WEBVTT
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I did what I did, nobody guilty but me, you
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know what I'm saying?
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If she were here now, I would start by telling
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her that I'm sorry and that I love her.
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I would tell her I need my big sister back.
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He chose a certain category of victims who he believed
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he could victimize without repercussions.
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This is a person who was on a path at
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an early age and just progressed and became somebody who
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was a danger to everybody around him.
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I can only imagine the fear that is felt at
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this time.
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I would characterize it as evil. I would characterize it
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as subhuman. I think he's a monster.
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Every day, I am haunted by memories and images I
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will never be whole again.
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Stuart Weldon was born in 1977. He grew up in Jamaica, Queens,
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New York, which was an area that was known for
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having a lot of drug activity.
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His father died when he was a teenager.
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There was indications that he was sexually assaulted, that he
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was experimenting with drugs, and was introduced to pornography at
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an early age.
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In 1990, just after his father's death, Stuart Weldon's mom
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moves them out of the city to Montclair, New Jersey,
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a safer neighborhood with a lower crime rate.
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No mother wants to see their child involved in criminal activity.
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So what is often done is let us move to
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a more suburban.
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Life and we can start all over.
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That was probably the intent of this caring mother trying
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to move her son to a different way of life.
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But Stuart Weldon's difficult start to life continues when he
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reaches high school.
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He seemed to have some pretty significant learning problems. He
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was diagnosed with severe ADHD. He apparently had dyslexia. I
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think when a child has some learning challenges, how that
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child does depends on a couple of different things, not
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just the severity of their disabilities, which is important to know,
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but also how the school handles those. So are they
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getting diagnosed early? Are they getting appropriate treatment? And it
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sounds like that he ended up having a pretty limited education.
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In 1996, Stuart Weldon is at a mall, and he
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and his buddy basically pick up three girls, are gonna
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go out and party. They end up taking two of
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them home. But the third one, they end up kidnapping
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and sexually assaulting.
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At the age of 19, when he was in New Jersey,
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he was charged with sexual offenses as well as a
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weapons charge. He was picking up women that might have
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been drug involved, mental health issues, involved in prostitution.
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We often see a progressive nature of criminal offenses for
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those who commit very serious crimes.
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Issues of violence often have their foundation in control. That
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if I'm able to violently get you to do what
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I want, I have control over you.
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He's not starting out painting graffiti, or even loitering in
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places where he's not supposed to be, or being on
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top of the school when he's not supposed to be
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on there. Things that we might think juveniles are exhibiting
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poor judgment. and they're gonna grow out of it. This
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kind of crime is not like that.
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Another step up the ladder of engaging in criminal activity,
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engaging in violence.
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Especially when you see sexually related or sexually involved offenses,
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you know, typically that's a red flag. Sometimes those behaviors
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are innate and they repeat. Sometimes they get progressively worse.
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It suggests premeditation. It suggests violent behavior. It is violent behavior.
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It suggests predatory behavior. And those are things that are
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oftentimes predictors of future violence and future sexual offenses. When
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we look at serial killers, we often do expect them
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to come from the most horrendous backgrounds. and have parents
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who don't love them, don't care about them, abuse them,
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take advantage of them. And then you find parents who,
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for whatever reason, indulged their children, were permissive, and basically
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prevent that child from developing a sense of right and
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wrong that's internal.
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Stuart Weldon's criminality reaches a new level Now 28 years old,
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he commits assault with a deadly weapon and receives a
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three-year prison sentence. When he's released, he moves with his
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mother again, this time to Springfield in Western Massachusetts. They
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live in a property made of two separate apartments. It
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would hide some chilling secrets.
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Springfield is the largest city in Western Massachusetts and the
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largest city in Hampton County.
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There's a lot of poverty here, a lot of crime,
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a lot of drugs. Essentially, it's an old industrial town
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that has been kind of overtaken by.
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Crime and drugs.
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It's essentially like a distribution center of heroin between Boston
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and New York. This kind of underbelly of criminal activity
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is something that is appealing to him.
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He kind of.
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Gravitates to it, and I think he feels like he
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fits in and he understands it.
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A narcotics detective once told me the only reason we
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don't have methamphetamine moving into the Springfield area is because
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heroin is so cheap here.
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It's likely that his mom thought she was moving him
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to a better place. What she doesn't realize is she's
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basically moved him from the frying pan into the fire.
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There's a road in Springfield that is essentially known for
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sex workers to hang out, for people to be looking
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to make money in exchange for drugs.
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And for Stuart Weldon, who.
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Is very involved in criminal activity, this would be like
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a candy store. He could just drive down and pick
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and choose whatever he wants.
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Weldon became very well known in circles involving women who
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were prostituting themselves. Became very well known in certain criminal circles,
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in particular an area of High End School Street in
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the city of Springfield.
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He became sort.
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Of embedded in a particular criminal aspect here in the
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city of Springfield.
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When you have kind of a subculture, of criminal behavior
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in a community. It is easier to get away with
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things because people kind of look out for each other
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in a way, and you don't stand out.
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Stuart Weldon's respect for the law deteriorates further. He breaks
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into someone's home, and when apprehended, he violently attacks a
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police officer. He receives a two-year prison sentence.
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This is somebody that really strikes me as he doesn't
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care about anything. He doesn't care about himself that much.
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He puts himself at all kinds of risk. He pulls
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a knife on a police officer. I mean, he could
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have been shot by police for legitimate reasons on many
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different occasions. So he's somebody who doesn't care about anybody
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or himself. And I think that is scary. That is
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something you don't often see. Stuart Weldon was very involved
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in the drug world and he was dealing drugs which
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made it very very easy for him to encourage and
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entice women who were struggling with addiction into his car.
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Weldon used that as a way to lure them.
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To his house.
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A lot of the times he would get women into
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a car with an offer of, hey, I've got some drugs,
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let's go do them. And then as they got closer,
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maybe a negotiation took place about a sex act that
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ended up going too far. But in a lot of cases,
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women went to his apartment thinking they were going to
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hang out. And then when they got there, they would
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find out it was far more involved than just smoking
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drugs together. It was more about physical controls, slaps, punches,
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ordering them around. forcing acts on them that they did
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not agree to. He was kind of pushing the boundaries
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to see what he could get away with.
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He subjected the victims of his crimes to experiences that
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could only be termed as near-death experiences.
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Stuart Weldon, now aged 40, already has a criminal history
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spanning kidnap, burglary, sexual offenses, and assault with a deadly weapon.
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He's served two prison sentences. He's now luring vulnerable women
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to his basement, where he's torturing them, almost to the
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point of death. Despite this increasingly alarming behavior, He isn't
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drawing police attention.
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These women are vulnerable on a lot of different levels,
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not only in terms of getting into a car with
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somebody they don't know, not only desperate perhaps in terms
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of looking for drugs to kind of feed an addiction,
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but also their relationship with the police is going to
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be very difficult.
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And so, you know, Stuart Walden knows this.
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He knows that Most often, when a sex worker is
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raped or beaten up, either she's not going to go
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to the police because she's afraid she's going to be
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arrested for what she's been doing or that she's not
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going to be believed. And all too often, that's exactly
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what happens.
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These are women who sometimes fall out of touch with
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their families for periods of time and live very transient lifestyles.
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So sometimes not being around wouldn't be noticed. It was
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actually the women who hung out in High End School
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Street who were the first ones to realize we haven't
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seen this person for a while, but even they said
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that's not uncommon. Sometimes people go to rehab, they get clean,
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or they try to move on, or simply find another area,
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move in with a man, things like that. So these
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are people whose disappearances might not go noticed right away.
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It is almost a matter of You haven't punished me,
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so why should I stop committing the crimes or maybe
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even escalating those crimes? I think we see the latter
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in this case. You haven't punished me severely. I am
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going to continue doing these crimes. And since the system
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is not stopping me or deterring me, these crimes will continue.
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He does not have some of the normal restraints that
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most people have. And that makes people afraid of him.
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They're aware that he'll do whatever.
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He's intimidating. He'll fight cops. He'll run from cops. He'll
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fight anybody.
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I mean, this is somebody who truly seems to have
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no restraint when it comes to getting what he wants
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or doing what he wants to do.
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A lot of these women described feeling like their life
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was draining away. They were losing vision and unable to speak.
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Having that complete and utter control over someone's life, essentially
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having the power over whether or not they live or
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die and being able to see their face react to
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the situation that they're in.
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It's just astonishing to see the fact that he's doing
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all these things, not hiding them, not seeming to care.
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About the consequences.
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America Lydon is a 33-year-old mother who's just completed a
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drug rehabilitation program. 47-year-old Ernestine Ryans has lived her whole
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life in Springfield. She is a mother and soon-to-be grandmother.
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Kayla Escalante, a 26-year-old mom from neighboring Ludlow.
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Struggles with drug addiction and has lost touch with her family.
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Police have no idea where these three vulnerable women are
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or even if they're alive. It's not until five months
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after America Lydon is reported missing that authorities suspect Weldon
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is involved.
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The first time I learned about Stuart Weldon He was
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pulled over for a routine traffic stop, essentially, by some detectives.
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The car took off, and Mr. Weldon had just taken
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off in the middle of the stop, which obviously the
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officers gave chase to him.
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The traffic stop allows for the police officer, with probable cause,
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with probable cause, to do a search of the vehicle,
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to check out the welfare of the individuals inside the vehicle,
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and perhaps to ask questions if there is any speculation
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of criminal activity taking place.
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This isn't somebody who's sophisticated and trying to hide his
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criminal activities.
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He's doing whatever he wants to do right then.
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A chase occurs, and at the end of the chase,
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the police officers find that there is a woman, tied, bound,
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and the backseat of the car.
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It's really the case of outstanding police work, police officers
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being observant, aware of their surroundings and people of interest
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in the area. It probably saved a life, and it
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probably saved more than one life.
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The woman who was in the front passenger seat began screaming,
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and it became very obvious at that point she was
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significantly injured.
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She immediately tells them she has been held captive for
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one month, that she has been unsafe, unwell, that she's
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been kidnapped and taken by Weldon.
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The police officers see some odd and very serious injuries.
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She complains to them about pain.
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The victim then communicates with police officers about how Mr.
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Weldon had been abusing her and striking her with an object,
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and she had injuries on her body very consistent with
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this sort of abuse.
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She was giving this information in a very hysterical way
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that was sometimes difficult to follow, a little rambling. She
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was in obvious trauma and distress, essentially saying that he'd
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been holding her against her will in his house for
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the past 30 days. He had been beating her, tying
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her up, things like that. She claimed that he had
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00:18:07.450 --> 00:18:09.569
been beating her with a hammer in the leg and
250
00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:12.589
the injuries to her leg were obvious. It was very
251
00:18:12.650 --> 00:18:14.829
clear that she'd been receiving abuse on that leg for
252
00:18:14.869 --> 00:18:16.170
quite some time and she had to be rushed to
253
00:18:16.190 --> 00:18:18.950
the hospital where she was actually almost in danger.
254
00:18:18.710 --> 00:18:19.490
Of losing that leg.
255
00:18:23.849 --> 00:18:27.549
Weldon is charged with kidnapping, threatening to commit a crime,
256
00:18:28.009 --> 00:18:33.890
carrying a dangerous weapon, and resisting arrest. Despite the claims
257
00:18:33.930 --> 00:18:37.569
of his victim, Police don't have enough evidence to search
258
00:18:37.630 --> 00:18:41.470
his house. Mr.
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00:18:41.509 --> 00:18:44.690
Weldon was brought to court, and the next day, and
260
00:18:44.710 --> 00:18:46.829
I handled the arraignment on that case. He was charged
261
00:18:46.849 --> 00:18:50.960
with kidnapping and a variety of other assaultive charges. I
262
00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:52.940
believe at that time we requested a high cash bail,
263
00:18:52.980 --> 00:18:54.539
and he was held on a million dollars cash bail
264
00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.640
for giving the kidnapping and the serious allegations, which we
265
00:18:57.680 --> 00:18:59.160
later came to find out was only the tip of
266
00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:02.430
the iceberg. We didn't have probable cause, at least in
267
00:19:02.450 --> 00:19:04.190
my opinion at that time, to go and search his home.
268
00:19:04.769 --> 00:19:15.309
That came a few days later on. Springfield police received
269
00:19:15.349 --> 00:19:19.130
a call from his adoptive mother who was complaining about
270
00:19:19.170 --> 00:19:22.170
a smell in the basement. The way she described it
271
00:19:22.230 --> 00:19:24.950
to police officers on that call was she was worried
272
00:19:24.970 --> 00:19:27.650
about potentially there being a dead animal in the basement
273
00:19:27.710 --> 00:19:29.410
and she was afraid to go and check it out.
274
00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:35.759
A number of uniformed Springfield police officers entered the home
275
00:19:36.339 --> 00:19:41.240
and immediately were struck with a very strong and vile
276
00:19:41.380 --> 00:19:45.250
odor that they were familiar with as either decomposing human
277
00:19:45.289 --> 00:19:47.029
remains or animal remains.
278
00:19:48.849 --> 00:19:52.720
For those of us who have been involved in investigation,
279
00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:57.539
there is a distinct smell you do not forget.
280
00:20:11.670 --> 00:20:14.430
At this point, it was dark out. It was 8.30
281
00:20:14.430 --> 00:20:19.829
or so. I recall getting onto the driveway of the home.
282
00:20:22.250 --> 00:20:25.250
I remember smelling an odor that I was somewhat familiar
283
00:20:25.289 --> 00:20:29.589
with at the time, even a great distance from the home,
284
00:20:29.710 --> 00:20:34.509
probably 50 feet at the end of the driveway. I went,
285
00:20:35.009 --> 00:20:37.910
accompanied by police officers, into the home and down the stairs.
286
00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:41.740
I remember at that point, the smell was very, very strong.
287
00:20:43.619 --> 00:20:46.720
And then I was taken into a bathroom area, and
288
00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:50.460
I witnessed a body there that was at that point
289
00:20:50.509 --> 00:20:51.930
pretty severely decomposed.
290
00:20:56.490 --> 00:21:00.880
When you find that it is a human being, There
291
00:21:00.940 --> 00:21:04.519
is a drop in your heart and your stomach because
292
00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:10.049
that was someone's mom, dad, brother, sister, family member. And
293
00:21:10.089 --> 00:21:14.750
when you find that the death has occurred, that's an
294
00:21:14.990 --> 00:21:16.529
awful lot to take.
295
00:21:18.869 --> 00:21:20.690
The victim in the bathroom we believe was the most
296
00:21:20.750 --> 00:21:25.170
recent victim went missing sometime April or May of that year.
297
00:21:27.819 --> 00:21:31.700
A distinctive ankle tattoo and fingerprints allow police to identify
298
00:21:31.740 --> 00:21:39.250
the first victim as missing 27-year-old Kayla Escalante. Her body
299
00:21:39.309 --> 00:21:40.349
was bound and gagged.
300
00:21:42.150 --> 00:21:43.890
The first body was just in a basement bathroom that
301
00:21:43.930 --> 00:21:45.410
anyone could have really walked down to.
302
00:21:48.150 --> 00:21:50.549
I then walked outside and I was brought down to
303
00:21:50.569 --> 00:21:52.950
the garage area down at the end of the driveway
304
00:21:53.509 --> 00:21:54.609
by police officers.
305
00:21:54.670 --> 00:21:56.799
Again, the smell was very strong, even being.
306
00:21:57.420 --> 00:22:01.000
in the open air, walked into the garage just a
307
00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:04.200
few steps and could see at that point a severely
308
00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:07.390
decomposed body. The smell was very strong. There were black
309
00:22:07.470 --> 00:22:08.410
flies present.
310
00:22:09.849 --> 00:22:12.750
We believe the victim found in the garage was abducted
311
00:22:12.789 --> 00:22:13.650
sometime in April.
312
00:22:15.490 --> 00:22:20.140
The second victim is confirmed as missing 47-year-old, soon-to-be grandmother,
313
00:22:20.420 --> 00:22:26.599
Ernestine Ryans. Her body was dumped and loosely covered with cardboard.
314
00:22:28.099 --> 00:22:29.920
I knew that we had a very serious situation on
315
00:22:29.980 --> 00:22:32.849
our hands. I made some phone calls to members of
316
00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:36.789
my staff, called Assistant District Attorney Max Bennett and asked
317
00:22:36.829 --> 00:22:37.970
him to respond to the scene.
318
00:22:40.220 --> 00:22:41.980
At that point, it looked like we had two bodies
319
00:22:42.019 --> 00:22:55.920
that had just been kind of left. The following day,
320
00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:59.960
after detectives had noticed disturbed dirt underneath a wooden shed
321
00:23:00.059 --> 00:23:03.460
in the backyard and a state police cadaver dog had
322
00:23:03.500 --> 00:23:08.059
alerted on the area, detectives began digging there where we
323
00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:15.359
unearthed the body of the third victim, bound with internet cords,
324
00:23:15.380 --> 00:23:20.359
computer cables, and almost completely decomposed in a skeletal fashion
325
00:23:21.019 --> 00:23:26.450
with very little tissue left. Based on our investigation we
326
00:23:26.470 --> 00:23:28.910
pieced together, we believe she went missing sometime in September.
327
00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:36.799
Investigators need to use dental records to identify 34-year-old America Lydon.
328
00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:43.359
It certainly presents, in my experience now, as a very
329
00:23:43.460 --> 00:23:50.190
unique crime scene and a very unique set of circumstances that,
330
00:23:51.269 --> 00:23:54.890
you know, at the time we're were startling, were scary,
331
00:23:54.930 --> 00:23:59.109
were horrifying, and now stand out as some of the
332
00:23:59.150 --> 00:24:07.329
more heinous crimes and really egregious scenery that I've seen
333
00:24:08.130 --> 00:24:09.430
in my years in law enforcement.
334
00:24:12.470 --> 00:24:14.349
Women that were in the home while his mother was
335
00:24:14.410 --> 00:24:17.539
around or present in the home, they walked out alive.
336
00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:20.220
When his mother would leave the house or be gone
337
00:24:20.259 --> 00:24:22.390
for long periods of time, That's when we believe the
338
00:24:22.430 --> 00:24:23.069
murders occurred.
339
00:24:29.700 --> 00:24:30.660
We do believe that Mr.
340
00:24:30.700 --> 00:24:34.549
Weldon has been living up until the time of his
341
00:24:34.589 --> 00:24:41.529
arrest at this address. This is a largely residential area with,
342
00:24:41.609 --> 00:24:44.369
you know, sort of middle-class families who take pride in
343
00:24:44.410 --> 00:24:46.170
their homes and who go to work every day.
344
00:24:46.190 --> 00:24:48.359
You know, children lived in that neighborhood.
345
00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:51.240
So there was a lot of shock, especially from that
346
00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:54.160
area of the city of Springfield, that, you know, this
347
00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:58.740
kind of behavior that became national and international news was happening,
348
00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:01.480
you know, just yards away from their homes.
349
00:25:10.750 --> 00:25:13.829
Weldon is now charged with the murders of America Leiden,
350
00:25:14.250 --> 00:25:21.059
Ernestine Ryans, and Kayla Escalante. along with the previous charges
351
00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:24.319
related to the kidnap and attempted murder of the victim
352
00:25:24.380 --> 00:25:30.309
found in his car. With Weldon off the streets, other
353
00:25:30.369 --> 00:25:33.509
victims now feel able to report what he's done to them.
354
00:25:35.230 --> 00:25:40.559
So here you have Weldon in police custody, and police
355
00:25:40.619 --> 00:25:44.180
work now shows that a series of rapes that had
356
00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:50.400
been ongoing in that same city also stopped. Police work
357
00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:54.329
then puts two and two together to look at Weldon
358
00:25:54.490 --> 00:25:57.710
perhaps being the suspect for those rapes.
359
00:26:00.789 --> 00:26:06.420
He was incredibly brutal in his rapes. And I think
360
00:26:06.619 --> 00:26:10.299
that he didn't really care if they lived or not.
361
00:26:11.019 --> 00:26:12.299
I can certainly see.
362
00:26:13.099 --> 00:26:18.359
That once somebody died in his care, how that would
363
00:26:18.380 --> 00:26:21.240
become an additional fun thing for him.
364
00:26:22.710 --> 00:26:23.710
And then it would continue.
365
00:26:25.710 --> 00:26:29.789
Even if something was reported to police, you know, prosecuting
366
00:26:29.829 --> 00:26:33.490
a case involving a person with serious mental health issues
367
00:26:33.549 --> 00:26:38.769
and serious addiction issues who's homeless and transient really presents
368
00:26:38.829 --> 00:26:41.789
very difficult circumstances for prosecutors to maintain.
369
00:26:41.809 --> 00:26:44.069
You know, these cases are very challenging.
370
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:48.900
It wasn't until a lot of these women realized that
371
00:26:49.029 --> 00:26:51.670
women they knew had been killed in that house, that's
372
00:26:51.690 --> 00:26:53.410
what brought them forward. It was doing it for other
373
00:26:53.450 --> 00:26:56.089
people and realizing this was a lot more serious and
374
00:26:56.109 --> 00:26:57.470
they had to stand up for these women that no
375
00:26:57.509 --> 00:27:02.910
longer had a voice. He's looking for people who are
376
00:27:02.990 --> 00:27:05.019
less likely to go to the police. He made several
377
00:27:05.059 --> 00:27:07.720
statements to some of them. Go tell someone, no one's
378
00:27:07.740 --> 00:27:11.759
going to believe you. And quite frankly, that's the exact
379
00:27:11.779 --> 00:27:13.799
mentality of the women that he was seeking out, people
380
00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:15.500
who didn't think they'd be believed, who didn't think it
381
00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:17.880
was worth coming forward and would just be happy to
382
00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:20.740
move on with their lives after the fact, having escaped.
383
00:27:22.380 --> 00:27:26.519
His objectives with these women, his propensity to rape and
384
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:29.799
commit acts of violence, are things that have no place
385
00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:34.799
in our society. Those rapes, we believe, became more and
386
00:27:34.819 --> 00:27:42.230
more violent, involved strangulation, involved the use of various sort
387
00:27:42.250 --> 00:27:46.849
of tools or machinery to carry out these rapes and
388
00:27:46.869 --> 00:27:49.599
to carry out the violence that was a part of
389
00:27:49.650 --> 00:27:50.880
this experience for Mr.
390
00:27:50.910 --> 00:27:51.279
Weldon.
391
00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:56.859
Some cases, murder becomes a product of one's desire not
392
00:27:56.900 --> 00:27:57.799
to be apprehended.
393
00:27:58.599 --> 00:27:59.500
But we believe in Mr.
394
00:27:59.539 --> 00:28:02.720
Weldon's case, it was truly a sexual murder in which
395
00:28:02.779 --> 00:28:06.240
the murder became a part of his fantasy and carrying
396
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:07.180
out his desires.
397
00:28:09.779 --> 00:28:14.410
Stuart Weldon was a sexual sadist. in many respects. So
398
00:28:14.430 --> 00:28:15.569
it wasn't just the murder.
399
00:28:15.609 --> 00:28:19.319
This isn't somebody who's raping women and then killing them
400
00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:20.259
to avoid capture.
401
00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:22.880
This is somebody that I think, given the.
402
00:28:22.839 --> 00:28:27.640
Level of torture that he inflicted on his victims, who
403
00:28:27.700 --> 00:28:33.569
got sexual satisfaction from that torture, from hurting them, from
404
00:28:33.619 --> 00:28:36.789
seeing them cry or beg or plead.
405
00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:52.740
Eight cases of rape are added to Weldon's charges thanks
406
00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:56.299
to the testimony of survivors who are granted anonymity.
407
00:28:57.740 --> 00:29:00.470
A rape by its very definition is a vile act,
408
00:29:00.509 --> 00:29:04.390
one of the most heinous crimes that we know in
409
00:29:04.430 --> 00:29:08.589
our criminal justice system. But certainly Stuart Weldon's behaviors as
410
00:29:08.650 --> 00:29:13.859
we came to know them were particularly dark and focused.
411
00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:17.000
where he brought them to a level of violence where
412
00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:20.859
they were strangled, where they were beaten, and.
413
00:29:20.779 --> 00:29:23.259
So on and so forth in very, very severe ways.
414
00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:30.230
This guy is not just a menace to sex workers.
415
00:29:30.869 --> 00:29:34.509
This guy is a loose cannon to everybody in his life.
416
00:29:36.549 --> 00:29:39.750
This is somebody who's been known to threaten to shoot
417
00:29:39.789 --> 00:29:43.079
up a bar because he's angry to assault a woman
418
00:29:43.140 --> 00:29:46.339
on the street and yet this is somebody who's engaging
419
00:29:46.380 --> 00:29:50.950
in all of these activities in any other neighborhood this
420
00:29:51.009 --> 00:29:53.890
guy would be in jail and then prison for any
421
00:29:54.089 --> 00:29:57.289
one of these and yet he seems to be operating
422
00:29:57.329 --> 00:29:59.250
with few consequences if.
423
00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:06.660
Any Weldon pleads not guilty to all charges. As prosecutors
424
00:30:06.740 --> 00:30:10.220
prepare for trial, they fear the nature of the crime
425
00:30:10.259 --> 00:30:14.500
scene and the accounts of some survivors may allow Weldon
426
00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:15.660
to plead insanity.
427
00:30:17.099 --> 00:30:19.140
So at that point, it was my concern that this
428
00:30:19.220 --> 00:30:21.440
is going to bode poorly for us trying to prove
429
00:30:21.460 --> 00:30:23.259
that he was able to conform his conduct, the fact
430
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:24.839
that he would leave rotting bodies out like this.
431
00:30:35.240 --> 00:30:35.640
There was a.
432
00:30:35.619 --> 00:30:40.140
Description by one victim of him essentially putting candles on
433
00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:44.160
the floor in a pentagram. Another one indicated that he
434
00:30:44.220 --> 00:30:47.130
had motioned to an area underneath the basement stairs and
435
00:30:47.190 --> 00:30:49.829
said that a demon lived there and he threw salt there.
436
00:30:50.789 --> 00:30:53.769
Other times he would just maybe ramble about something satanic
437
00:30:54.130 --> 00:30:56.369
in a way that the victims couldn't really tell us
438
00:30:56.390 --> 00:30:57.890
exactly what he was saying, just that he was rambling
439
00:30:57.950 --> 00:30:59.059
on about satanic things.
440
00:31:01.180 --> 00:31:03.160
One of the things that I do wonder about Stuart
441
00:31:03.220 --> 00:31:06.099
Weldon is is whether he had some kind of brain
442
00:31:06.140 --> 00:31:12.190
impairment or brain damage that in some respects affected his impulsivity.
443
00:31:12.549 --> 00:31:14.269
That's a problem for us because one of the things
444
00:31:14.289 --> 00:31:15.670
we're gonna have to prove in this case is that
445
00:31:15.730 --> 00:31:18.990
he was sane and that he appreciated the wrongfulness of
446
00:31:19.009 --> 00:31:21.670
his actions and that he had the ability to conduct
447
00:31:21.710 --> 00:31:24.730
himself in a lawful manner. When you hear things like
448
00:31:24.769 --> 00:31:26.890
that or the fact that he was obsessed with a
449
00:31:26.950 --> 00:31:29.250
ghost detecting website, those are things.
450
00:31:29.150 --> 00:31:30.150
You're gonna need to explain.
451
00:31:41.940 --> 00:31:46.319
Stuart Weldon is in custody, pleading not guilty to three
452
00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:51.519
counts of first-degree murder and 49 other charges relating to
453
00:31:51.579 --> 00:31:56.690
a total of 11 victims. Prosecutors are working to prove
454
00:31:56.730 --> 00:32:01.049
he was criminally responsible for his actions, as they fear
455
00:32:01.130 --> 00:32:04.910
Weldon's defense may claim Weldon was insane or under the
456
00:32:04.970 --> 00:32:08.049
effects of a mental disorder at the time of the offenses.
457
00:32:10.450 --> 00:32:12.750
He's due to face trial in April 2020.
458
00:32:12.750 --> 00:32:15.309
We had to show that there was going to be
459
00:32:15.329 --> 00:32:17.500
some kind of organization to what's happening here, some kind
460
00:32:17.980 --> 00:32:21.740
of pattern rather than just random chaotic violence. I tell
461
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:24.380
this to lots of new prosecutors, the most important witness
462
00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:26.819
and the most consistent witness in any murder prosecution is
463
00:32:26.859 --> 00:32:29.819
going to be your scene. We had to ask for
464
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:33.230
an extension here because crime scene detectives spent days digging
465
00:32:33.250 --> 00:32:36.490
in that yard and then going through that house and
466
00:32:36.750 --> 00:32:40.980
being very careful to procure evidence DNA evidence, swabbing everything,
467
00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:42.759
looking for fingerprints, things like that.
468
00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:48.559
They were very careful in making sure that they're preserving evidence.
469
00:32:49.160 --> 00:32:52.980
This is preserving your crime scene. Are you keeping as
470
00:32:53.099 --> 00:32:56.829
many people out of the crime scene as possible? Are
471
00:32:56.869 --> 00:33:00.410
you thinking in the future, is there something that could
472
00:33:00.490 --> 00:33:04.880
change my crime scene? Whether, for example, We.
473
00:33:04.779 --> 00:33:07.940
Had to take a lot of small, disparate pieces of evidence,
474
00:33:07.980 --> 00:33:10.720
link them together to build a pattern that we could extrapolate.
475
00:33:12.019 --> 00:33:14.859
We found two bleach bottles there, which kind of indicated
476
00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:16.819
some kind of cleanup had happened. The ground was sticky,
477
00:33:17.339 --> 00:33:19.789
also indicating some kind of cleanup had occurred under there
478
00:33:19.809 --> 00:33:20.440
at some point.
479
00:33:28.930 --> 00:33:30.369
Yo, it's me, Jersey.
480
00:33:30.390 --> 00:33:34.029
I apologize if I ever.
481
00:33:42.299 --> 00:33:50.240
The video isn't a confession, but evidence of Weldon trying
482
00:33:50.259 --> 00:33:53.140
to cover his actions would help prove he was acting
483
00:33:53.180 --> 00:33:58.150
with intent. There were inconsistencies in his story, too.
484
00:33:59.410 --> 00:34:01.529
It became kind of known to me that he might
485
00:34:01.569 --> 00:34:04.920
be saying the victims were only bound... after they were
486
00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:07.619
killed so that they'd be easier to move. And so
487
00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:09.619
we had to look at the exact circumstances we found
488
00:34:09.639 --> 00:34:13.139
them in at that point. And the first victim, in
489
00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:15.840
discussions with the medical examiner, we were able to determine
490
00:34:15.860 --> 00:34:18.380
that she was bound in duct tape. And due to
491
00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:20.599
some of the lividity and the blanching of the skin,
492
00:34:21.539 --> 00:34:23.019
that medical examiner was going to be able to give
493
00:34:23.059 --> 00:34:26.300
us testimony saying that blood was still flowing at the
494
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.519
time that those bonds were applied to the victim and
495
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:32.400
that she was alive when that happened. There was a
496
00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:35.440
broken hyoid bone in the neck, and we knew that
497
00:34:35.460 --> 00:34:38.099
to mean that some force had been applied manually to
498
00:34:38.119 --> 00:34:42.889
the neck, most likely with hands. We got very lucky
499
00:34:42.929 --> 00:34:46.110
with a DNA hit from our second victim on one
500
00:34:46.130 --> 00:34:47.909
of the backs of the post there, which let us
501
00:34:48.010 --> 00:34:51.789
know her body had at some point been underneath those
502
00:34:51.829 --> 00:34:54.429
basement steps, and then we found her in the garage.
503
00:34:54.889 --> 00:34:58.690
That was very helpful because it brought back our theory, essentially,
504
00:34:58.730 --> 00:35:00.909
that the bad things were happening to these women in
505
00:35:00.949 --> 00:35:03.420
the basement And then the bodies were brought out, which
506
00:35:03.460 --> 00:35:06.019
showed an organized pattern. And that allowed us to start
507
00:35:06.739 --> 00:35:10.039
bringing in the stories of the survivors from his basement.
508
00:35:10.619 --> 00:35:12.079
And we were able to start applying what happened to
509
00:35:12.119 --> 00:35:14.139
them to what happened to the bodies that we found.
510
00:35:16.469 --> 00:35:17.489
Essentially, through all these.
511
00:35:17.429 --> 00:35:20.570
Pieces of evidence, it became very clear that Mr. Weldon
512
00:35:20.690 --> 00:35:24.630
knew who was a suitable victim for what he wanted
513
00:35:24.670 --> 00:35:26.610
to do. He knew where to procure them from and
514
00:35:26.690 --> 00:35:29.730
how to procure them without any resistance. There weren't reports
515
00:35:29.750 --> 00:35:32.639
coming in of him dragging women into his cars. He
516
00:35:32.659 --> 00:35:34.980
knew how to charm the men, and that he knew
517
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:36.619
how far he could go with these women.
518
00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:38.349
If there was someone in the house, he.
519
00:35:38.289 --> 00:35:40.849
Knew he had to let them go. If he knew
520
00:35:40.889 --> 00:35:43.369
he had the house kind of completely unfettered for a
521
00:35:43.369 --> 00:35:45.460
long period of time, that's when we believe these killings
522
00:35:45.500 --> 00:35:46.019
were happening.
523
00:36:07.820 --> 00:36:10.989
When you have bodies buried in your basement, you know,
524
00:36:11.250 --> 00:36:15.389
one of the only options left is to plead insanity.
525
00:36:15.730 --> 00:36:19.170
And the fact that he didn't plead insanity likely means
526
00:36:19.210 --> 00:36:22.500
he was evaluated and was told, his attorneys were told,
527
00:36:22.539 --> 00:36:25.639
that he doesn't meet the insanity defense. He wasn't legally
528
00:36:25.699 --> 00:36:28.000
insane at the time he committed these crimes.
529
00:36:28.980 --> 00:36:32.559
This was definitely premeditated and well thought out by him.
530
00:36:33.570 --> 00:36:37.690
People evaluated him and said, bad news, you're not insane.
531
00:36:41.210 --> 00:36:46.949
To discover that a human being was capable of really
532
00:36:47.230 --> 00:36:54.730
torturing victims systematically in that home. And the deaths that
533
00:36:54.769 --> 00:37:00.510
those three women experienced and what Mr. Weldon did in, frankly,
534
00:37:00.699 --> 00:37:03.989
a ham-handed attempt to cover up his crimes.
535
00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:05.840
Is very unique.
536
00:37:06.599 --> 00:37:09.059
It's something that I have not seen otherwise and I
537
00:37:09.099 --> 00:37:09.940
hope to never see again.
538
00:37:21.619 --> 00:37:30.260
Please be seated. Course now in session. No talking, please.
539
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:40.269
Your Honor, many of these women didn't come forward because
540
00:37:40.289 --> 00:37:41.849
they were terrified about what happened to them.
541
00:37:42.429 --> 00:37:44.130
Based on who they were, how.
542
00:37:43.809 --> 00:37:45.159
They lived, what they were going through.
543
00:37:45.179 --> 00:37:48.300
They didn't think anyone would believe them or care about
544
00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:48.980
what happened to them.
545
00:37:49.639 --> 00:37:51.559
The only good thing that comes from this case, Your Honor,
546
00:37:51.579 --> 00:37:53.420
is now they know that that's not true.
547
00:37:55.179 --> 00:37:58.369
When America, Ernestine, and Kayla were in his house, he
548
00:37:58.429 --> 00:38:00.949
knew he had that house to himself for an extended
549
00:38:01.010 --> 00:38:03.449
period of time. He knew he would not be interrupted
550
00:38:03.849 --> 00:38:05.730
or disturbed, and he would have time to do.
551
00:38:05.650 --> 00:38:06.190
What he needed.
552
00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:11.170
He tailored his lies in the cover-up about This case,
553
00:38:11.449 --> 00:38:13.360
depending on who he was talking to, he would explain
554
00:38:13.380 --> 00:38:15.460
the smell in a way that was designed to cause
555
00:38:15.480 --> 00:38:19.440
the least amount of alarm to his audience. He tailored
556
00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:22.199
these lies about the smell while searching the internet on
557
00:38:22.239 --> 00:38:25.139
how to remove the smell of dead animal carcasses, always
558
00:38:25.179 --> 00:38:26.409
careful to never.
559
00:38:26.309 --> 00:38:27.389
Search them as dead bodies.
560
00:38:28.469 --> 00:38:31.309
The intent for what he did here is all.
561
00:38:31.250 --> 00:38:32.230
Over this case.
562
00:38:44.789 --> 00:38:49.030
Kayla was a daughter, a sister, and a mother. She
563
00:38:49.050 --> 00:38:51.190
could light up a room with her smile, fill it
564
00:38:51.210 --> 00:38:54.630
with her laughter. Her love for her friends and her
565
00:38:54.670 --> 00:38:59.110
family never dwindled, but instead it grew every day. She
566
00:38:59.130 --> 00:39:01.670
could love with the power of a thousand hearts. She
567
00:39:01.730 --> 00:39:03.389
never gave up on the things that meant the most
568
00:39:03.409 --> 00:39:03.610
to her.
569
00:39:10.519 --> 00:39:13.059
There are no words to describe the pain in my heart.
570
00:39:13.730 --> 00:39:15.389
At the start of the day, I found out my.
571
00:39:15.309 --> 00:39:22.199
Mom was one of the defendant's victims. The feelings of hurt, sadness, confusion, loneliness, regret,
572
00:39:22.260 --> 00:39:24.440
and most of all, anger are just a few of
573
00:39:24.539 --> 00:39:29.530
my daily emotions now. I wake up every day hoping
574
00:39:29.570 --> 00:39:31.920
that this was all a bad dream and relive the
575
00:39:32.059 --> 00:39:36.940
horror when I realize it was real. They say time
576
00:39:36.980 --> 00:39:39.360
heals all wounds, but Your Honor, I don't feel like
577
00:39:39.480 --> 00:39:42.699
this is a wound that will ever heal. I miss
578
00:39:42.739 --> 00:39:43.099
my mom.
579
00:39:53.059 --> 00:39:57.619
For three months, I wondered every single day where she was.
580
00:39:57.639 --> 00:40:01.030
Is she okay? Having hoped we would see her again
581
00:40:01.699 --> 00:40:03.969
the day I gave birth, I still wasn't aware she
582
00:40:04.010 --> 00:40:07.230
was dead, laying alone in a dirty, dark garage.
583
00:40:09.949 --> 00:40:14.170
My life crumbled and stopped the minute the detectives came
584
00:40:14.250 --> 00:40:20.199
to my door. I'll never forget those moments. Every day,
585
00:40:20.219 --> 00:40:24.960
I am haunted by memories and images. I will never
586
00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:33.300
be whole again. The defendant took away my daughter, my sweet.
587
00:40:33.079 --> 00:40:36.539
Little angel, Kayla Jean.
588
00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:38.780
Take care of.
589
00:40:41.400 --> 00:40:41.519
Her.
590
00:40:41.579 --> 00:40:41.650
Mr.
591
00:40:41.659 --> 00:40:46.440
Stuart Weldon, in consideration of this offense, court orders that
592
00:40:46.480 --> 00:40:50.190
you be confined at MCI Cedar Junction for the term
593
00:40:50.389 --> 00:40:57.840
of your natural life. To give voice to people who
594
00:40:57.900 --> 00:41:02.260
are downtrodden, to give a sense of respect to people
595
00:41:02.380 --> 00:41:05.179
who have really been at the lowest rungs of society
596
00:41:05.219 --> 00:41:08.099
for a very long time, to give a sense of
597
00:41:08.179 --> 00:41:12.369
purpose and meaning to people who are suffering from addiction
598
00:41:12.570 --> 00:41:15.829
and are suffering from mental health issues, to give them
599
00:41:15.929 --> 00:41:22.739
worth through this process is really very special work. I
600
00:41:22.840 --> 00:41:25.159
want to give credit to our team, and in particular,
601
00:41:25.199 --> 00:41:30.059
Assistant District Attorney Max Bennett, who pieced together a case
602
00:41:30.920 --> 00:41:37.900
and worked with great compassion and great fortitude to give
603
00:41:38.900 --> 00:41:42.699
the murder victims' families and the living victims a sense
604
00:41:42.739 --> 00:41:47.280
of dignity, a sense of closure, a sense of justice.
605
00:41:48.070 --> 00:41:50.610
around the horrible things that happened to them or happened
606
00:41:50.630 --> 00:41:51.389
to their loved ones.
607
00:41:52.550 --> 00:41:55.579
There's nothing I could say that would ease the pain
608
00:41:57.719 --> 00:42:00.340
of the families of the victims in this case.
609
00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:06.809
Stuart Weldon's victims were at a very desperate point in
610
00:42:06.829 --> 00:42:10.050
their lives, and they were all battling addiction and trying
611
00:42:10.070 --> 00:42:12.989
to beat it. And it can be easy to forget
612
00:42:13.190 --> 00:42:19.380
that these were women who had children often, They were sisters.
613
00:42:20.119 --> 00:42:27.280
They were daughters. They had interest. They loved their families.
614
00:42:28.260 --> 00:42:34.750
And they really were much more than that snapshot of
615
00:42:34.869 --> 00:42:36.409
what they were struggling with when they died.
1
00:00:11.990 --> 00:00:15.169
I did what I did, nobody guilty but me, you
2
00:00:15.189 --> 00:00:15.890
know what I'm saying?
3
00:00:15.910 --> 00:00:19.820
If she were here now, I would start by telling
4
00:00:19.859 --> 00:00:22.379
her that I'm sorry and that I love her.
5
00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:26.660
I would tell her I need my big sister back.
6
00:00:29.339 --> 00:00:34.659
He chose a certain category of victims who he believed
7
00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:36.600
he could victimize without repercussions.
8
00:00:38.859 --> 00:00:40.340
This is a person who was on a path at
9
00:00:40.380 --> 00:00:44.570
an early age and just progressed and became somebody who
10
00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:47.049
was a danger to everybody around him.
11
00:00:48.770 --> 00:00:52.170
I can only imagine the fear that is felt at
12
00:00:52.250 --> 00:00:52.890
this time.
13
00:00:55.990 --> 00:00:58.579
I would characterize it as evil. I would characterize it
14
00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:02.340
as subhuman. I think he's a monster.
15
00:01:04.019 --> 00:01:08.750
Every day, I am haunted by memories and images I
16
00:01:08.769 --> 00:01:10.540
will never be whole again.
17
00:01:48.129 --> 00:01:52.890
Stuart Weldon was born in 1977. He grew up in Jamaica, Queens,
18
00:01:53.489 --> 00:01:56.569
New York, which was an area that was known for
19
00:01:56.629 --> 00:01:57.969
having a lot of drug activity.
20
00:01:59.769 --> 00:02:01.730
His father died when he was a teenager.
21
00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:05.400
There was indications that he was sexually assaulted, that he
22
00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:09.319
was experimenting with drugs, and was introduced to pornography at
23
00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.639
an early age.
24
00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:16.650
In 1990, just after his father's death, Stuart Weldon's mom
25
00:02:16.750 --> 00:02:19.590
moves them out of the city to Montclair, New Jersey,
26
00:02:20.909 --> 00:02:23.069
a safer neighborhood with a lower crime rate.
27
00:02:24.550 --> 00:02:28.449
No mother wants to see their child involved in criminal activity.
28
00:02:29.189 --> 00:02:33.259
So what is often done is let us move to
29
00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:35.240
a more suburban.
30
00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:36.900
Life and we can start all over.
31
00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:41.719
That was probably the intent of this caring mother trying
32
00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:43.979
to move her son to a different way of life.
33
00:02:47.090 --> 00:02:50.439
But Stuart Weldon's difficult start to life continues when he
34
00:02:50.509 --> 00:02:51.439
reaches high school.
35
00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:56.819
He seemed to have some pretty significant learning problems. He
36
00:02:56.860 --> 00:03:03.300
was diagnosed with severe ADHD. He apparently had dyslexia. I
37
00:03:03.340 --> 00:03:08.870
think when a child has some learning challenges, how that
38
00:03:08.930 --> 00:03:11.009
child does depends on a couple of different things, not
39
00:03:11.050 --> 00:03:14.770
just the severity of their disabilities, which is important to know,
40
00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:19.060
but also how the school handles those. So are they
41
00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:23.000
getting diagnosed early? Are they getting appropriate treatment? And it
42
00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:27.009
sounds like that he ended up having a pretty limited education.
43
00:03:33.370 --> 00:03:36.750
In 1996, Stuart Weldon is at a mall, and he
44
00:03:36.810 --> 00:03:40.199
and his buddy basically pick up three girls, are gonna
45
00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:42.439
go out and party. They end up taking two of
46
00:03:42.460 --> 00:03:46.020
them home. But the third one, they end up kidnapping
47
00:03:46.259 --> 00:03:47.219
and sexually assaulting.
48
00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:52.620
At the age of 19, when he was in New Jersey,
49
00:03:52.699 --> 00:03:55.080
he was charged with sexual offenses as well as a
50
00:03:55.099 --> 00:03:58.979
weapons charge. He was picking up women that might have
51
00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.419
been drug involved, mental health issues, involved in prostitution.
52
00:04:05.150 --> 00:04:08.710
We often see a progressive nature of criminal offenses for
53
00:04:08.729 --> 00:04:10.509
those who commit very serious crimes.
54
00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:19.019
Issues of violence often have their foundation in control. That
55
00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:22.670
if I'm able to violently get you to do what
56
00:04:22.730 --> 00:04:25.129
I want, I have control over you.
57
00:04:26.649 --> 00:04:32.649
He's not starting out painting graffiti, or even loitering in
58
00:04:32.670 --> 00:04:35.029
places where he's not supposed to be, or being on
59
00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:36.949
top of the school when he's not supposed to be
60
00:04:37.029 --> 00:04:40.889
on there. Things that we might think juveniles are exhibiting
61
00:04:40.930 --> 00:04:44.420
poor judgment. and they're gonna grow out of it. This
62
00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:46.100
kind of crime is not like that.
63
00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:54.139
Another step up the ladder of engaging in criminal activity,
64
00:04:54.199 --> 00:04:55.480
engaging in violence.
65
00:04:56.259 --> 00:05:00.430
Especially when you see sexually related or sexually involved offenses,
66
00:05:00.930 --> 00:05:04.189
you know, typically that's a red flag. Sometimes those behaviors
67
00:05:04.509 --> 00:05:09.329
are innate and they repeat. Sometimes they get progressively worse.
68
00:05:11.449 --> 00:05:18.579
It suggests premeditation. It suggests violent behavior. It is violent behavior.
69
00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:22.699
It suggests predatory behavior. And those are things that are
70
00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:32.410
oftentimes predictors of future violence and future sexual offenses. When
71
00:05:32.449 --> 00:05:35.750
we look at serial killers, we often do expect them
72
00:05:35.790 --> 00:05:38.839
to come from the most horrendous backgrounds. and have parents
73
00:05:38.860 --> 00:05:41.500
who don't love them, don't care about them, abuse them,
74
00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:44.100
take advantage of them. And then you find parents who,
75
00:05:44.139 --> 00:05:49.360
for whatever reason, indulged their children, were permissive, and basically
76
00:05:49.379 --> 00:05:51.920
prevent that child from developing a sense of right and
77
00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:52.959
wrong that's internal.
78
00:06:04.259 --> 00:06:09.079
Stuart Weldon's criminality reaches a new level Now 28 years old,
79
00:06:09.620 --> 00:06:12.500
he commits assault with a deadly weapon and receives a
80
00:06:12.550 --> 00:06:20.430
three-year prison sentence. When he's released, he moves with his
81
00:06:20.490 --> 00:06:29.339
mother again, this time to Springfield in Western Massachusetts. They
82
00:06:29.379 --> 00:06:32.660
live in a property made of two separate apartments. It
83
00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:34.540
would hide some chilling secrets.
84
00:06:37.509 --> 00:06:41.430
Springfield is the largest city in Western Massachusetts and the
85
00:06:41.449 --> 00:06:42.730
largest city in Hampton County.
86
00:06:45.350 --> 00:06:46.930
There's a lot of poverty here, a lot of crime,
87
00:06:46.949 --> 00:06:50.360
a lot of drugs. Essentially, it's an old industrial town
88
00:06:50.740 --> 00:06:52.759
that has been kind of overtaken by.
89
00:06:52.699 --> 00:06:53.319
Crime and drugs.
90
00:06:55.240 --> 00:07:00.750
It's essentially like a distribution center of heroin between Boston
91
00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:05.529
and New York. This kind of underbelly of criminal activity
92
00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:07.920
is something that is appealing to him.
93
00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:09.000
He kind of.
94
00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:11.970
Gravitates to it, and I think he feels like he
95
00:07:12.069 --> 00:07:13.689
fits in and he understands it.
96
00:07:14.569 --> 00:07:16.449
A narcotics detective once told me the only reason we
97
00:07:16.470 --> 00:07:19.230
don't have methamphetamine moving into the Springfield area is because
98
00:07:19.269 --> 00:07:20.360
heroin is so cheap here.
99
00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:24.000
It's likely that his mom thought she was moving him
100
00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:28.720
to a better place. What she doesn't realize is she's
101
00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:31.310
basically moved him from the frying pan into the fire.
102
00:07:37.189 --> 00:07:41.300
There's a road in Springfield that is essentially known for
103
00:07:41.860 --> 00:07:45.720
sex workers to hang out, for people to be looking
104
00:07:45.740 --> 00:07:48.220
to make money in exchange for drugs.
105
00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:52.060
And for Stuart Weldon, who.
106
00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:55.899
Is very involved in criminal activity, this would be like
107
00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:58.139
a candy store. He could just drive down and pick
108
00:07:58.199 --> 00:07:59.250
and choose whatever he wants.
109
00:08:01.910 --> 00:08:06.850
Weldon became very well known in circles involving women who
110
00:08:06.889 --> 00:08:14.589
were prostituting themselves. Became very well known in certain criminal circles,
111
00:08:15.009 --> 00:08:17.870
in particular an area of High End School Street in
112
00:08:17.889 --> 00:08:18.850
the city of Springfield.
113
00:08:20.990 --> 00:08:22.370
He became sort.
114
00:08:22.230 --> 00:08:26.350
Of embedded in a particular criminal aspect here in the
115
00:08:26.370 --> 00:08:27.269
city of Springfield.
116
00:08:30.110 --> 00:08:34.840
When you have kind of a subculture, of criminal behavior
117
00:08:34.889 --> 00:08:38.919
in a community. It is easier to get away with
118
00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:41.179
things because people kind of look out for each other
119
00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:43.080
in a way, and you don't stand out.
120
00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:54.409
Stuart Weldon's respect for the law deteriorates further. He breaks
121
00:08:54.450 --> 00:08:58.570
into someone's home, and when apprehended, he violently attacks a
122
00:08:58.590 --> 00:09:03.580
police officer. He receives a two-year prison sentence.
123
00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:08.519
This is somebody that really strikes me as he doesn't
124
00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:12.419
care about anything. He doesn't care about himself that much.
125
00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:14.799
He puts himself at all kinds of risk. He pulls
126
00:09:14.840 --> 00:09:16.679
a knife on a police officer. I mean, he could
127
00:09:16.730 --> 00:09:20.009
have been shot by police for legitimate reasons on many
128
00:09:20.049 --> 00:09:24.149
different occasions. So he's somebody who doesn't care about anybody
129
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or himself. And I think that is scary. That is
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something you don't often see. Stuart Weldon was very involved
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in the drug world and he was dealing drugs which
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made it very very easy for him to encourage and
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entice women who were struggling with addiction into his car.
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Weldon used that as a way to lure them.
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To his house.
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A lot of the times he would get women into
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a car with an offer of, hey, I've got some drugs,
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let's go do them. And then as they got closer,
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maybe a negotiation took place about a sex act that
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ended up going too far. But in a lot of cases,
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women went to his apartment thinking they were going to
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hang out. And then when they got there, they would
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find out it was far more involved than just smoking
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drugs together. It was more about physical controls, slaps, punches,
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ordering them around. forcing acts on them that they did
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not agree to. He was kind of pushing the boundaries
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to see what he could get away with.
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He subjected the victims of his crimes to experiences that
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could only be termed as near-death experiences.
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Stuart Weldon, now aged 40, already has a criminal history
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spanning kidnap, burglary, sexual offenses, and assault with a deadly weapon.
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He's served two prison sentences. He's now luring vulnerable women
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to his basement, where he's torturing them, almost to the
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point of death. Despite this increasingly alarming behavior, He isn't
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drawing police attention.
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These women are vulnerable on a lot of different levels,
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not only in terms of getting into a car with
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somebody they don't know, not only desperate perhaps in terms
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of looking for drugs to kind of feed an addiction,
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but also their relationship with the police is going to
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be very difficult.
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And so, you know, Stuart Walden knows this.
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He knows that Most often, when a sex worker is
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raped or beaten up, either she's not going to go
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to the police because she's afraid she's going to be
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arrested for what she's been doing or that she's not
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going to be believed. And all too often, that's exactly
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what happens.
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These are women who sometimes fall out of touch with
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their families for periods of time and live very transient lifestyles.
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So sometimes not being around wouldn't be noticed. It was
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actually the women who hung out in High End School
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Street who were the first ones to realize we haven't
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seen this person for a while, but even they said
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that's not uncommon. Sometimes people go to rehab, they get clean,
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or they try to move on, or simply find another area,
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move in with a man, things like that. So these
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are people whose disappearances might not go noticed right away.
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It is almost a matter of You haven't punished me,
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so why should I stop committing the crimes or maybe
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even escalating those crimes? I think we see the latter
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in this case. You haven't punished me severely. I am
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going to continue doing these crimes. And since the system
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is not stopping me or deterring me, these crimes will continue.
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He does not have some of the normal restraints that
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most people have. And that makes people afraid of him.
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They're aware that he'll do whatever.
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He's intimidating. He'll fight cops. He'll run from cops. He'll
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fight anybody.
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I mean, this is somebody who truly seems to have
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no restraint when it comes to getting what he wants
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or doing what he wants to do.
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A lot of these women described feeling like their life
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was draining away. They were losing vision and unable to speak.
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Having that complete and utter control over someone's life, essentially
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having the power over whether or not they live or
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die and being able to see their face react to
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the situation that they're in.
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It's just astonishing to see the fact that he's doing
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all these things, not hiding them, not seeming to care.
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About the consequences.
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America Lydon is a 33-year-old mother who's just completed a
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drug rehabilitation program. 47-year-old Ernestine Ryans has lived her whole
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life in Springfield. She is a mother and soon-to-be grandmother.
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Kayla Escalante, a 26-year-old mom from neighboring Ludlow.
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Struggles with drug addiction and has lost touch with her family.
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Police have no idea where these three vulnerable women are
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or even if they're alive. It's not until five months
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after America Lydon is reported missing that authorities suspect Weldon
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is involved.
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The first time I learned about Stuart Weldon He was
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pulled over for a routine traffic stop, essentially, by some detectives.
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The car took off, and Mr. Weldon had just taken
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off in the middle of the stop, which obviously the
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officers gave chase to him.
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The traffic stop allows for the police officer, with probable cause,
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with probable cause, to do a search of the vehicle,
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to check out the welfare of the individuals inside the vehicle,
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and perhaps to ask questions if there is any speculation
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of criminal activity taking place.
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This isn't somebody who's sophisticated and trying to hide his
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criminal activities.
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He's doing whatever he wants to do right then.
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A chase occurs, and at the end of the chase,
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the police officers find that there is a woman, tied, bound,
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and the backseat of the car.
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It's really the case of outstanding police work, police officers
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being observant, aware of their surroundings and people of interest
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in the area. It probably saved a life, and it
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probably saved more than one life.
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The woman who was in the front passenger seat began screaming,
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and it became very obvious at that point she was
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significantly injured.
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She immediately tells them she has been held captive for
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one month, that she has been unsafe, unwell, that she's
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been kidnapped and taken by Weldon.
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The police officers see some odd and very serious injuries.
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She complains to them about pain.
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The victim then communicates with police officers about how Mr.
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Weldon had been abusing her and striking her with an object,
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and she had injuries on her body very consistent with
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this sort of abuse.
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She was giving this information in a very hysterical way
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that was sometimes difficult to follow, a little rambling. She
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was in obvious trauma and distress, essentially saying that he'd
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been holding her against her will in his house for
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the past 30 days. He had been beating her, tying
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her up, things like that. She claimed that he had
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been beating her with a hammer in the leg and
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the injuries to her leg were obvious. It was very
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clear that she'd been receiving abuse on that leg for
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quite some time and she had to be rushed to
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the hospital where she was actually almost in danger.
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Of losing that leg.
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Weldon is charged with kidnapping, threatening to commit a crime,
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carrying a dangerous weapon, and resisting arrest. Despite the claims
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of his victim, Police don't have enough evidence to search
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his house. Mr.
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Weldon was brought to court, and the next day, and
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I handled the arraignment on that case. He was charged
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with kidnapping and a variety of other assaultive charges. I
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believe at that time we requested a high cash bail,
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and he was held on a million dollars cash bail
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for giving the kidnapping and the serious allegations, which we
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later came to find out was only the tip of
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the iceberg. We didn't have probable cause, at least in
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my opinion at that time, to go and search his home.
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That came a few days later on. Springfield police received
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a call from his adoptive mother who was complaining about
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a smell in the basement. The way she described it
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to police officers on that call was she was worried
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about potentially there being a dead animal in the basement
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and she was afraid to go and check it out.
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A number of uniformed Springfield police officers entered the home
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and immediately were struck with a very strong and vile
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odor that they were familiar with as either decomposing human
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remains or animal remains.
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For those of us who have been involved in investigation,
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there is a distinct smell you do not forget.
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At this point, it was dark out. It was 8.30
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or so. I recall getting onto the driveway of the home.
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I remember smelling an odor that I was somewhat familiar
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with at the time, even a great distance from the home,
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probably 50 feet at the end of the driveway. I went,
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accompanied by police officers, into the home and down the stairs.
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I remember at that point, the smell was very, very strong.
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And then I was taken into a bathroom area, and
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I witnessed a body there that was at that point
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pretty severely decomposed.
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When you find that it is a human being, There
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is a drop in your heart and your stomach because
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that was someone's mom, dad, brother, sister, family member. And
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when you find that the death has occurred, that's an
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awful lot to take.
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The victim in the bathroom we believe was the most
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recent victim went missing sometime April or May of that year.
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A distinctive ankle tattoo and fingerprints allow police to identify
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the first victim as missing 27-year-old Kayla Escalante. Her body
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was bound and gagged.
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The first body was just in a basement bathroom that
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anyone could have really walked down to.
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I then walked outside and I was brought down to
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the garage area down at the end of the driveway
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by police officers.
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Again, the smell was very strong, even being.
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in the open air, walked into the garage just a
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few steps and could see at that point a severely
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decomposed body. The smell was very strong. There were black
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flies present.
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We believe the victim found in the garage was abducted
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sometime in April.
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The second victim is confirmed as missing 47-year-old, soon-to-be grandmother,
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Ernestine Ryans. Her body was dumped and loosely covered with cardboard.
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I knew that we had a very serious situation on
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our hands. I made some phone calls to members of
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my staff, called Assistant District Attorney Max Bennett and asked
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him to respond to the scene.
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At that point, it looked like we had two bodies
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that had just been kind of left. The following day,
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after detectives had noticed disturbed dirt underneath a wooden shed
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in the backyard and a state police cadaver dog had
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alerted on the area, detectives began digging there where we
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unearthed the body of the third victim, bound with internet cords,
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computer cables, and almost completely decomposed in a skeletal fashion
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with very little tissue left. Based on our investigation we
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pieced together, we believe she went missing sometime in September.
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Investigators need to use dental records to identify 34-year-old America Lydon.
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It certainly presents, in my experience now, as a very
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unique crime scene and a very unique set of circumstances that,
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you know, at the time we're were startling, were scary,
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were horrifying, and now stand out as some of the
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more heinous crimes and really egregious scenery that I've seen
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in my years in law enforcement.
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Women that were in the home while his mother was
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around or present in the home, they walked out alive.
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When his mother would leave the house or be gone
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for long periods of time, That's when we believe the
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murders occurred.
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We do believe that Mr.
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Weldon has been living up until the time of his
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arrest at this address. This is a largely residential area with,
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you know, sort of middle-class families who take pride in
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their homes and who go to work every day.
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You know, children lived in that neighborhood.
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So there was a lot of shock, especially from that
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area of the city of Springfield, that, you know, this
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kind of behavior that became national and international news was happening,
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you know, just yards away from their homes.
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Weldon is now charged with the murders of America Leiden,
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Ernestine Ryans, and Kayla Escalante. along with the previous charges
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related to the kidnap and attempted murder of the victim
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found in his car. With Weldon off the streets, other
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victims now feel able to report what he's done to them.
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So here you have Weldon in police custody, and police
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work now shows that a series of rapes that had
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been ongoing in that same city also stopped. Police work
357
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then puts two and two together to look at Weldon
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perhaps being the suspect for those rapes.
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He was incredibly brutal in his rapes. And I think
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that he didn't really care if they lived or not.
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I can certainly see.
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That once somebody died in his care, how that would
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become an additional fun thing for him.
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And then it would continue.
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Even if something was reported to police, you know, prosecuting
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a case involving a person with serious mental health issues
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and serious addiction issues who's homeless and transient really presents
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very difficult circumstances for prosecutors to maintain.
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You know, these cases are very challenging.
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It wasn't until a lot of these women realized that
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women they knew had been killed in that house, that's
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what brought them forward. It was doing it for other
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people and realizing this was a lot more serious and
374
00:26:56.109 --> 00:26:57.470
they had to stand up for these women that no
375
00:26:57.509 --> 00:27:02.910
longer had a voice. He's looking for people who are
376
00:27:02.990 --> 00:27:05.019
less likely to go to the police. He made several
377
00:27:05.059 --> 00:27:07.720
statements to some of them. Go tell someone, no one's
378
00:27:07.740 --> 00:27:11.759
going to believe you. And quite frankly, that's the exact
379
00:27:11.779 --> 00:27:13.799
mentality of the women that he was seeking out, people
380
00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:15.500
who didn't think they'd be believed, who didn't think it
381
00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:17.880
was worth coming forward and would just be happy to
382
00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:20.740
move on with their lives after the fact, having escaped.
383
00:27:22.380 --> 00:27:26.519
His objectives with these women, his propensity to rape and
384
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:29.799
commit acts of violence, are things that have no place
385
00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:34.799
in our society. Those rapes, we believe, became more and
386
00:27:34.819 --> 00:27:42.230
more violent, involved strangulation, involved the use of various sort
387
00:27:42.250 --> 00:27:46.849
of tools or machinery to carry out these rapes and
388
00:27:46.869 --> 00:27:49.599
to carry out the violence that was a part of
389
00:27:49.650 --> 00:27:50.880
this experience for Mr.
390
00:27:50.910 --> 00:27:51.279
Weldon.
391
00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:56.859
Some cases, murder becomes a product of one's desire not
392
00:27:56.900 --> 00:27:57.799
to be apprehended.
393
00:27:58.599 --> 00:27:59.500
But we believe in Mr.
394
00:27:59.539 --> 00:28:02.720
Weldon's case, it was truly a sexual murder in which
395
00:28:02.779 --> 00:28:06.240
the murder became a part of his fantasy and carrying
396
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:07.180
out his desires.
397
00:28:09.779 --> 00:28:14.410
Stuart Weldon was a sexual sadist. in many respects. So
398
00:28:14.430 --> 00:28:15.569
it wasn't just the murder.
399
00:28:15.609 --> 00:28:19.319
This isn't somebody who's raping women and then killing them
400
00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:20.259
to avoid capture.
401
00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:22.880
This is somebody that I think, given the.
402
00:28:22.839 --> 00:28:27.640
Level of torture that he inflicted on his victims, who
403
00:28:27.700 --> 00:28:33.569
got sexual satisfaction from that torture, from hurting them, from
404
00:28:33.619 --> 00:28:36.789
seeing them cry or beg or plead.
405
00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:52.740
Eight cases of rape are added to Weldon's charges thanks
406
00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:56.299
to the testimony of survivors who are granted anonymity.
407
00:28:57.740 --> 00:29:00.470
A rape by its very definition is a vile act,
408
00:29:00.509 --> 00:29:04.390
one of the most heinous crimes that we know in
409
00:29:04.430 --> 00:29:08.589
our criminal justice system. But certainly Stuart Weldon's behaviors as
410
00:29:08.650 --> 00:29:13.859
we came to know them were particularly dark and focused.
411
00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:17.000
where he brought them to a level of violence where
412
00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:20.859
they were strangled, where they were beaten, and.
413
00:29:20.779 --> 00:29:23.259
So on and so forth in very, very severe ways.
414
00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:30.230
This guy is not just a menace to sex workers.
415
00:29:30.869 --> 00:29:34.509
This guy is a loose cannon to everybody in his life.
416
00:29:36.549 --> 00:29:39.750
This is somebody who's been known to threaten to shoot
417
00:29:39.789 --> 00:29:43.079
up a bar because he's angry to assault a woman
418
00:29:43.140 --> 00:29:46.339
on the street and yet this is somebody who's engaging
419
00:29:46.380 --> 00:29:50.950
in all of these activities in any other neighborhood this
420
00:29:51.009 --> 00:29:53.890
guy would be in jail and then prison for any
421
00:29:54.089 --> 00:29:57.289
one of these and yet he seems to be operating
422
00:29:57.329 --> 00:29:59.250
with few consequences if.
423
00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:06.660
Any Weldon pleads not guilty to all charges. As prosecutors
424
00:30:06.740 --> 00:30:10.220
prepare for trial, they fear the nature of the crime
425
00:30:10.259 --> 00:30:14.500
scene and the accounts of some survivors may allow Weldon
426
00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:15.660
to plead insanity.
427
00:30:17.099 --> 00:30:19.140
So at that point, it was my concern that this
428
00:30:19.220 --> 00:30:21.440
is going to bode poorly for us trying to prove
429
00:30:21.460 --> 00:30:23.259
that he was able to conform his conduct, the fact
430
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:24.839
that he would leave rotting bodies out like this.
431
00:30:35.240 --> 00:30:35.640
There was a.
432
00:30:35.619 --> 00:30:40.140
Description by one victim of him essentially putting candles on
433
00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:44.160
the floor in a pentagram. Another one indicated that he
434
00:30:44.220 --> 00:30:47.130
had motioned to an area underneath the basement stairs and
435
00:30:47.190 --> 00:30:49.829
said that a demon lived there and he threw salt there.
436
00:30:50.789 --> 00:30:53.769
Other times he would just maybe ramble about something satanic
437
00:30:54.130 --> 00:30:56.369
in a way that the victims couldn't really tell us
438
00:30:56.390 --> 00:30:57.890
exactly what he was saying, just that he was rambling
439
00:30:57.950 --> 00:30:59.059
on about satanic things.
440
00:31:01.180 --> 00:31:03.160
One of the things that I do wonder about Stuart
441
00:31:03.220 --> 00:31:06.099
Weldon is is whether he had some kind of brain
442
00:31:06.140 --> 00:31:12.190
impairment or brain damage that in some respects affected his impulsivity.
443
00:31:12.549 --> 00:31:14.269
That's a problem for us because one of the things
444
00:31:14.289 --> 00:31:15.670
we're gonna have to prove in this case is that
445
00:31:15.730 --> 00:31:18.990
he was sane and that he appreciated the wrongfulness of
446
00:31:19.009 --> 00:31:21.670
his actions and that he had the ability to conduct
447
00:31:21.710 --> 00:31:24.730
himself in a lawful manner. When you hear things like
448
00:31:24.769 --> 00:31:26.890
that or the fact that he was obsessed with a
449
00:31:26.950 --> 00:31:29.250
ghost detecting website, those are things.
450
00:31:29.150 --> 00:31:30.150
You're gonna need to explain.
451
00:31:41.940 --> 00:31:46.319
Stuart Weldon is in custody, pleading not guilty to three
452
00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:51.519
counts of first-degree murder and 49 other charges relating to
453
00:31:51.579 --> 00:31:56.690
a total of 11 victims. Prosecutors are working to prove
454
00:31:56.730 --> 00:32:01.049
he was criminally responsible for his actions, as they fear
455
00:32:01.130 --> 00:32:04.910
Weldon's defense may claim Weldon was insane or under the
456
00:32:04.970 --> 00:32:08.049
effects of a mental disorder at the time of the offenses.
457
00:32:10.450 --> 00:32:12.750
He's due to face trial in April 2020.
458
00:32:12.750 --> 00:32:15.309
We had to show that there was going to be
459
00:32:15.329 --> 00:32:17.500
some kind of organization to what's happening here, some kind
460
00:32:17.980 --> 00:32:21.740
of pattern rather than just random chaotic violence. I tell
461
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:24.380
this to lots of new prosecutors, the most important witness
462
00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:26.819
and the most consistent witness in any murder prosecution is
463
00:32:26.859 --> 00:32:29.819
going to be your scene. We had to ask for
464
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:33.230
an extension here because crime scene detectives spent days digging
465
00:32:33.250 --> 00:32:36.490
in that yard and then going through that house and
466
00:32:36.750 --> 00:32:40.980
being very careful to procure evidence DNA evidence, swabbing everything,
467
00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:42.759
looking for fingerprints, things like that.
468
00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:48.559
They were very careful in making sure that they're preserving evidence.
469
00:32:49.160 --> 00:32:52.980
This is preserving your crime scene. Are you keeping as
470
00:32:53.099 --> 00:32:56.829
many people out of the crime scene as possible? Are
471
00:32:56.869 --> 00:33:00.410
you thinking in the future, is there something that could
472
00:33:00.490 --> 00:33:04.880
change my crime scene? Whether, for example, We.
473
00:33:04.779 --> 00:33:07.940
Had to take a lot of small, disparate pieces of evidence,
474
00:33:07.980 --> 00:33:10.720
link them together to build a pattern that we could extrapolate.
475
00:33:12.019 --> 00:33:14.859
We found two bleach bottles there, which kind of indicated
476
00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:16.819
some kind of cleanup had happened. The ground was sticky,
477
00:33:17.339 --> 00:33:19.789
also indicating some kind of cleanup had occurred under there
478
00:33:19.809 --> 00:33:20.440
at some point.
479
00:33:28.930 --> 00:33:30.369
Yo, it's me, Jersey.
480
00:33:30.390 --> 00:33:34.029
I apologize if I ever.
481
00:33:42.299 --> 00:33:50.240
The video isn't a confession, but evidence of Weldon trying
482
00:33:50.259 --> 00:33:53.140
to cover his actions would help prove he was acting
483
00:33:53.180 --> 00:33:58.150
with intent. There were inconsistencies in his story, too.
484
00:33:59.410 --> 00:34:01.529
It became kind of known to me that he might
485
00:34:01.569 --> 00:34:04.920
be saying the victims were only bound... after they were
486
00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:07.619
killed so that they'd be easier to move. And so
487
00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:09.619
we had to look at the exact circumstances we found
488
00:34:09.639 --> 00:34:13.139
them in at that point. And the first victim, in
489
00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:15.840
discussions with the medical examiner, we were able to determine
490
00:34:15.860 --> 00:34:18.380
that she was bound in duct tape. And due to
491
00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:20.599
some of the lividity and the blanching of the skin,
492
00:34:21.539 --> 00:34:23.019
that medical examiner was going to be able to give
493
00:34:23.059 --> 00:34:26.300
us testimony saying that blood was still flowing at the
494
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.519
time that those bonds were applied to the victim and
495
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:32.400
that she was alive when that happened. There was a
496
00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:35.440
broken hyoid bone in the neck, and we knew that
497
00:34:35.460 --> 00:34:38.099
to mean that some force had been applied manually to
498
00:34:38.119 --> 00:34:42.889
the neck, most likely with hands. We got very lucky
499
00:34:42.929 --> 00:34:46.110
with a DNA hit from our second victim on one
500
00:34:46.130 --> 00:34:47.909
of the backs of the post there, which let us
501
00:34:48.010 --> 00:34:51.789
know her body had at some point been underneath those
502
00:34:51.829 --> 00:34:54.429
basement steps, and then we found her in the garage.
503
00:34:54.889 --> 00:34:58.690
That was very helpful because it brought back our theory, essentially,
504
00:34:58.730 --> 00:35:00.909
that the bad things were happening to these women in
505
00:35:00.949 --> 00:35:03.420
the basement And then the bodies were brought out, which
506
00:35:03.460 --> 00:35:06.019
showed an organized pattern. And that allowed us to start
507
00:35:06.739 --> 00:35:10.039
bringing in the stories of the survivors from his basement.
508
00:35:10.619 --> 00:35:12.079
And we were able to start applying what happened to
509
00:35:12.119 --> 00:35:14.139
them to what happened to the bodies that we found.
510
00:35:16.469 --> 00:35:17.489
Essentially, through all these.
511
00:35:17.429 --> 00:35:20.570
Pieces of evidence, it became very clear that Mr. Weldon
512
00:35:20.690 --> 00:35:24.630
knew who was a suitable victim for what he wanted
513
00:35:24.670 --> 00:35:26.610
to do. He knew where to procure them from and
514
00:35:26.690 --> 00:35:29.730
how to procure them without any resistance. There weren't reports
515
00:35:29.750 --> 00:35:32.639
coming in of him dragging women into his cars. He
516
00:35:32.659 --> 00:35:34.980
knew how to charm the men, and that he knew
517
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:36.619
how far he could go with these women.
518
00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:38.349
If there was someone in the house, he.
519
00:35:38.289 --> 00:35:40.849
Knew he had to let them go. If he knew
520
00:35:40.889 --> 00:35:43.369
he had the house kind of completely unfettered for a
521
00:35:43.369 --> 00:35:45.460
long period of time, that's when we believe these killings
522
00:35:45.500 --> 00:35:46.019
were happening.
523
00:36:07.820 --> 00:36:10.989
When you have bodies buried in your basement, you know,
524
00:36:11.250 --> 00:36:15.389
one of the only options left is to plead insanity.
525
00:36:15.730 --> 00:36:19.170
And the fact that he didn't plead insanity likely means
526
00:36:19.210 --> 00:36:22.500
he was evaluated and was told, his attorneys were told,
527
00:36:22.539 --> 00:36:25.639
that he doesn't meet the insanity defense. He wasn't legally
528
00:36:25.699 --> 00:36:28.000
insane at the time he committed these crimes.
529
00:36:28.980 --> 00:36:32.559
This was definitely premeditated and well thought out by him.
530
00:36:33.570 --> 00:36:37.690
People evaluated him and said, bad news, you're not insane.
531
00:36:41.210 --> 00:36:46.949
To discover that a human being was capable of really
532
00:36:47.230 --> 00:36:54.730
torturing victims systematically in that home. And the deaths that
533
00:36:54.769 --> 00:37:00.510
those three women experienced and what Mr. Weldon did in, frankly,
534
00:37:00.699 --> 00:37:03.989
a ham-handed attempt to cover up his crimes.
535
00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:05.840
Is very unique.
536
00:37:06.599 --> 00:37:09.059
It's something that I have not seen otherwise and I
537
00:37:09.099 --> 00:37:09.940
hope to never see again.
538
00:37:21.619 --> 00:37:30.260
Please be seated. Course now in session. No talking, please.
539
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:40.269
Your Honor, many of these women didn't come forward because
540
00:37:40.289 --> 00:37:41.849
they were terrified about what happened to them.
541
00:37:42.429 --> 00:37:44.130
Based on who they were, how.
542
00:37:43.809 --> 00:37:45.159
They lived, what they were going through.
543
00:37:45.179 --> 00:37:48.300
They didn't think anyone would believe them or care about
544
00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:48.980
what happened to them.
545
00:37:49.639 --> 00:37:51.559
The only good thing that comes from this case, Your Honor,
546
00:37:51.579 --> 00:37:53.420
is now they know that that's not true.
547
00:37:55.179 --> 00:37:58.369
When America, Ernestine, and Kayla were in his house, he
548
00:37:58.429 --> 00:38:00.949
knew he had that house to himself for an extended
549
00:38:01.010 --> 00:38:03.449
period of time. He knew he would not be interrupted
550
00:38:03.849 --> 00:38:05.730
or disturbed, and he would have time to do.
551
00:38:05.650 --> 00:38:06.190
What he needed.
552
00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:11.170
He tailored his lies in the cover-up about This case,
553
00:38:11.449 --> 00:38:13.360
depending on who he was talking to, he would explain
554
00:38:13.380 --> 00:38:15.460
the smell in a way that was designed to cause
555
00:38:15.480 --> 00:38:19.440
the least amount of alarm to his audience. He tailored
556
00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:22.199
these lies about the smell while searching the internet on
557
00:38:22.239 --> 00:38:25.139
how to remove the smell of dead animal carcasses, always
558
00:38:25.179 --> 00:38:26.409
careful to never.
559
00:38:26.309 --> 00:38:27.389
Search them as dead bodies.
560
00:38:28.469 --> 00:38:31.309
The intent for what he did here is all.
561
00:38:31.250 --> 00:38:32.230
Over this case.
562
00:38:44.789 --> 00:38:49.030
Kayla was a daughter, a sister, and a mother. She
563
00:38:49.050 --> 00:38:51.190
could light up a room with her smile, fill it
564
00:38:51.210 --> 00:38:54.630
with her laughter. Her love for her friends and her
565
00:38:54.670 --> 00:38:59.110
family never dwindled, but instead it grew every day. She
566
00:38:59.130 --> 00:39:01.670
could love with the power of a thousand hearts. She
567
00:39:01.730 --> 00:39:03.389
never gave up on the things that meant the most
568
00:39:03.409 --> 00:39:03.610
to her.
569
00:39:10.519 --> 00:39:13.059
There are no words to describe the pain in my heart.
570
00:39:13.730 --> 00:39:15.389
At the start of the day, I found out my.
571
00:39:15.309 --> 00:39:22.199
Mom was one of the defendant's victims. The feelings of hurt, sadness, confusion, loneliness, regret,
572
00:39:22.260 --> 00:39:24.440
and most of all, anger are just a few of
573
00:39:24.539 --> 00:39:29.530
my daily emotions now. I wake up every day hoping
574
00:39:29.570 --> 00:39:31.920
that this was all a bad dream and relive the
575
00:39:32.059 --> 00:39:36.940
horror when I realize it was real. They say time
576
00:39:36.980 --> 00:39:39.360
heals all wounds, but Your Honor, I don't feel like
577
00:39:39.480 --> 00:39:42.699
this is a wound that will ever heal. I miss
578
00:39:42.739 --> 00:39:43.099
my mom.
579
00:39:53.059 --> 00:39:57.619
For three months, I wondered every single day where she was.
580
00:39:57.639 --> 00:40:01.030
Is she okay? Having hoped we would see her again
581
00:40:01.699 --> 00:40:03.969
the day I gave birth, I still wasn't aware she
582
00:40:04.010 --> 00:40:07.230
was dead, laying alone in a dirty, dark garage.
583
00:40:09.949 --> 00:40:14.170
My life crumbled and stopped the minute the detectives came
584
00:40:14.250 --> 00:40:20.199
to my door. I'll never forget those moments. Every day,
585
00:40:20.219 --> 00:40:24.960
I am haunted by memories and images. I will never
586
00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:33.300
be whole again. The defendant took away my daughter, my sweet.
587
00:40:33.079 --> 00:40:36.539
Little angel, Kayla Jean.
588
00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:38.780
Take care of.
589
00:40:41.400 --> 00:40:41.519
Her.
590
00:40:41.579 --> 00:40:41.650
Mr.
591
00:40:41.659 --> 00:40:46.440
Stuart Weldon, in consideration of this offense, court orders that
592
00:40:46.480 --> 00:40:50.190
you be confined at MCI Cedar Junction for the term
593
00:40:50.389 --> 00:40:57.840
of your natural life. To give voice to people who
594
00:40:57.900 --> 00:41:02.260
are downtrodden, to give a sense of respect to people
595
00:41:02.380 --> 00:41:05.179
who have really been at the lowest rungs of society
596
00:41:05.219 --> 00:41:08.099
for a very long time, to give a sense of
597
00:41:08.179 --> 00:41:12.369
purpose and meaning to people who are suffering from addiction
598
00:41:12.570 --> 00:41:15.829
and are suffering from mental health issues, to give them
599
00:41:15.929 --> 00:41:22.739
worth through this process is really very special work. I
600
00:41:22.840 --> 00:41:25.159
want to give credit to our team, and in particular,
601
00:41:25.199 --> 00:41:30.059
Assistant District Attorney Max Bennett, who pieced together a case
602
00:41:30.920 --> 00:41:37.900
and worked with great compassion and great fortitude to give
603
00:41:38.900 --> 00:41:42.699
the murder victims' families and the living victims a sense
604
00:41:42.739 --> 00:41:47.280
of dignity, a sense of closure, a sense of justice.
605
00:41:48.070 --> 00:41:50.610
around the horrible things that happened to them or happened
606
00:41:50.630 --> 00:41:51.389
to their loved ones.
607
00:41:52.550 --> 00:41:55.579
There's nothing I could say that would ease the pain
608
00:41:57.719 --> 00:42:00.340
of the families of the victims in this case.
609
00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:06.809
Stuart Weldon's victims were at a very desperate point in
610
00:42:06.829 --> 00:42:10.050
their lives, and they were all battling addiction and trying
611
00:42:10.070 --> 00:42:12.989
to beat it. And it can be easy to forget
612
00:42:13.190 --> 00:42:19.380
that these were women who had children often, They were sisters.
613
00:42:20.119 --> 00:42:27.280
They were daughters. They had interest. They loved their families.
614
00:42:28.260 --> 00:42:34.750
And they really were much more than that snapshot of
615
00:42:34.869 --> 00:42:36.409
what they were struggling with when they died.
