FOMO and demanded that Linda give her a pill too. The only one who was not rolling deep at that moment was Farrah. And the reason for that was that the women had wanted to keep Farrah in a pleasant mood. And if he got too drunk or too high, historically, he'd become loud and aggressive. If they gave him ecstasy, he would have been hugging everybody. Well, hold on to that thought.
Pretty important that you just made that observation. Yeah, I've known the most maniacal people in the world are wholly unable to be angry. I think that they just felt if he got too much going on in his system in general, it would lead to unpredictability. Sure.
So over the course of the next few hours as they sat on the boardwalk, Linda, Charlotte, and Kathleen each consumed two more ecstasy pills from the stash of 10. Oh, my God. They did three ecstasy pills? Yo, man. Oh, my God. That's crazy. That's unheard of. For some of us, it is. Oh, man. To be normal.
Come on, but that's a lot. I went out with a guy. We went to the limelight and then the tunnel. He ate 30 exoskeletons. No. How do you survive that? I mean it. Regularly. Regularly. He would take a handful and throw them in his mouth.
It apparently, obviously you could die. Don't do that. But the more you take, you reach a peak high. And then the more you take, the longer it lasts. Oh man. So unless you die, which, you know, is very probable. Yep. Sounds terrible actually. So anyway, I thought that it was a lot and I think it may have been too much for them given what happens.
So by this point, right, the lingering clouds had finally taken over, turning the weather as the sunny day gave way to drizzle and strong winds along the river. Farrah, dressed only in his favorite long-sleeved Ireland Away jersey, began to physically feel the chill while a metaphorical chill descended upon the women.
Because at this stage, Farrah's three-day drinking binge had begun to affect him significantly and his mood shifted from jovial to hostile. Okay, so now it makes sense why they didn't give him extra drugs. Yeah, he was already... Exactly. He suddenly grew aggressive and started arguing with Kathleen in a mix of broken English and his native language, confusing and concerning her daughters who couldn't understand but knew instinctively that this wasn't going to end well.
In an effort to move what was likely to become a physical assault at this point, Kathleen firmly grabbed Farrah by the arm and led him toward O'Connell Street as the argument grew louder and more and more public.
Linda and Charlotte trailed behind, and before they realized it, they reached Kathleen and Farrah's apartment. Did she drag him somewhere less private or more private? Like, did she take him somewhere public so that she would be protected? They were on the boardwalk in like a seedy area, and then she was dragging him through the public streets to get back to their apartment. Oh, okay. Got it. All right. Pop, co-op.
Sick one. Shillelagh. That's what I was just going to say. Meet the parents, Jay-Z. Listen to it. It's on Blueprint 2. Okay, go. Beep.
C. Nope. Lies. Just really, really weird in my brain. Nope, because you said maybe it was a good idea based on what would happen later.
Because they didn't give him ecstasy. And then I said, whatever. Anyway, everyone knows what I'm talking about. You're a liar. Ask anybody. So he either grabbed a young Chinese boy and assaulted him or basically assaulted a young girl.
Fuck. L-A? Yes. This piece of shit didn't even know what his own son looked like, and he scared the crap out of this innocent, random little Chinese boy by grabbing him. How would he know what he looks like? I mean, he was in the area. He had seen his son before. Oh, okay. When he grabbed the boy, Kathleen yelled, That's not your son, you blee-jang-ay-jit. Nice. Did I do it right? I don't think so, but...
It worked anyway. That's not your son, you bleeding Egypt. Idiot. Yeah, but they say Egypt. Okay. I'm trying to get down with the lingo. Yeah. In Ireland. You are wearing green. That's where it ends. That was intentional.
Somehow, somehow, at 5.30 p.m., Linda, Charlotte, Kathleen, and Farrah made it inside of Kathleen and Farrah's apartment on 17 Richmond Cottages after first running into a couple of Farrah's neighbors before going inside. The apartment they rented was located on the ground floor of a two-story house that was divided into four separate apartments.
At 6.30 p.m., which was one hour after arriving, Kathleen and Farrah were still arguing with each other. Meanwhile, Charlotte and Linda were high as fuck and impervious to all of the arguing by this point.
And it was at this point when Kathleen, perhaps in an effort to shift Farrah's mood, decided to spike his canned beer with an ecstasy tablet of his own. So he did take ecstasy. He did. I'm telling you, that pop quiz was misleading as hell. No, you had to think it through. I'm not sure that you did. It's okay. Oh, I did. Okay. However...
This only seemed to heighten his libido and cloud his judgment even further. That's what I was saying that when you said earlier, oh, they gave him an E, then he would have just been all like touchy-feely or whatever you said. Yeah, and then you just said it increases libido. I know, that's what I was saying earlier to remember what you said because it comes back. So within moments, Farrah began openly making advances towards Linda. Linda. His girlfriend's daughter.
Now, all three of the Mulhall women knew that Farrah was a sexual predator. They knew his rap sheet. They knew his disgraceful outlook on women in general. And they certainly knew how he treated Kathleen. So when he unashamedly turned his sickening attention to his girlfriend's daughter, it triggered a series of events that would become one of the most gruesome in Irish history. Okay, let's hear it. Here's how it went down.
First, Farrah placed his arm around Linda. Then he aggressively pulled her closer to him while placing his arms around her waist, touching her leg, and whispering something dirty in her ear. It was at this point when Charlotte intervened, asked Farrah what the fuck he was doing, and then told him to get his hands off of her sister. After that, what did Farrah do? Pop quiz. Pop quiz.
A, he got up, casually walked across the room and punched Charlotte in the mouth. B, he ignored Charlotte and whispered to Linda, you and me are creatures of the night. C, he told Kathleen to watch as he unzipped his pants and laughed. So he punched her, whispered, or pulled his pants down. Unzipped, but yeah. You came up with two of those and that is, I'm so sad for you. Don't be sad for me. Okay.
I'm going to say that he whispered sweet nothings into her ear. Yes. Yes, he did. It wasn't just sweet nothings. He said, you and me are creatures of the night. You are like your mother. Shout out to the future Patreon creature of the night. Yes.
So Charlotte now got to her feet at this point and demanded with an air of threat that Farrah take his hands off of Linda. Then Kathleen took a step towards Farrah and demanded the same thing. Farrah suddenly stood up, grabbed Kathleen, his girlfriend, by her arm and started to pull her towards the bedroom while simultaneously dragging a finger across his throat and
as if to suggest that he was going to kill her. Fuck that. And all of the women in that house did not take this gesture lightly given Farrah's history of violence against women and the fact that he had broken Kathleen's ribs before in a fit of abusive rage. I'm so glad that I don't think or act like that. Me too. Like, seriously. Me too. I can't even imagine what your life must be like if you just...
view people, but women or vulnerable groups of people as like your things to do, um,
Your subjects or whatever. I don't know. Obviously, it speaks more about that person. Of course. It's predatory. Yeah. So it was then that Charlotte reached for a Stanley knife, which is like a box cutter, that had been sitting out on a sticky cutting board in the filthy kitchen surrounded by empty beer cans and vodka bottles. Farrah started whispering, you are so like your mammy. You are so like your mammy.
While Charlotte told him one last time to get his fucking hands off of Kathleen now. Okay. Yeah, he's got Kathleen. Right. Dragging her to the bedroom, acting like he's going to cut her throat and saying to Charlotte, you're so like your mommy. Yeah. Mammy. Mammy. But he didn't take these threats to mean anything. And he kept his grip firmly in place around Kathleen's arm.
Then Kathleen started begging her daughters to please kill him for me. Wow. Or she would be dead herself by the end of the year. And that's allegedly what she said to her daughters. Please kill him for me or I will be dead by the end of the year. So behind closed doors there had obviously been
threats of such. Oh, I mean, he broke her ribs in the past. He's beaten the shit out of her. And now that he's dragging her and putting his finger across his throat, she truly allegedly believes that at some point, if not now, at some point, he will take her life. Charlotte then pushed the button on the Stanley knife to make the sharp blade go up as Farrah continued to push Kathleen towards the bedroom.
Charlotte proceeded to run up behind Farrah, pulled his head back, and slit his throat with the blade as hard as she could. Oh, my God.
She cut a four-inch gash into Farrah's flesh as he staggered forward with a look of disbelief on his face, crying out, Katie, Katie, which was Kathleen's nickname, while blood poured out of his wound onto the blue carpet. Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions. My, my, my, how the turntables. Yes. Something. But Kathleen just continued to scream, get him away from me, get him away from me.
Farrah got about a foot away from the bunk beds that were in the bedroom before falling down hard and smacking his head on the wood. Then, as he tried to stand up, Linda retrieved a hammer from the kitchen drawer and bashed in the top of his skull using all of the strength she had. Whoa.
Linda proceeded to hit Farris' skull with the hammer at least 10 more times as Charlotte continued to stab him in the body 21 more times with the blade. Wow. And this is after she slit his throat. That's what we would call in the legal field overkill. Yes. Yes, we would. Damn right. So proud.
It was a full-on massacre that lasted between three to five minutes. Farrah's heart was repeatedly pierced. That is so long, by the way. It's so... I think about when I try and do the treadmill for three minutes straight. It's like an eternity. I got into a fight in senior year of high school, and it felt like... I asked people, like, how long did that last? Because it felt like it lasted 20 years. And they were like...
30 seconds. No, like three or four minutes. And I was like, that is for a street fight, like just a skirmish. Yeah. That's a long, long time. How do you not gas out? I did. I threw up. I was so tired. Who won the fight? I'm just curious.
Um, nobody wins in a fight. Okay. All right. I will tell you what happened. I was fucking huge. Uh, and I grabbed him. I was kneeing, whatever. I was, I was winning. And then I grabbed him from behind and threw him over my back like a Greco Roman wrestler, even though I had never done that before. And I landed on my head and knocked myself out. Why are you laughing? Okay.
You're right. Nobody wins in a fight. That was like four, 500 pounds of force coming down on my head on the ground. So then as I was passed out, he was still punching me, like knowing that I couldn't defend myself. Then people stepped in. I wonder if you incurred TBI. I did. I just told you I threw up. Did you get checked out? I went to the hospital. You did? Okay. All right. I'm just saying it might explain a few things. That's all I'm saying. I think about that a lot. Oh, sorry. I don't mean to make a joke about it.
Okay. Farrah's heart was repeatedly pierced during this attack. Farrah's liver was eviscerated and his stomach and bladder had also been penetrated by the blade. There was no evidence whatsoever of Farrah putting up a struggle and his hands did not reveal one defensive wound. But that makes sense because his throat was slit first. So he was out of commission. After the women finally stopped ravaging Farrah's body, Charlotte turned to Linda and gently said,
Oh my God, he's dead. Who said that? Charlotte. Yeah, you think? You think? Exactly. Oh my God, what a shock. What'd you do? He's dead. I can't believe it. The sisters began to cry uncontrollably and they hugged each other in an effort to reassure the other that everything was going to be okay. When they walked out of the bedroom covered in blood, now wearing jeans that had turned a dark crimson, Cassie,
Kathleen, who had been watching television during this entire ordeal, began to scream. Wait, she turned the TV on? Yep, she sure did. With three to five minutes? She put on a program, sat down? Yeah. She walked down the hallway, she went in the living room, and she let her daughter's
butcher her boyfriend. Holy crap. Within minutes, all three women snapped into action knowing that they needed to move quickly to dispose of Farrah's body. After a grim discussion on how to handle the body, they concluded that dismemberment was the most practical approach. Interestingly, dismemberment is a relatively rare method of body disposal deemed effective in only about 7% of the cases. What do you mean effective? It
It doesn't work. What do you mean it doesn't work? It gets discovered. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah. That's the point of body disposal, right? Yeah. Presumably is to like get rid of the evidence. And when you dismember and get rid of the evidence, it's only effective 7% of the time. Yeah, because I mean, there's like eight body parts. You have more likelihood of finding something. So researchers categorize homicidal mutilation or dismemberment into four distinct types. Defensive, offensive, aggressive, and necromaniac.
Defensive dismemberment? I'm gonna get into it. Defensive, offensive, aggressive, and necromaniac. The first type, defensive mutilation, is the most common type of mutilation killings and is employed primarily to hinder identification, facilitate transport, or destroy evidence.
This appears to be the type of homicidal mutilation that occurred here in this case. The second type, offensive mutilation, involves cases where dismemberment is the primary intent of the actual murder, often seen in lust and necro-sadistic homicides. So these killers might perform specific acts like removing genital organs or breasts driven by sexual motivation. Lorraine of Abbott. I mean, she didn't kill him, but yes. Oh, it says part of killing. It's post-homicide. Oh.
Oh, okay. Gotcha. The third type, aggressive mutilation, is driven by strong emotions where the act of dismembering itself causes the victim's death. This is the second most common type. And the fourth category, necromaniac mutilation, is when the perpetrator takes the parts of the corpse as a symbol or a trophy. Right? So they... Go, go, go, go. The guy. Jerry Brutus.
He took the foot? Yeah, or the other guy who had them in Tupperwares. Lam Corwan. Lam Corwan. Yeah, yeah, you're right. I also read in one source that there's another type of homicidal mutilation that's associated with organized crime where the mutilation serves as a message to others. Yeah, yeah. So in this context, the murder and dismemberment communicates like a warning or a threat. Like the cartels in the Colombian necktie. Yes, we've talked about that. That is so... Disturbing. Yeah. Yeah.
There are very few studies on the relationship between psychiatric disorders and dismemberment, but it has indeed been noted that perpetrators who commit aggressive and defensive mutilation have a history of alcohol and substance abuse, as well as previous psychiatric disturbances and criminal records. There is also a substantial connection between corpse dismemberment and childhood and adolescent sexual abuse.
In fact, 67% of mutilation murders were carried out by individuals who were sexually abused. Obviously, not everyone who survives sexual abuse goes on to engage in murder and body dismemberment, but there's this correlation that has been found.
All right, getting back to the case. But first, I need to issue a massive trigger warning at this point. If you do not vibe with body dismemberment, maybe skip ahead. And for the love of God, if you are eating, don't. After mixing themselves a few more vodka and Cokes, Linda and- Not drunk enough? No. That's the thing, though. And this becomes like a ingredient in their recipe.
So after mixing themselves a few more vodka and cokes, Linda and Charlotte began to move Farrah's body as the blood around him started to congeal into five-foot radius pools. They dragged the body into the hallway and then into the bathroom, leaving a bloody trail on the carpet.
The bathroom was cramped and absolutely filthy, and it had a toilet at the back and a small shower area to the right of that toilet, just about a foot and a half away. Very, very cramped. The walls, tiled and unwashed for years, enclosed a shower base that was too small for Farrah's entire body, which caused his legs to protrude awkwardly out onto the tiled floor. I'm picturing this too well. That's the idea.
Next. The sisters rummaged through the kitchen drawers for something sharp enough to dismember the body, but all they could find was a nine-inch kitchen devil bread knife, a name that now seems chillingly fitting given what they used it for. Slowly, Linda and Charlotte entered the bathroom and stared at the body for a few minutes, absorbing the grim reality of their task.
Charlotte then proceeded to remove Farrah's pants and, holding his right leg with her left hand, began to saw through the flesh above the knee.
The knife struggled against bone and cartilage, causing Linda to break down crying uncontrollably while Charlotte maintained her focus on cutting through the flesh. It's a bread knife. It worked. Oh. She was unable, though, to fully separate Farrah's kneecap with the bread knife, so she fetched the hammer and started pounding on the knee to apply extra force. Oh, God.
Blood splattered across the bathroom and, of course, all over her face, but she persisted, alternating between the Stanley blade and the bread knife until she managed to completely detach the top of the kneecap from the thigh area. What a macabre scene. Well done. Thank you.
Then she tossed the severed limb into the shower area, Farrah's sock still attached to his foot, and began the same gruesome process on the left leg. There's that sock. That's right. By this point, Linda had calmed down and she jumped in to help. She went into the linen closet and removed clean white towels to soak up the blood, which was still warm and continuing to rush out of the severed artery in Farrah's leg. Oh my God.
As the blood mingled with the filth on the bathroom floor, the accumulating liquid gradually darkened to black. Can I tell you something even grosser? Well, not grosser, but along the same lines. Sure. There was a guy I knew who was like a hunter-ish kind of. So he came over. He had just went pheasant hunting.
And he was de- Feathering? Feathering it or whatever. He's reaching and he goes, oh, fuck. And I go, what? He goes, it's still warm. Oh, my God. Oh, Lord. Yeah. Sometimes I think about that when I'm heating up chicken. Oh, yeah, me too. I try not to. I'm like, this is nasty. Yeah. We're going back to like our cave people times, like a fresh kill and it's still warm. Meat is disgusting. I'm not a fan.
Charlotte and Linda had to repeatedly rinse out the towels using cold water from the shower, which was not easy considering that the drain had become clogged with blood, bone, and skin. Gross. What case does that remind you of? Of a shower drain getting clogged with skin and bone and flesh.
Come on, make it your shabizness to remember. No, I'm drawing a blank on this one. Make it your shabizness to remember. Oh, tell her shabizness. Yes. Meth, murder, and mutilation. Very good. So the women began to remove chunks of flesh and bone from the shower, and they started to flush it down the toilet to get rid of it. Okay, here we are. The good news was that now both of Farrah's legs were dismembered, so he could fit neatly into the shower cubicle.
Taking breaks every 45 minutes or so, the sisters continued to butcher their now dead victim while sopping up his blood with towels and then rinsing and repeating. That's a long...
work session. Well, after four hours, all that remained of Farrah Swalanoor was the upper part of his body from his hips to his head. His stomach had gaping holes from the original attack, which filled the bathroom with a sickening stench emanating from the slashed gut and exposed entrails. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Linda took a knife and sliced off Farrah's penis while leaving the testicles intact.
Apparently, the now two-inch penis had shrunk with the cold mixture of water and congealed blood. But Linda held the little organ between her thumb and her pointer and flicked it into the shower with the other remains while whispering the following words, There, you little fucking prick. Now you will never rape my ma again.
And lastly, after covering Farrah's now discolored face with a towel so that he couldn't quote-unquote watch her, Charlotte put her knee against Farrah's torso and sawed off his head. It took 10 minutes with the blunt knife to sever Farrah's windpipe and to get the bleed through the back of his neck. And when she was done, the top of Farrah's spine stuck out the back of his head.
Next, they wrapped all of the body parts in black plastic bags from the kitchen before stuffing those bags into large sports bags. Then they walked into the living room to sit down with Kathleen. They were exhausted. They were emotionally drained and they were all terrified about what to do next, right? So at this point now, it's 11 p.m. and Linda, Charlotte and Kathleen begin to devise a cover-up story.
Since Farrah was from Somalia and didn't have any family in Ireland, they decided to make up a story about Farrah running away to be with the next girlfriend. Meanwhile, Kathleen was absolutely incapable of keeping the story straight and following the murder gave almost every single person a different explanation as to where Farrah had gone. My mother, oh my God, this just came to me. My mother used to tell me growing up, you have to have a really good memory to be a really good liar. Oh, yeah. And it makes so much sense now. Yeah.
The next small issue to tackle at that moment, okay, they're still in the apartment, was what to do with all of those pesky mutilated body parts. There was only one person the women could think of who might be able to cover up the murder and dispose of the remains. And that was John Mulhall.
Okay, the girl's dad, Kathleen's ex-husband. So at 11.41 p.m., Charlotte called John. And by 1 a.m., he arrived screaming, what the fuck happened? Yeah, maybe don't scream, dude. Go in quiet. Shut the fuck up. Maybe. Maybe play it cool. You fucking killed somebody! So he walked in. He saw what happened. He was explained what happened. Yeah. He announced, you're on your own. Got back in his van and drove away. Yeah.
But now he's kind of... Yeah. Yeah. You're kind of right. Charlotte and Linda, though, at this point, they absolutely crashed physically and emotionally. They both fell asleep for about 90 minutes as Kathleen got to work bleaching the bathroom from top to bottom. After the girls woke up, they used the Stanley knife to remove over six feet of carpet and underlay that was saturated in blood and were relieved to see that the blood hadn't soaked through to the concrete floor.
They packed up the carpet as well as some blood-stained strips of wallpaper that they also removed, and they placed them into a sports bag. At 6 a.m. now the following morning, after five straight hours of cleaning, the doorbell rang.
And the women were absolutely freaking out. Oh, yeah, you think? But it turned out to be John coming back to help. After all, he already had two sons in jail, James and John, and he didn't want his little girls to wind up there as well. So he transferred several black plastic bags filled with bloody towels, carpet, wallpaper, and guts into the back of his van and drove off.
Linda, Charlotte, and Kathleen carried sports bags containing eight separate body parts and walked for three minutes to the Royal Canal, where they disposed of the parts in an effort to finally put an end to this horrific ordeal. And this is at like 6 a.m.? Yeah, a little after 6. Okay, so they've now thrown the bags of body parts into the canal. But they've also walked through the streets with these bags. They have indeed.
And they were not quite done, though, with all of Farrah because the women still had his head back at the apartment. They hadn't wanted to throw the head into the canal, presumably for identification purposes. According to forensic psychologist Dr. Ciara Stanton, the removal of the head signified something more than just not wanting to risk him being identified.
She asserts that almost like the removal of the torment and constant verbal abuse that by severing his head, they were making that type of a statement. Well, yeah, because he's a criminal, right? This guy, then his fingerprints are obviously on file. Like that's how they're going to identify him. Right. But whatever the reason for decapitating the corpse, the women now needed to do something with the head. So they did.
Pop quiz. Okay. What did they do with Farrah's head? A, they doused it in lighter fluid and set it ablaze in a dumpster behind the apartment. B, they boiled it, smashed the bones with a hammer, and flushed the fragments down the toilet. C, they placed it into a camera bag, rode the public bus across town, and buried it. C. Yes. Yes, they did.
They actually rode the bus together across town with a human head in a camera bag. Now, by the way, it's Charlotte's 22nd birthday. Oh, happy birthday, Charlotte. Right.
This is one to remember. Exactly. Yeah. So at this point, all three women were trying to come to terms with what had taken place. Linda started to almost immediately unravel and found herself consumed by guilt. Yeah. Charlotte, who was the most hardened of the three, had no issue staying at the apartment where hours earlier she had murdered and dismembered her mother's boyfriend.
And Kathleen seemed to be coping by continuing to obsessively clean the apartment. They all kept moving, all of them. And just three days after the murder, they also decided to empty Farrah's bank account.
Okay, so this is where they are. Over the course of the next 10 days, Linda lived on the brink of a nervous breakdown 24-7. She was consumed by the possibility of the head being discovered as when they left it, the top had been sticking out of the ground. Why? Why? Why?
You couldn't dig a fucking hole for a head to fit in. I mean, you did all that other work. They were, I mean, in their defense, even though this is all indefensible, they were probably so tired. Yes, they were. That amount of work with that amount of adrenaline dump and emotion and like the guy's already dead. Now you got to kill him more. And like the thing is already done, but like you got fucking. Yeah. Thanks.
On March 30th, okay, Linda decided to take her son's school bag. Okay, so he had to go to school that day. I read this. With his books in a plastic bag because she took his backpack, returned to the park where she buried the head, dug it up, and transported it to the Sean Walsh Park in Tala.
Okay, so she's digging up body parts and transferring it. She's unraveling. Oh, yeah. And to this day, no one knows exactly where the head was buried because it's never been discovered. She probably dug a deeper hole. But...
As she reburied the head, she cried for one hour straight while whispering, I'm sorry, Farrah. It should be me ma in there and not you. Really? Mm-hmm. They didn't have a great relationship, Linda and Kathleen, for what it's worth. And Kathleen was a little bit ghosting her daughters after this whole thing went down. Wow. Like a little bit abandoning them. You got what you wanted and now I can't get you to text me back? No.
Is that from something? No, it's a very common story, though. Oh, okay. Linda then also took out a lighter from her pocket and she burned her son's backpack. So now the head is buried in a different park. The backpack is gone. But before she dug up the head and transferred it originally, what happened? Pop quiz. PQ, baby.
A. She warned her son, who then relayed to his teacher, to never play soccer at Sean Walsh Park because a zombie lived there, one that she herself had buried. B. Two park rangers noticed hair sticking out of the ground but chose to ignore it. C. Linda heard a voice in her head telling her that she was evil and that she needed to confess upon her return. C. But... Oh. A. A.
No. But B, wow, that's weird because I wanted to say something that I am just not looking forward to. I'm going to be dead, so it's not going to matter. But from what I understand, I may have the time wrong, but your hair grows for another six months after you're dead, which means that I'm going to be
underground dead with the craziest hair you could possibly imagine. Like I think sometimes about just fucking doing it, like going, putting myself on a deserted island just so I can see what my hair would look like. Why do you have to be on a deserted island? I will never let it grow out otherwise. Why? You don't want people to see it? No. Just do it.
That is, you have no idea what you're saying right now. I guess I don't. You have no idea. I went on a ski trip and I hadn't, I didn't shave my head for three days before we left, just for some reason. I didn't shave it the whole time we were there. It was like another three days, maybe four. I was wearing a hat the whole time. We got back and I took a mirror and looked at myself in the mirror, like hand mirror and mirror behind me. I was
Blown away. Yeah. Devastated. Could not believe what I was seeing. I have that if I don't shave my legs, so I get it. Yes. Because nobody sees that and I'm still like, ugh. Full-blown Dr. Phil. I think. I don't know. I just, I shaved it so fast. He should have grown a mustache and just went with it. Yeah. You know? Telling people what to do with their lives. Robert McGovern and Brian Malloy, two park rangers, notice what looked like a dead animal with short black hair buried behind a bench.
The men even stopped to have a smoke to examine the object, obviously not very well, because Brian walked behind it, just started kicking at the ground around this object, ultimately deciding that it was a dog's belly and agreed to just cover it up with more dirt and forgetting about it. Had they actually investigated, they would have seen that it was a human head and he could have been identified immediately.
Instead, Farrah's death came to the Gardee's attention on the same day when at 6.30 p.m., a 23-year-old man named James O'Connor spotted a severed human leg, still wearing a sock, floating down the Royal Canal. He immediately dialed 999 and detectives arrived by 6.56 p.m.,
Now, a critical part of an examination of any murder scene is the expert opinion of the state pathologist. So the Dublin City Coroner, Dr. Mike Curtis, was called to conduct a forensic examination of the remains. And he indicated that the original murder scene, wherever that may have been, would be like an abattoir. Well, yeah. And he was not wrong. He said abattoir? He did. I wanted to bring that up because he said abattoir. Listen to Psychopedia. Yeah, obviously.
Now came the difficult task of identifying the victim for law enforcement. Initially, due to the epidermal separation, the skin had been severely discolored and investigators initially thought that the victim was white.
Mm-hmm.
In this case, forensic experts analyzed four elemental isotopic compositions of fast-growing tissue, including hair and nails, to establish that the victim's life in the recent history of this victim's life, spanning 200 days prior to his death,
placed him living in Dublin for the last six months, but that he was actually of African ethnicity. So at this time, the description did not match any in the missing person's database. Yeah. But isn't that cool how they backed into that?
By the following day at 5.30 p.m., news of the unidentified dismembered body was all over the news. Initially, the Gardee considered the possibility of a ritual sacrifice having taken place, especially since the victim's head and penis were missing. The only two parts not found by the Garda Sub Aqua team using underwater video cameras. Okay, so they found both legs, the arms. Everything but the penis and the head. The torso. Right. Everything but the penis and the head. Correct. Correct.
Was the penis too small for them to find it? I actually wondered if like it got eaten or something because it shrunk so small. Someone thought it was like a bite-sized little... Chicken finger maybe. Ew. Why did I say that? I don't know. Why did anybody say anything? I don't know.
So they thought it was a ritual killing or some kind of black magic victim. They were very ignorant. Admittedly, they admit this at that time. And they had a lot of African immigrants. And they actually started to interview priests that originated from Africa that were now in Dublin to find out about various ceremonies and things of that nature.
But regardless, it wasn't obviously, we know it wasn't a black magic ceremony that led to that victim's death. But it didn't matter, regardless of the motive at that point or the cause of death, the investigative team, which included more than 100 members from multiple units, as well as the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Garda Water Unit, and the Garda Technical Bureau...
It was the most experienced murder team in the state, and they were exploring every single possibility. This was now the most publicized murder case ever. Yeah. And even though this investigation team was badass, they quickly realized the importance of media assistance in identifying the murder victim, particularly given the immediate and intense interest from the press.
So the day after the remains were found, a press conference was held on Fitzgibbon Street, which attracted a large amount of reporters from newspapers, television, and radio.
Detective Inspector Christy Mangan and Superintendent John Leahy presented the victim's clothing to the press, notably a distinctive white, long-sleeved Ireland Away jersey, which anyone who knew Farrah would have recognized as being his usual attire. Wow. Crime Stoppers even offered a public reward of €10,000 for information leading to the victim's identification while assuring confidentiality.
And sure enough, on May 16th, they got their first significant break in the case. Because on that day, Muhammad Ali Abu Bakr, a Somali man, I, what? Float like a butterfly. Sting like a, his name is Muhammad Ali. I can't let that go. You're right. Yeah. Well, he was not a boxer. He was a Somali man residing in Dublin.
and he reported that his friend and fellow countryman, Farah Swalenor, had been missing for over a month and had been known to wear that shirt on a regular basis. Investigators learned that Farah had a six-year-old son...
whom they located and obtained a DNA sample from. And of course, the DNA sample of that little boy matched the remains found in the canal. So now the man in the canal had officially been identified with 99.9% certainty as being Farrah Knorr.
So now that they knew who their victim was, it was time to fast track finding the very killer or killers who wound up becoming infamously known as the Scissor Sisters. And that's where we're going to leave off with part one. We still haven't heard anything about Scissors, correct? No, that is correct. And you'll find out more in part two. Also in part two, we're going to get into the actual investigation and the trial as well as the psychological analysis. I'm going to make a bold statement here. Okay.
This so far is probably my favorite case we've ever done. Really? Yeah. I don't know what it is. It feels super interesting. Great. Yeah. I'm so happy to hear that. I love it. Next week, I think you're also really going to love. We have to explore their minds. I was talking about this at our event, actually. So there's a show. I sent you a clip. It's called Catch Me a Killer. Okay. I think it's on. I only have Hulu and Netflix, I feel like. Oh.
Obviously, if you're referencing it. It takes place in South Africa. And it's based on a true story. It was a female forensic profiler, the first in South Africa and for a long time, the only forensic profiler in South Africa. And she was put on all the major serial killer cases. And it's amazing. And I sent you this clip and I was talking about it at the event, but it reminds me of the point I'm trying to make now, which is,
In that series, she's accused by law enforcement as empathizing with the perpetrators because she's constantly talking to them. Sometimes she's crying when these perpetrators are telling them their childhood, their backstories. And they said to her in the show, you seem like you care about them, like you empathize with them. And she said, I have to understand them. And if you understand them, you empathize. And that is the only way we're going to...
catch them. Yeah. And that is exactly how I feel with these cases because sometimes I feel bad being like so riled up, like, oh, we're going to talk about their like backstories and their psychology, but we have to understand perpetrators. If we see them as humans, then we can figure them out and stop them. Which to be fair to people listening to this who don't want to do that, I understand why people, other people,
serial killers. Like, I could never. You can't excuse what they do. That aside, I'm just saying for people that absolutely are wholeheartedly disagreeing with what you're saying right now, I get that too. I do get both sides. I actually, my twin sister is in that camp. Yeah, yeah. Like, she hasn't listened to one Psychopedia episode. She can't. It's way too uncomfortable for people to think that they could potentially be capable of doing something like that, which I get. Right. Yeah. And I'm on the flip side, which is like, you know. I could definitely do some shit like that. No way.
No, Tank. No. I think that understanding them makes you realize how you are not them. Yeah. Yep. People are different. People are different. Exactly right. So take what you want to take and leave behind what you want to leave behind. Well, I'm looking forward to part two. Thank you. Me too. Very much. And I hope that you guys are too. And it will be out soon. But until then.
Thanks for listening. Yes. Well, hold on. I'm really hoping that you have a tanks tidbit. Oh, fuck. Yeah. Yeah. Give it to us. But also I do want to thank everybody for listening. And honestly, this case, I hope I'm doing it justice because it is a heavy hitter of a case. Before we wrap up completely, I'm going to do my tanks tidbits. Titties. Tanks tiddies. So I saw a video recently and I like could not wait to share this with you and the people.
If you have children and you find yourself getting frustrated by their behavior or lack of action when you ask them to do something,
Most people know, I feel like it's common knowledge at this point, although it probably isn't, that the prefrontal cortex is not fully formed until you're 25. That's average. That's men. Women are a little bit sooner, but let's just say 25, right? The prefrontal cortex is what makes you a human. It helps with logic, ration, language, decision-making, huge decision-making, motivation, follow-through, all of that.
Impulse control. Impulse control. So when you find yourself telling your kid to brush their teeth 10 times in a row and they're still not doing it,
that's because you as the parent are their prefrontal cortex. They do not have it yet. I like that. So be patient. They are quite literally not formed yet. I can say to myself, I got to go brush my teeth and I will go brush my teeth. Not only do they not have the ability, they're forming the ability. So when you tell them to do something, it's like, yeah, I don't know, maybe. Maybe I'm never going to brush my teeth again. I don't know. You're also learning like consequences, like what
what happens if I don't? Yeah, yeah. It's like a whole cocktail of reasons. But they don't have the ability to self-motivate. For the most part. Some kids, obviously, this is a general statement. You may have a kid who's like a serious self-starter. But for the most part, if you find yourself getting frustrated telling your kids to do the same thing over and over and over again, just know that there's a reason for it. It's not because they're annoying or bad or disrespectful or disobedient. It's like they don't have that. Well, they are those things, but they don't mean it.
No, I would disagree. Yeah? They don't have the part of the brain. Yeah, but you said that they're annoying. I mean... Disrespectful, disobedient. I wouldn't label a child that's incapable of making... Incapable, you're right. Yeah. You're right. So they're not disrespectful, but they are incapable. So just keep that in mind. I'm not saying to never get annoyed because kids are, you know... Kids are kids. That was my point. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
But that's it. Until next time. Yes. Thank you so much, everyone, for listening. Thank you, Tank, for bringing the levity. Thank you for doing all the research and making this the best case ever. And if you made it this far, Megs, you're a real one. And we will see you guys at the next episode. Yes, come back for part two. Trust me. Bye. Bye.