#375: Babysitter Returns Dead Baby Back To Mom - Then Can’t Stop Smiling During Interrogation
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Two sisters walk into one of those coin laundry mats with the washing machines all lined up on the sidewall. It's October in Wisconsin at around 9 p.m. So both the sisters, Heather and Jesse, they're walking in wearing winter coats. They've got Heather's two kids with them, a boy toddler and a little 11-week-old baby, baby Benson.

So right when the sisters walk in, these sisters, they're on a mission. They already had the clothes in the washer. They got to move them to the dryer. They have clothes in the dryer that they have to take out and fold. I mean, it's a whole system that they've got going on. Jessie is holding on to her little nephew, the toddler. She's swinging him around carefully, trying to cheer him up while baby Benson is deep in his sleep in the car seat.

It's a little bit cold, it's a little bit gloomy outside, and they're doing chores. It's not the most fun activity, but everyone's trying to have a good time until everything changes.

Jesse the sister and the aunt to the babies she stops folding the clothes and she just takes a moment to lean over and peer into baby Benson's car seat where he's been asleep the whole car ride to the laundromat he's been asleep since they got here a few minutes ago she looks at him closely and she pauses for a second wait he looks Heather why are his lips so blue Heather come look

Heather, the mom, walks over and not only are her son, baby Benson's lips blue, they look strangely like they're stuck together, like someone put super glue and pressed his lips together. They look dry and his whole face is this pale, ghostly color. She picks him out of the car seat and he's cold. He's cold. He's completely ice cold to the touch.

There's CCTV footage of this and Jessie is running to pick up her older nephew, the toddler, into her arms. Her phone is already up to her ear. She's calling 911. Heather is seen on the cameras quieter, but she looks hyper focused on performing chest compressions on her baby boy. 911, what's your emergency? Please, God, this baby is dead. Please, we're at the laundromat on the corner of 3rd and Union. Please, where are you?

It's a laundromat. I don't know the name of it, but I have another child in my arms and my sister's baby is dead. We need you to start CPR on that baby. We don't know how. We don't know how. Is he on his back? We have him on his back. I need you to tip his head back. He's freezing cold. He's freezing. Tip his head back, Heather. Tip his head back.

You can see Jesse holding the toddler in her arms. He's crying. He's starting to freak out. Heather, again, is hyper-focused on the chest compressions and trying to figure out how to do CPR. Now, initially, during this phone conversation, Heather sounds determined. She sounds like she has nothing else on her mind but these chest compressions. But halfway through, you start hearing her voice again.

start to shake. And while she keeps pushing down on her baby's chest, she says, "I can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore. He's already freezing cold."

Heather starts crying and the 911 operator keeps telling her, keep doing the compressions. The ambulances are on their way. Keep doing the compressions. They're on their way. But it's no use. Baby Benson is already dead. He was already dead when they pulled him out of the car seat and called 911. And he was already dead when they walked into the laundromat. In fact, he had been dead for multiple hours, which begs the question then,

When did he die? How did he die? And why did nobody notice? We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. They are a volunteer-based and provide free medical care and humanitarian aid to thousands of injured, abused, and abandoned children. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team. And we would also like to thank our listeners for your continued support as we work on our mission to be worthy advocates.

As always, full show notes are available at rottenmangopodcast.com. Some of the more intense themes in today's episode include mentions of CA and CA resulting in death, particularly around the infant age. If that is too much for you today, please take it easy, go rest, and I will see you in the next one. With that being said, let's get into it. There is a woman named Marissa.

And she's got a lot of boyfriends. That's her thing. She is the queen of time efficiency. I mean, she's so good at this. She will take a letter that one of her boyfriends sends her with multiple pages of graphic fantasies of what he wants to do to her when he sees her again and how they're going to make love.

And she will take that letter, read it fully through, change the POV, rewrite it in her handwriting with the same plot, the same fantasy, and send it to boyfriend number two, making it appear like this was her fantasy that she has of him.

Wait, so boyfriend writes a fantasy that he wants to do to her. Boyfriend one writes her a fantasy that he wants to do to her. So he's like, I want to hug you. She changes the POV. Like I want to be hugged by you. And sends it to boyfriend number two.

Exactly. I mean, for her, it's just if she finds someone that she has the same interest in, if she finds someone that has the same value she has, I mean, it's hard to give them up. Even when she has like 10 boyfriends lined up, she wants to keep each and every one of them. Her firm dating requirements are they better like kids. That is a deal breaker for her. If you don't like kids, if you don't want kids, she's not going to be with you. She already has five kids. She's pregnant with her sixth kid, and she still has plans to have at least five.

Two, three more kids. Wow. She writes to one boyfriend. You only have one kid. You know, that's cool. You don't want any more kids. That's not cool because I want more kids. I mean, just saying. So we might not work out then.

And the second dating requirement is they can't take everything they see on the news too seriously. It's very annoying when someone can't understand that there is fake news being spread on mainstream media, news outlets, and even social media. You can't just have a boyfriend who sits there and parrots what he hears on the news without thinking about all the biases that are involved. I mean, really, she hates the news.

She writes to one of her boyfriends about her whole life and she says, I want to move out of town and just be with you and me like we always do. We can work, watch movies, have family time, cuddle, sleep together, sleep together and sleep together some more. She uses...

She says fuck. Okay. Miss you and your private part so much. I mean, I haven't shaved since I got here. It's not cool at all. I have lots of hair everywhere, but I want to F you so bad right now. I miss you. We're going to F right away when we get home. I don't care how hairy I'm going to be either.

Anyway, I love being a mom. I love kids so, so much. I love them so dearly. Truly, kids are everything to me. And the news, they want to say that I'm a monster to babies. It's just, it's,

Unbelievable. Like I can't really believe these people. The news makes me look like I'm some fucking monster and that I kill babies. It makes me mad because I'm not a killer and I love babies. I love kids, etc. I'm a good mom. Like what the fuck? It was an accident. I was frustrated. Just a mistake that happened and it sucks. And I was frustrated and scared and I did take on a lot of responsibility. But I love kids and I'm not a killer and I'm still your good girl always.

I would never beat a baby. Hell no. I love kids so much. Marissa hands that letter over to the prison guards. It's just not fair. It's just one kid. And the other two? Well, those were accidents too, you know?

What? A few hours before baby Benson was found deceased at the laundromat, a couple is seen walking into McDonald's with the same kids. The toddler from the laundromat, but this time two little infants in their own car seats. So they have a toddler and instead of just one car seat, they have an additional car seat. So three kids.

Three kids, one's walking, the other two are in the car seat. Yes. They walk over to the counter. They order their meal. They find a seat almost out of view from the CCTV cameras and they sit down and eat. Within 15, 20 minutes, they're done with their meal and they head back out to their car. At this point, one of the five people, the couple and the three kids, one of them was a killer.

and they had just brought their already murdered victim to McDonald's to eat one last meal. Detective Holtz arrives to the laundromat, and there's only two customers inside. One woman at the door screaming at the cop cars to hurry and help. "Hurry, please come in!" The police rush in and they see another woman doing chest compressions on an infant laying on the table.

Shit, it's not looking good. The officers get closer. The baby's skin color looks like ash. The area around his lips are completely blue. And the officers take over to begin the CPR, but this is the odd part. So the first thing that they need to do is check the baby's airways to see if there's something obstructing his breathing, aka did he choke on something? But when they try to get his mouth open to look inside his throat, his jaw is locked. It's completely clenched. They can't even get it open to see inside of his mouth.

That fact, combined with the fact that his body is ice cold, it's likely that rigor mortis has already set in. Baby Benson likely died at least two hours ago. Side note, another detail the police noted was when baby Benson was laying on the laundromat table, his legs were not falling onto the table because they were bent like he was still inside the car seat.

Rigor mortis, again, had set in. They're not falling to the table from the gravity. Wait, so they picked the baby out of the car seat and lay it on the table? The mom did. But the baby's still fixed in that seating position? Yes, the legs are still bent.

Yeah, the baby's legs are still bent. So what is going on? I mean, obviously, authorities have to run through all the theories. Is it sudden infant death syndrome, SIDS? I mean, the possibilities have to be checked off. Did this baby die from a cold? Was it already a sick baby? Previous illnesses? I mean, they also have to confirm with the hospitals and the mom. But baby Benson was in the NICU maybe once for a high fever. But that was right when he was born. He's been a very healthy baby since then.

How old is the baby once again? 11 weeks old. Oh, whoa. That's not even three months. Exactly. I mean, of course it could always be the mom. Because the baby is only three months old, it could be postpartum depression. The police do have to think about that. But the mom does seem very open to being investigated. She's handing over her car keys, her diaper bag, her phone, literally whatever the police want. She's giving it to them. No questions asked.

Heather and Jesse, the sisters, they already have an idea of what happened to baby Benson and they're ready to share it with the investigators or at least what they think or who happened to him. They are certain that the babysitter did this. I mean, it has to be the babysitter. She has another child. It was like delusional. We could not even open his eyes. First hand. A little more info. What exactly happened?

The police are confused. What do you mean? Why do you think it's the babysitter? I mean, her face was beet red when we went to pick the kids up. She was sweating. She looked scared. The sisters explained, usually when we pick up the kids, the babysitter never has the boys ready. So we go inside, we take our time, we get them ready, we get them changed into their car seats. Heather always helps. This is a very important part of the story.

This time, the babysitter is waiting at the door with the kids. She doesn't even really turn on her porch light. The whole entrance to the house is dark. It's dim. Whether her porch light is barely on or it's off, they don't even know. Basically, she's rushing them out in the dark, practically pushing them out the door. She's not even letting them inside. The sisters were maybe standing in the doorway for about two seconds. They briefly point out what appeared to be a hickey on the babysitter's neck.

Heather states she did not see this hickey when she dropped off her kids. So this is very alarming because you're supposed to be babysitting. Why do you have a new hickey? But the babysitter just made a joke as a response and then rushed them out. So when that door shut, they're gone. They're out there. It was so quick. But again, her face was, quote, beat fucking red. I'm not even kidding you. Both the sisters remember thinking at that point, Jesus Christ, what the hell is going on? It was just so unusual.

And this was like 20 minutes ago. So when they saw her face was beet red, like, are they assuming that she's like nervous red? Or was she like, they think she's like exercising red or nervous? Like she's on something. That's how they describe her.

They did notice that Benson had his hat pulled down over his eyes. He was asleep in the car seat. They don't want to wake him up. I mean, Heather, as lightly as she can when placing him into the car, she lightly, so gently pulls the hat up to uncover his eyes just because she's worried he's going to wake up from his nap and start freaking out if he can't see anything suddenly.

They put him in the car. They drive to the laundromat. They gently take the kids out and they start moving the clothes to the dryer. It's not until maybe a few minutes in that they went to check on him and they realized that his body is ice cold. Heather starts realizing what all of this means and she starts losing control of her emotions, which nobody would blame her for. But she has been doing an incredible job so far at keeping her emotions at bay to answer all the investigators questions. And it's starting to crack.

I just picked him up from the babysitter. Is he dead? Please don't tell me he's dead. The police are quiet. That girl just killed my baby. I picked him up from the babysitter. I came back to get my clothes and I took him out and he was cold and he's not moving and I can't do, I gotta get my son out of here. I can't do this. There was another problem on hand. Jesse, Heather's sister, tells the investigator.

I sent a text to the babysitter on Heather's phone when all of this was happening, and I shouldn't have done it. I know I shouldn't have, but like I said, I was just so angry. I texted her, you killed my sister's baby. What did she say? She didn't say anything back. I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have. I was just so angry. Can you tell that she read it? Was it like a Facebook message or a text message? A text. It doesn't even say if she read it. I'm sorry.

No, it's all right. I was just angry and I was on Heather's phone and I saw her name and I just couldn't not say it, you know? I'm sorry. And what did you say the name of the babysitter was? In that moment, if the police felt their hearts sink, they don't show it. They don't even skip a beat. But I'm sure on the inside, these officers, they're panicking.

The babysitter's name is Marissa Tiasort, and the officers are quite familiar with her and the fact that she's not allowed to be anywhere near any children. One officer turns to her partner far enough away from Heather and her sister so that they cannot hear. We need to do a CT scan or something to make sure he doesn't have a brain bleed. That's her MO. This is the third infant that's gotten hurt in her care. She has been responsible for brain bleeds and skull fractures.

So she has previously killed two babies? Injured. Injured two babies. Marissa, the babysitter, had done this before. The detectives drive up to the Plaza Hotel at four in the morning. So this is hours after the laundromat situation. I mean, I'm sure it's a nice hotel during the day, but at night, it's a little creepy. The hotel setup is kind of like the back rooms. You walk in and in the middle, indoor, is a giant pool full

Each hotel floor has a hallway with a railing that overlooks the pool in the center. So once you exit your room, I'm sure the smell of chlorine just hits your nostrils and you hear water splashing. It's a very interesting concept and it's very creepy at 4 in the morning. But the police aren't here for the pool. They're here for Marissa and her long-term boyfriend, Adam. That's who's checked into room 214.

The police start banging on the door. Marissa, we know you're in here. Open the door. We're not going away, Marissa. Open the door. Marissa? The door finally swings open and it's Marissa's shirtless boyfriend, the father of her children, Adam. He's standing in the door and there are at least three police officers standing in front of him at four in the morning and he looks more angry than confused. Good morning, Adam. Is Marissa here? What are you guys doing here?

The officers walk into the room. They're scanning the walls, the counter surfaces, anything for any weapons, anything that could be used against them. Wait, does the police know him too? Yes. The fact that they address him by first name, that's crazy. They spot a baby, maybe a month older than Benson, laying in a crib in the room. That's the couple's child. Adam, just cooperate with us, okay? We're going to explain everything in a second. We already charged Marissa. What the fuck?

At this point, Adam thinks the police are here to talk about a previous charge that Marissa was charged with. Adam, stay here. No, you guys are harassing the hell out of us and she already got charged. We'll be at court. Why you gotta come here? Well, because we need to talk to her about something new. Something new? Why are you guys here at this hotel? Because we wanted to get away. From what? Everything. Is it against the law to come stay at a hotel room for the night?

In the body cam footage, you don't see Marissa in the room. You see Adam standing there shirtless. You see the other officers standing in the room, but you don't see Marissa. And that's because she's hidden from the view of the body cams. This whole time that the police have been banging on the door, Adam has been screaming, what are you doing here? You're harassing us. Marissa has not been seen on the body cam footage. The detective walks over, pulls the blanket back. Marissa, can you get up so that I can talk to you?

marissa has been pretending to be asleep this whole time in the room in the room it's a small room right it's a hotel room right it's just a bed they're standing next to the bed adam is screaming at them oh they've been banging on the door for 10 minutes they're standing literally looking down at marissa and she's pretending to be asleep

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Marissa and Adam are separated to be questioned by the police because technically they are the last ones to see Benson alive. If anyone knows something, it's going to be them. Detective Holtz and Captain Graham take Marissa out into the hallway. Adam is in the hotel room with another officer. Wait, I'm so sorry. So the police pull the blanket, say get up. Yeah, she gets up. She gets up. Yeah. She's like, oh my gosh. Oh my God. Didn't know you guys were here. Basically. Yeah.

Detective Holtz starts her line of questioning. I mean, she's pretty upfront about the situation. But see if you can spot all of the odd details of the interrogation. Marissa, this is a very important conversation we're about to have, okay? Tell me about taking care of him today. Oh, I was just watching him and he was fine. That was about it. Did you feed him? I fed him once and he slept. And then, well, we went outside when they got here first a little bit because he was nice out. You and the kids? Mm-hmm.

Okay, and he was dressed in what? He was dressed in a snowsuit. Basically one of those like gray fleece onesies to keep him warm. He was dressed in a snowsuit and a blanket. Okay, and then you were home alone. And then what time did Adam get home? He got home at like almost, I don't know, maybe 630 or something like that. Where was he at? He was hunting. Okay, and then what did you guys do after that? After Adam got home? We went out to eat after he got home.

Where did you go? McDonald's. Which one? The one over by the courthouse. Inside or drive-thru? We went inside. Okay, and how long did you stay there? I don't know, maybe 15 minutes tops. Okay, so you ate inside? Mm-hmm. We ate inside. You were able to finish your meal in 15 minutes? Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay, and then what happened? Did you come straight home after McDonald's? Mm-hmm. Only place you went outside the house was McDonald's? Mm-hmm.

Then came straight home. Anything significant happen? Now, something interesting to note is that throughout this whole line of questioning, that's how it starts.

It's a little weird that Marissa doesn't immediately ask, what's wrong with baby Benson? Why are the police questioning her at this hotel? When they initially take Marissa out into the hallway, they just tell her they're having an important conversation about baby Benson. She doesn't ask, is he okay? What happened? What's going on? Is everything all right? She's just like, he was fine when I was taking care of him, which is very odd.

So now she starts asking, what do you mean? So tell me about taking care of Benson today. Again, I was watching him and he was fine.

Marisa has her arms crossed, her lips are in this tight thin line that they're pointing downwards. She's frowning. I personally try not to include too too too much body language theories and analysis in these videos because I personally don't feel like I know enough. But also I think it's just a very tricky area where sometimes subjects have medical conditions, they could genuinely be nervous from talking to authorities or have nervous body language. So with that being said,

She looks so guilty. I mean, I don't know how else to put it. She just looks very odd. Yeah. I mean, especially when we know when someone is guilty and then you're looking at the way that they try to lie or cover it up. That's... Wow. Yeah.

Now, to be fair, body language experts have stated that arms crossed and thin tight lips that are pointed downwards typically indicates that somebody is feeling heightened levels of discomfort and frustration in a situation. This is not a very normal response to hearing news like this. If you were truly innocent and you hear that a baby in your care is now injured or something happened, you would not be uncomfortable and frustrated. You would be concerned, worried, anxious. Mm-hmm.

Marissa responds, "No, nothing significant happened. We came home after McDonald's. We put a movie in. Then, I don't know how long it was after, but Heather called and she's like, 'I'm putting my clothes in the dryer and I'll be there in 15 minutes.'" Yeah, so 15 minutes later, she came there. Okay, so did you get him ready or did she get him ready? Yeah, I had him ready. I left him in his car seat.

Okay, how long had he been in his car seat? After McDonald's, it was maybe only like half an hour, 45 minutes, maybe. It was right after McDonald's. I just left him in his car seat. You didn't take him out? No, because she usually comes around like nine and he was sleeping, so...

Another thing netizens have pointed out, please let me know if you caught this, are that her descriptions of the day are very vague. Usually people will have a lot more details to add, but it seems like she can barely remember what's going on. And there's only about three to four activities that she listed happened through the day. There's also no person or reaction in any activity. There's no, we went to McDonald's because the toddler was hungry. He kept saying he wanted chicken nuggets, so we went to McDonald's.

You could almost replace anybody in these activities. The only part where there's a little bit of that is when Heather calls to tell her she's going to be picking up her kids in 15 minutes. The detective keeps going. He was awake the whole time? No, he was sleeping. When? The whole time. The whole time you babysat him? All of a sudden, Marissa's mouth turns all the way up and she smiles really big.

It's a bit of a creepy smile. She's showing all of her teeth and then she responds. And when she's talking, it's kind of like she can't wipe the smile off her face. But nothing warrants a smile here other than the fact that she feels uncomfortable being caught in a weird situation where she basically lied about him being asleep.

She smiles. No, I mean like after he got there. He was up for like a couple hours and then I fed him and then I put him in the pack and play and then I had this little camera like the video monitor and then like I didn't check on him because I have that now. So like, yeah, he was in your back bedroom in our bedroom. Then she just pauses for a really long time. Just start zoning out. It looks like she's trying to look through the walls of the hotel to see what Adam is doing.

Why did she smile or laugh? It's weird. She just keeps smiling. I think she smiles when she lies or knows that she's been caught in a lie. I almost feel like it's her way of trying to appear innocent. I see. She's just zoning out and the police ask her, are you okay? And she smiles again and starts, yeah, I just have sleep deprivation.

The audio of this next part is redacted, but the authorities decide to finally tell her that Benson has passed. This reaction is what caused this case to go viral. So they presumably tell her that baby Benson is dead. The baby that she had been babysitting the day of has passed. And you know when you're in a fight with someone. Let's say you're in a fight with your partner and it's not a serious fight. You're just arguing about, I don't know, something. And they toot. They fart. Or

or they accidentally do something that makes you wanna smile because it completely caught you off guard, but you have to remind yourself, wait, I'm in the middle of a fight right now and I can't be smiling. So you almost have this forced frown. And while the lips are pointing downwards, it feels like the rest of the face is having a split identity crisis where it wants to smile. The eyes are almost smiling. That's her reaction to baby Benson's death.

Like she wanted to laugh. Yeah. And when she starts talking, her face briefly betrays her and it looks like her lips are going up in a smile and she scrunches her face up and goes, why is he dead? Why is he dead? Not what do you mean? Wait, that doesn't make sense. How is he dead? What happened? Why is he dead?

She sniffles, but her face turns more into a smile. And if you just screenshot this part of the interrogation and you take a picture of Marissa, you take it onto the street and you ask people, "Hi, what emotion does this woman have?" They would say, "Carefree, happy, someone who just was told a joke." Her smile lines are out. She's literally smiling. And it's not like this uncomfortable smile either. It's like a genuine smile.

Then she opens her mouth with her lips still upturned in that creepy smile. And she squeezes her eyes closed like a 10-year-old and starts making a strange crying noise. So for the audio listeners, I think the best way to describe what she looks like is Gollum from the Lord of the Rings, the character. I'm not sure how to describe it more. Wait, which one's Gollum? The one that's like my precious. Yes.

He just keeps smiling and it's like this creepy smile and just like the way that her hair is tied. Everything is very Gollum. And the strangest part is, again, body language. When someone starts crying, it's usually a full body experience, especially devastating news like this. This isn't just about finding out that a random passerby died in a hotel room one floor down.

This is a child that you babysit regularly. There should be other movements in her body when she squeezes her eyes shut to cry. I mean, perhaps a hand to the face, hand to the chest, her stomach. But it's like the rest of her body freezes. In fact, she has her arm up against one of the railings. She's like leaned with her elbow on the railing and she just starts squeezing her eyes together.

Trying to force a cry. Yes, and it's like her whole body freezes. She uses all of her energy to focus on squeezing out a tear that won't come out and she almost doesn't want to cover her face so the police can see her cry. She finally moves one hand to an eye and it's just a strange visual. Why is he dead? We were hoping that you could shed some light on that. I don't know what happened. This is the most important conversation that you will ever have in your life. I'm telling you, I don't know

I know! I'm telling you the truth!

- Detective Holtz does not care and she responds, "You are not." And instantly Marissa's face goes from scrunched up and emotional and crying and shake and telling you the truth to her face looks emotionless and her eyebrows are raised and she goes, "I am." - Hmm. - "I didn't know that he died." Interesting. Did you catch that? Because the police do. - Wait. - That's a lie. They texted you and told you that he died.

Remember, oh, my gosh, Marissa throws both of her hands in the air. My phone is off. No, it's not. Yes, it is. Do you want to see it? No, it is not. I will show you my phone. How do you think we found you?

By tracking her phone? Right before this, authorities had broken into her home looking for her. She was not there. They went through the courts to be able to get an emergency track on her phone. And that's how they got to the Plaza Hotel at 4 a.m. to ask her about baby Benson. They cannot trace her phone through cell towers if her phone is off. I'm serious. Now cut the crap, Marissa. This is the third time we've had a discussion with you about a child.

Marissa crosses her arms. "I promise you, an infant in your care and now one is dead. I promise you, one is dead." She starts smiling and crying. "I didn't do anything to him." "Then who did?" "No one. He was fine. Babies don't just die." "He was fine. I would not kill a baby."

The police know Marissa is lying, just like they knew she was lying two months ago. Detective Holtz received a report. A little 11-month-old girl was with her babysitter and she received a skull fracture as well as a potential brain bleed.

Detective Holtz is assigned to the case and she has social workers that are going to be present during this whole investigation since it involves children. It's not just her on the case. The group of them, they head over to this babysitter's house to investigate. That's where the incident took place. They need to know what's going on because the doctor is pretty certain that the injuries do not look accidental. And even if they are, this type of particular situation, it's probably neglect. If it's not straight up violence and abuse, it's probably neglect.

Detective Holtz knocks on the door to the babysitter's apartment and a man named Adam opens up the door.

But

But only live, laugh, love sign? No, just like other things that you would imagine are in the live, laugh, love aesthetic. Yeah. Okay. It does not appear to be very well done. It looks very busy. I mean, imagine a hoarder, but instead of piling little figurines, just post-its, postcards, signs on the floor in a pile, they just hung it up all over the walls, all over it, every surface.

Detective Holtz looks around while asking Adam about the incident. He states, yeah, a little girl that Marissa was babysitting had fallen off the couch.

Detective Hulse asks, Adam, when you say the child fell off the couch, did you witness that or? No, but I mean, Marissa is one of those people that I mean, she resorted to drugs because her kids got taken away to the point where she was just a rack of bones. And the only way we got her to go to the clinic and get clean and she's been clean for four years now is we told her that we were going to sign her into rehab if she doesn't want to forcefully get put there. She's got to get clean.

Sure, that's fair enough. She has no reason to lie to me. And I mean, whenever she babysits kids, we have other people that she watches for, you know? He walks over to the little den area and motions over at this coffee table. This coffee table gets put into the living room and then the kids get toys put out on the ground all over the floor. As you see, you know, the toys are here.

Basically, he's telling the authorities that Marissa is very diligent when she's babysitting. He goes on to explain that Marissa had just put the little girl on the couch for two seconds, went to the bathroom, and as she was pulling up her pants, she starts hearing crying. She rushes out and, you know, accidents happen. In fact, it's kind of annoying that the mother of the girl would even report this in the first place.

He starts ranting, bitches, like they are. And they can't even come talk to me about it or something or come talk to us before they go and get you guys involved. I mean, she obviously fell and hit a toy or something. Marissa is not going to go and beat a kid. I mean, she was molested as a child and stuff. So she's very protective of the kids. I mean, this is all ridiculous. I'm getting a little bit upset right now.

No, I know. Just calm down. Everything's fine. I can't calm down because like I said, I got fucked over by social services too many times. I tried to work with them. And now look, he's our fifth child. He points at a newborn. I got pictures of my kids over here and that's all I can do. Why is he so mad? He likes to throw temper tantrums. He's a little hysterical. I don't know how else to put it.

The detective hears someone at the front door and the front door swings open and Marissa walks in. She walks into the kitchen and right past the detective and social workers does not say hi, doesn't even really acknowledge them, just walks right past them. Eventually, she does come back out and the authorities start pressing her again. I was babysitting. So she's always like that, even at the hotel room. She's just like, let me pretend I'm not here. Let me pretend they're not there and I'm not here and they'll leave. Yeah.

Yeah, that itself is very guilty. Like you walk home, you see cops and you just walk away. Yeah. Why are you doing that? She explains to them I was babysitting. She went to bed. So I decided to clean. And then I was like doing the dishes, heard her screaming and then stopped doing the dishes. And then she fell off the couch. And there's a bunch of toys because usually I have her sister. So like she follows her. So I had a bunch of toys out in the living room. So you were doing dishes and then you heard screaming.

Fascinating. Either Adam remembered wrong or Marissa has two stories for this event. Was she in the bathroom just pulling up her pants or was she doing the dishes? She must have rolled off and then I stopped doing the dishes and then she was on the floor. All she had was a rug burn and then she had bruises so she must have hit a toy on the way down. What toy was on the floor? Like this table was out and I had a bunch of toys in the middle of the rug. Do you know which toys are out here? A bunch. Like I took a bunch of toys and yeah, she was just sleeping on the couch.

Has anything like this ever come up with you before? No. As far as a child being injured? No. Are you sure about that? Were you talked to about a year ago for a child that was injured that sustained a skull fracture?

A year ago, a child in Marissa's care sustained a skull fracture to the point where she had all four of her and Adam's children taken away from them. Their parental rights were terminated, which means there must have been enough evidence at the very first incident of that skull fracture that it was not an accident in any shape, way or form. Typically, the state does not like to terminate parental rights children.

to give context. It's very different from a child being removed from the parent's custody. That's usually temporary. The parent is still legally the parent. They can prove to the state, hey, I fixed whatever issues you said I had. So can I get my kids back?

back. They can regain custody. They can also visit their children, but a full termination of parental rights. The parent loses all rights to the kid forever, including visitation. The parent has no control over any decisions regarding the child's upbringing. The parent is no longer the parent or guardian. The child becomes legally, quote, free for adoption, which is a very weird term, but...

Now, if they, social services, had known that this couple had another child, a fifth child that is now in this house, they probably would have taken away that child too. Wait, so they lost all four child for good? Yes. That is crazy. Yeah. But they have their young son that was born maybe a few months ago that's in their care. And Marissa is currently pregnant again.

And she is working as a babysitter. This is after she already has four kids taken from her. And now one of the girls that she babysits has a massive head injury. And Adam is trying to convince them that clearly it's not Marissa's fault. It's all an accident. The detective asks again, has anything like this ever come up with you before? No. As far as a child being injured? No. Are you sure about that? Were you talked to about a year ago for a child that had that skull fracture? That wasn't me.

You were providing care for her. Well, yeah, I was, but I don't have any child abuse. No, nothing. Okay. I have kids. So like, I never, I love kids. I don't beat them. Nothing. Okay. I always babysit people's kids. Right. And nobody's saying you beat anybody, but sometimes people lose their tempers. No, I've never. Things like that happen. I never had postpartum. Nothing.

The detectives tell her that they understand. They don't, okay? But they tell her. And for the time being, since a new investigation into child abuse is being opened, they're going to need to find a relative to take care of their son that they have custody over. Adam starts losing his mind. He starts screaming at the detectives to get out. Marissa is the one calming him down. Adam, stop. They said that he can stay with your dad until the investigation is over. No, my dad cannot watch him. You guys can go. You guys can leave. Go. You need to leave.

Adam, we can't leave right now. Adam picks up their son who is crying, just starting to walk out with the baby. And the officers tell him, you cannot leave with this child. Watch me. You cannot leave with that child. The baby starts crying in his arms. They're all standing in the kitchen and he's just lost his mind. Finally, the social worker firmly tells him, stop it. You're scaring the baby. You're fucking scaring my baby. Get the fuck out of my house.

Marissa offers to leave. He wasn't in the house when the accident happened. He wasn't involved. So as long as I leave, since it's an investigation into me, he can stay with the baby. No, Adam's not listening. He's still screaming. If you think you're taking my kid, you guys can go. Adam, I will leave and you can have him. No, they need to leave.

No, because then they're going to take him. I've asked all of you nicely. I told you guys when you came into my house, did I not? If you guys think you're taking my kid or asking my kid to go anywhere. I don't have any family members. We have no family. I was not here. Why would my kid ever have to leave when I'm his parent? She was the only one here. She can leave. Well, that's what's going to happen. She's going to go stay with my sister. He uses both of his fingers to point at the ground. The baby is staying here.

That's the situation. You guys can go. Well, we're not leaving until this is all sorted out. I told you guys what's going to happen. I told them when they came into this house. I told them nicely and I told them from day one. You guys are all lying. All of you. That's why I don't trust any of you cocksuckers. I don't think anyone's lied to you at this point.

Yeah, well, you kind of did because I told you specifically, did I not? Right when you guys walked in that door, I said, if you're thinking of doing anything with my kid, you better bring the SWAT team. That's exactly what I said. And I'm sticking to it. So you guys need to leave. Somehow he ends up shirtless and they're trying to inform him. It's not really how it works. You can't just tell the police to leave just because you want them to. And he tells them, it's my fucking house. I pay the bills. Do you guys come and pay my rent? No. So you can leave, which is a very juvenile argument. Yeah.

Yeah. And he's screaming at them. You guys can leave. I'm not going to ask you 15 times. Adam, if you can sit down and relax, I will relax as soon as you get out my door. You can talk through my door, but I don't want you in my house no more. I'm sorry. We cannot leave with a child with him in that state. I'm pissed off because you guys are fucking two-faced motherfuckers. I'll be calm as soon as you leave.

Eventually, the police do leave. They leave the baby under the care of Adam and Marissa needs to find a new place to stay while there's an active investigation. She is not to be around any children at all until the investigation is concluded. Two months later, October 18th, she's around children. She is alone with her son, Heather's toddler, and Heather's baby Benson.

So they removed her from the house? Yes, but they don't check in every day. That's crazy. She just came right back. Yeah. Wow. October 18th, Heather probably gets the worst text message you can get while your kids are being watched by a babysitter. She gets sent pictures of her babysitter, Marissa. Mugshots.

And the charges are listed as child abuse. What the hell is going on? She starts freaking out. She reaches out to Marissa, who has her children right now, and asks her if this is true, to which Marissa just responds, yeah, come get your kids because I'm not allowed to be around children.

That is the last thing you want to hear. Heather panics, calls her sister Jessie and asks if she can come with her to pick up the kids. So they rush, they go pick up the kids and they bring them to the laundromat. Now, the whole situation when they pick up the kids is very strange and obviously alarming. You're saying on that day that they went to the laundromat is the day that she got a picture? From a co-worker. That's the day? Yes. What? Yeah.

But before that, she didn't know that Marissa was under investigation for child abuse. No, Heather had known Marissa since they were 15, which is why she trusted her enough to watch her kids. I mean, they didn't necessarily stay friends the entire time, but Heather was working at Olive Garden.

And so was Marissa's sister, who basically tells Heather, you know, it's kind of a win-win situation. Marissa had just given birth. She's already staying home to watch her newborn son. It's not going to take too much more work for her to watch another kid on top of that. And on top of that, Heather, you need a babysitter so you can keep working. Of course, Heather wouldn't have just left her baby with someone that she believed was abusive. I mean, she truly did not know.

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At the Plaza Hotel, the officers decide to ask Marissa and Adam the same questions to see if their answers are going to line up. Because interrogating couples is always a very interesting, enlightening process. If they're both telling the truth, then the answer should be more or less the same.

Because the truth in these very extreme types of cases where somebody dies, it's pretty objective. Is somebody dead or not? Did somebody do something or not? These are very objective questions. But if they're lying, then you have to wonder, are they lying to protect themselves and throw their partner under the bus? Or are they lying to protect their partner?

And it's almost this game of how well do you know your significant other? Let's say you both have to lie about something. You have to choose an answer you think that they will also choose. Otherwise, the police will know that somebody is lying if your answers are different. And that's exactly what happens.

Their answers are different. Right after Marissa is told that Benson is dead and she finds out and has this big emotional response, the officers, they try to give her an out. They tell her, I understand that things get frustrating, especially with you being pregnant and having your own child. Marissa's face and voice goes from this high-pitched crying sound to, yeah, no, they weren't frustrating. I promise you that.

Which is very interesting because as she's outside promising that, Adam is inside the hotel room talking pretty negatively about the boys. He says about the toddler, he doesn't play with much. He's a pretty quiet kid. I mean, I shouldn't say quiet. If you look at him wrong, even he's going to start crying. I mean, lately he's been getting used to us.

And he describes baby Benson as being a fussy, crabby baby. As soon as you pick him up, he whines. He's very difficult. Now, side note, even earlier in the day when Adam was out hunting and Marissa was home watching the kids, he texts her. Are the crybabies still there? So meanwhile, Marissa says they're not frustrating at all. She can promise you that. But Adam says they're incredibly difficult and they're very frustrating to deal with.

The couple can't even decide on the same answer if they're difficult or not difficult. So the police keep going with Marissa. Sometimes things happen, but we just need to know the truth and that's all, okay? I had the baby monitor, but I didn't kill him. Marissa essentially states that she had the baby monitor on and she was watching Benson through the baby monitor. She did not kill him. It was just an implied accident.

She said she didn't check up on him. She went to go pick him up from his, you know, little crib and he was dead. And then she returned the baby back? Went to McDonald's and then returned the baby back. Yeah. How does she explain that? Exactly. So the police are like, well, how long was it that you didn't check up on him? Start from the beginning. It was like after before Adam got there, I checked on him. Did you know then that he was but I didn't kill him.

How did you know he was, he does sleep that long. And like, I don't know, he felt cold. He felt cold. And I was scared. My boyfriend wasn't home and everything. So, oh my God, I'm sure it's very scary, but I didn't kill him. How did you find him? How is he laying? I put him on his belly.

And how did you find him? Was he just on his belly? She starts explaining how she went into the bedroom with the baby camera where Benson was asleep in the pack and play. But she starts freaking out when she sees that his face is in the blanket, like just head on nose into the mattress, which by the way, you're not really supposed to let the baby sleep on their belly that young. And he doesn't look like he's breathing. She starts freaking out. He's cold to the touch. He likely suffocated by accident in the pack and play. That's what she's stating. Was there anything coming out of his mouth? No.

Okay, and he felt cold? Mm-hmm. Did you check for a pulse? Did you see if he was breathing or did you just feel his skin and it was cold? No, he just wasn't making any noise. Well, what did you think was gonna happen when Heather came to pick him up? I don't know. Did you think that she wasn't gonna notice? Yeah. That she was or wasn't gonna notice? She was gonna notice. Okay, did you try and do anything to revive him? Uh-uh. Did you do any CPR? No.

And she smiles this big smile, like really big, like the thought of that suggestion in itself is stupid type of smile. No, because I don't even know how to do that. And the second she catches herself smiling, she quickly shuts it off. Help me understand when you discovered him there. Why didn't you call the police? Because I was scared and my boyfriend wasn't there and I didn't want my baby taken. How did you determine that he was no longer alive? I picked him up and he was really cold. How did you pick him up? I just went like this.

Okay, and what did he look like? He was cold. What did you do afterwards? I laid him down on the floor and I put a snowsuit on. Then I grabbed his car seat. I put him in the car seat and yeah, I put some blankets on him. You laid him on the floor, but you don't know CPR. No attempts to call anyone or research anything online.

Yeah, I don't really know any CPR, really. And again, that was before Adam got home? Mm-hmm. And Adam did not notice that he was dead. He probably just thought he was sleeping. Now, Adam is also asked about the series of events to make sure they line up with what Marissa is saying. Who went to McDonald's? All of you? All of us. The three kids in the back seat. Which McDonald's? The one by the courthouse.

Okay, then we came home. Who picked him up out of the pack and play and put him in the car to go to McDonald's? Oh, I picked him up and I put him in there and he was absolutely normal to me. Really? What is normal to you? We like to lie, right? Whiny. As soon as you pick him up, he whines and stuff. So he was making noise. Yeah, he's making noise when I came home from hunting. Did he open his eyes at all? Yeah, I mean crying and everything else. But deceased babies don't cry.

So who's lying here and why? Marissa ends up being arrested for her previous child abuse charges. And while she's in jail, the police start monitoring all of her jailhouse calls, minus the ones that she has with her attorney, of course. And they're just looking for anything, anything that she admits to anyone, because so far she's saying it's purely an accident. They know that it's not, but they need to get her to admit it or to tell them what actually happened.

Now, most jailhouse calls are pretty messy. I believe that most of them are monitored and recorded, and a lot of them are very sexual, as one might imagine. And same goes for Marissa. Not only did she have intense sexual conversations with Adam, but she had multiple new pen pals that she would have these long sexual conversations with.

She was known to be very good at manipulating men into believing that she is this dainty, child-loving mother who is being attacked by the media for no reason other than sensationalism. And as long as they send her money, she will marry them and bear their children for them when she gets out. She also complains extensively to all of these guys that the jail food is not nutritious enough for her pregnant body. She keeps calling all the men in her rotation, nagging them to send her money to her account because the baby can't eat prison food.

And she just has this weird obsession with being pregnant, being perceived as a maternal woman. I mean, she makes it her whole identity because I don't think that she has anything else redeeming about herself. Her personality seems honestly despicable. So maybe this is her way of trying to create a likable persona, which it's not working. When it comes to actual children, the actual part of being a mom and a caretaker, she does not care at all. In fact, it seems like she hates children.

Now, side note, Adam takes back his statement of being the one to take Benson out of the pack and play to get him ready to go to McDonald's. So remember, he specifically told officers that he was the one that carried Benson to the carrier and to the car. And Benson was very much alive and being fussy. He said he takes it all back. He said when the police asked him in the hotel, he was half asleep. They barged into the hotel room. He didn't even

know what was going on. He just assumed that he'd be the one to put him in the car seat. But now that he's fully awake and he's at the time to truly use his last remaining half brain cell, he remembers that Marissa already had the baby ready to go into the car seat.

He just rushed in to get out of his hunting clothes. He put his crossbow down, he quickly changed, and yeah, they just went to McDonald's. Now, let's assume that Adam had no idea that Benson was already dead at this point. Why would Marissa want to go out and eat? It feels sadistic and dangerous. Does she want to go out and eat because she thinks it'll create an alibi? I mean, she would be seen outside with the baby, and surely nobody would assume that the baby was dead. Because how ballsy do you have to be to go out with a dead baby? Is

Is this all the purpose of creating an alibi? Or did she really just not care at all that Benson was dead and she could just go out and eat a meal that she's still living her life like nothing happened? I mean, it doesn't even faze her. Is she that sadistic? Or maybe it's a combination of both.

Adam tried to argue, no, it's because we don't ever cook and we always eat out. But earlier that day, presumably after Benson was already dead, Marissa had killed him. Adam texted Marissa asking if he should bring McDonald's home for them. And she responded, no, let's go together with the kids.

So Adam states he never checked up on Benson at all when he got home because he says he has five kids. And if he's learned anything at all from losing five kids is that you don't wake a sleeping baby. Now, Adam does stay with Marissa during all of this. And he's even

angry for her she would call him from jail and complain about how they won't give her meds for her migraine and he would scream into the phone well i'm gonna be calling up there because they they need to give you your fucking meds tell the guard that you need to go to the emergency room keep pushing that fucking button keep pounding on that fucking door i'm gonna call up there and do some freaking out

Adam also complains about how their son is a, quote, little shit and, quote, all he wants to do is be held and then not be held. He also just randomly drops a ton of racist and homophobic slurs in the middle of random jailhouse conversations. And then he threatens to sue the jail for holding some of their mail before giving it to her. And they call the social workers a C.U.N.T.

yeah this guy is crazy yeah so a lot of people actually believe some netizens believe that she's covering for him because he has an explosive personality they just don't think that he had nothing to do with it however my only thing is marissa seems absolutely selfish i just don't see how she would take all of the blame for this guy so they think she killed the baby no but it was an accident that the baby just like died in his sleep

That's what the police believe? Oh, no, that's what Adam believes. Oh, okay. That's what Adam and Melissa are trying to convince everybody to believe. But the police believe that she was probably frustrated and she's an evil person and either shook the baby really hard or literally hit the baby on the head multiple times.

Marissa also writes letters to her sister Brittany telling her to stay away from bad people in her life, giving her advice on how to only befriend good people, which like I guess the first step would be not being sisters with Marissa. But she's giving her all of this advice, telling her to send her money into the prison. And then immediately she'll write a letter to Adam to tell him to cut Brittany off because she's worried that they're going to sleep with each other behind her back.

She would also write letters complaining about being in jail. She writes, why me? I'm not a bad person. I'm a good mom, not a lawbreaker, not a threat to society either. But the news, detectives, et cetera, they make it look like I really am. They don't know me and everyone makes mistakes in their lifetime. Nobody is perfect. One accident that wasn't supposed to happen like that in 28 years of my life. She also tells another pen pal that she has a million dollar pussy.

Yeah. And that he needs to send money to her account. Otherwise, she's going to eat the bread that the prison gives her for free, which will cause her to be overweight. And he will not want that. I mean, they just have zero remorse. Like this is what she's doing after she's thrown into jail for killing a baby.

Regardless of which story Marissa is saying or what anybody is saying or what she's telling her pen pals, her versions of events do not line up with baby Benson's autopsy. It is clear that according to his autopsy, he sustained multiple head injuries caused by blunt force trauma to the head. He had abrasions on his nose, his chin, his right ankle was fractured. This was not caused by suffocation.

So the authorities bring in Marissa for one last interrogation. It's Detective Holtz leading the interrogation, but Captain Graham, who is also present at the hotel, is there again. And they straight up tell her, I can say without a doubt that what you're telling me is not true. He's got very severe injuries to his head. Yeah, I don't know how. I would like to give you an opportunity to explain yourself. I promise you, I did not do anything to him. I promise. That's why I asked you if he fell. I know he didn't fall.

Did he roll and tumble just a little bit, Marissa? Not that I've seen. I didn't do anything to him. Marissa starts sobbing. I did not kill him. I could never kill anyone in my life. Like I said, I just fed him, burped him, changed him. I put him in the thing.

Eventually in this last interrogation they get her to admit that she was frustrated by baby Benson. He was crying being fussy so all she did was pick him up walk him over to the pack and play. This is like a playpen if you will and it comes up to maybe about her thigh like mid thigh above the knee. Dropped him shoulder length down into the pack and play.

She listened to him cry for a couple of minutes, then repositioned him on his stomach face into the pack and play and then walked off. She stated that when she got back, he was dead. This is what they're able to get her to admit to, but it's likely that it was far worse than that. The injuries he sustained are pretty bad. She tries to argue that he might have tumbled a bit inside when she dropped him into the pack and play from shoulder length. But again, she's not sure.

As horrendous as that sounds, the police believe it's so much worse. He had broken bones. The authorities suspect that she might have chucked him from the door of the bedroom into the pack and play, like thrown him like a basketball.

but she will not admit to that. Marissa ends up crying at the end of her confession, likely because she knows that she just confessed to a very serious crime and will be in jail for a while. They ask her one last time, "Did you try to do something to bring him back to life?" And she says, "Tried blowing on his mouth because that's all I know how to do? I don't know CPR." So this is again, she's going back on her word.

And also at one point, this is a very chilling part, but she keeps screaming like, I didn't kill anybody. I would never kill a kid. I love kids. I didn't throw him. Nobody ever said the word throw. Nobody insinuated that she threw him. Nobody said anything.

And at the end of it, they are very straight up with her. At the end of the interrogation, they tell her she's going to have a high cash bond. And she just asked them, can we not make it a high cash bond? Because I have to go to court for the other thing on November 1st. A baby is dead. I know. I'm sorry. I was scared and frustrated. And Heather gets frustrated with him, too. I'm sure. Yeah, she even said that she knows how her kids are.

Every parent gets frustrated at some point. So what's going to happen down the line and eventually is you're going to face charges for this incident. How long? How much? It almost seems like she's surprised that she's actually going to face charges for it. She ends it with, I loved her kids. I always babysat them. I liked her. Tell her I'm sorry and I didn't mean to.

In the end, Marissa tries to argue that she suffered from so much brain damage due to her extensive substance abuse that this cannot be the real her that committed the crime. Basically, she's saying she's not guilty by reason of insanity. She also writes a letter to the judge that reads, Judge Faltz said, this Marissa T. sort, and I want a bond reduction because this is crazy, that don't get half signature bond and half cash bond and lowered like really, I'm not a monster or whatever. I love my kids.

and I'm a mom to five kids plus I'm pregnant now with my sixth kid. I'm five months pregnant and not getting the food or medical treatment I need for my unborn baby. Want to see if I can get ankle bracelet till get attorney? I'm not a bad person or anything. Also, I've been sober for four years. Thanks, Marissa.

The judge did not care for her letter. Ultimately, she was sentenced to 37 years in prison for Benson's death, which is not nearly enough. And I guess the only silver lining, if we have to try and find one in this, is that Marissa genuinely thought that she was going to get out in a few months. Genuinely.

And that is the case of Marissa Tiasort. I mean, I don't even know what to say. She's just so bizarre. We also don't have a lot of information on baby Benson or Heather and the family. That's why their stories in this case is a little bit light.

But it's just so bizarre. It seems like, it seems like she wanted the money from babysitting. I mean, clearly she has, she's a hoarder. Some people report that she had storage closets filled with junk. Like she just loved spending money. Why does he have so, why does she have so many kids though? Like,

Yes. Okay. So it seems like she likes the attention and wanting to claim herself as this very maternal person. I think she's trying to make that her whole image. Maybe she doesn't have much else going for her. So this is what she tries to, because she brings it up a lot when she's talking to her romantic pen pals. And it's almost like a selling point. Yeah. She talks about how motherly she is, how much she loves kids, how she's just, kids are her life. I guess maybe it makes her feel good.

It's just so bizarre. What are your thoughts on this one? Let me know in the comments and please stay safe and I will see you in the next one.