Full Transcript for The Devil in the Details: A Killer at Thirteen

quick and talk about where Paris comes from because you can't understand this absolute psychological maze without looking at the generational wreckage behind it. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:27.199 Paris Lee Bennett was born on October 10th, 1993, in Albaline, Texas, to his mother, Charity Lee Bennett. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:33.120 Now, Charity's own childhood was already straight out of a Southern Gothic true crime tragedy. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:38.400 When Charity was just a kid, her own father, James Robert Bennett Jr., was murdered. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:42.800 And who was put on trial for conspiracy to have killed him? 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:47.039 Charity's mother, Paris' grandmother, Kayla Clare Bennett. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:54.639 Kayla went to trial and was controversially acquitted by a jury, but Charity grew up believing her mother was completely guilty. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:05.840 Decades later, in the 2017 documentary, The Family I Had, Kayla would literally sit in front of a camera and make casual comments about how she manipulated the jury. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:10.560 You guys, the generational toxicity here was off the charts. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:21.839 Charity grew up starved for love, fell deep into severe drug addiction as a young person trying to cope with the absolute chaos of her family, and had Paris when she was quite young. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:25.920 But Charity fought like hell to pull herself out of that pit. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:32.560 She got clean, she rebuilt her life, and she dedicated herself to being a fiercely loving, protective mother. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:36.240 When Paris was born, he was her entire universe. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:40.240 And by all public accounts, Paris wasn't just a regular kid. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:42.879 He was remarkably precocious. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:48.079 We are talking about a boy who reportedly tested with an IQ around 141. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:54.560 He was articulate, hyper-literate, polite, and deeply charismatic. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:01.120 People around town, teachers, family, friends, they thought Paris was brilliant. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:05.279 He didn't come across as a brooding, menacing cartoon villain. 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:10.959 He came across as charming, helpful, and exceptional, exceptionally bright. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:15.920 In late 2002, Charity gave birth to a daughter named Ella. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:22.160 Ella was pure sunshine, a bubbly, curly-haired toddler who adored her big brother. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:29.519 Photos of them from those years look like the picture of suburban sweetness, Paris holding baby Ella, Ella smiling at him. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:33.439 Charity later gave birth to another son, Phoenix, years down the line. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:40.879 But back in the mid-2000s, it was mostly Charity, Paris, and Ella trying to build a stable life in Albiline. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:46.720 Except, behind Paris's polite veneer, the foundation had terrifying cracks. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:49.040 Now, let's be careful here. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:59.279 Although I work in mental health, that does not mean that I'm about to put on an imaginary clinician hat and start diagnosing somebody from behind a microphone. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.000 I'm not Paris Bennett's clinician. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:09.439 I have never evaluated him, and we're not going to armchair diagnose him based on a true crime case. 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:14.800 We're going to stick to documented evaluations and publicly available information. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:24.639 And looking at the documented history and statements Charity made later, disturbing red flags have started appearing about a year before the murder. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:40.160 According to Charity and subsequent reporting around 2006, when Paris was 12, there was an incident where Paris had an extreme behavioral escalation and allegedly attempted to attack Charity with a knife or exhibited violent threats towards her. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:46.319 It alarmed Charity so severely that Paris was admitted to a psychiatric facility for evaluation. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:57.519 When he was discharged, the system essentially sent him home with charity, hoping that structure, therapy, and maternal love could manage whatever was brewing under the surface. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:05.279 But Paris later admitted in interviews that he had harbored homicidal ideations dating back to his early childhood. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:13.199 While normal kids were daydreaming about video games or sports, Paris was privately meditating on death. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:18.240 Which brings us to a cold February night in 2007. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:22.720 It was February 4th, 2007, Super Bowl 41. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:25.839 The Indianapolis Colts were playing the Chicago Bears. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:28.560 Shout out to Matt and Heaven, go Bears. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:36.240 If you've ever worked in the food service industry, you know that Super Bowl Sunday is the absolute ninth circle of hell. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:40.240 Charity was working as a waitress at Buffalo Wild Wings in Albilene. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:47.439 The restaurant was completely slammed, packed with football fans, screaming TVs, and endless wing orders. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:54.800 Charity knew she was going to be stuck working a brutal late night shift, so she did what every responsible single working mother does. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:08:01.199 She hired a teenage babysitter to come over to their home and watch 13-year-old Paris and four-year-old Ella. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:05.279 Around the house that evening, everything seemed entirely mundane. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:16.560 Ella was put to bed in her room, Paris was hanging out, but inside Paris' head, a clock was ticking, and the plan he had been turning over was clicking into year. 00:08:16.800 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00:08:20.560 Here's where the premeditation becomes chillingly clear. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:24.240 Paris didn't just lose his temper in the heat of a random moment. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:27.920 He recognized the tactical obstacles in his way. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:29.519 The main obstacle? 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:30.800 The babysitter. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:35.039 Around 10 p.m., Paris approached the teenage babysitter. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:39.360 He put on that signature polite, mature, hyper-capable act. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:41.840 He told her that everything was totally fine. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:43.919 Ella was fast asleep in bed. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:49.919 He was 13 and more than capable of handling the house for the rest of the night, and she could go home early. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:53.919 He made it seem completely reasonable, safe, and helpful. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:02.000 The babysitter, having no reason to suspect that this polite age raider was masking violent intent, believed him and left. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:04.720 Let's just think about that for a second. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:15.279 A 13-year-old child successfully orchestrated the removal of the only adult guardian in the home so that he would have had uninterrupted private access to commit a murder. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:16.960 That is not impulse. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:19.120 That is calculation. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:24.879 Once the door shut and the babysitter's car pulled away, the house went completely silent. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:28.000 Ella, four years old, was asleep in her bed. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:30.399 Sometime between 10 p.m. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:39.200 and 11 30 p.m., Paris went into the kitchen, he retrieved a large kitchen knife, then he walked down the hallway to his babysitter's bedroom. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:42.639 What followed inside that room was beyond heartbreaking. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.399 It is a scene of unrelenting brutality. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:53.279 According to court records, Paris attacked four-year-old Ella as she lay sleeping. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:55.759 He stabbed her 17 times. 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:58.960 He also manually choked and suffocated her. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:09:59.919 That's it. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:03.840 That's what we know for certain from the official record. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:10.960 A 13-year-old boy, significantly larger and stronger, attacked his four-year-old sister in her own bed. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:14.879 The one place she should have been safe. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:16.799 She was asleep. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:18.159 She didn't see it coming. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:21.759 She had no way to defend herself against someone twice her size. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:27.279 The medical examiner documented multiple stab wounds and evidence of manual strangulation. 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:31.600 A four-year-old doesn't stand a chance against that kind of violence. 00:10:31.840 -->

00:10:34.879 Now, I want to be really clear about something. 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:43.519 There are claims floating around online, in forums, in certain true crime retrospectives that include allegations of sexual assault. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:48.639 Those claims are not clearly documented in the official court filings I've been able to verify. 00:10:48.879 --> 00:11:01.120 They're mentioned in third-party documents, but they're not consistently supported by the primary investigative record, so I'm not going to present them as fact, because that wouldn't be responsible. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:05.840 What is established beyond any doubt is the stabbing and the strangulation. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:09.360 That's more than enough to understand the brutality of what happened. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:12.639 When it was over, Ella was dead in her own bed. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:16.240 Paris walked out and picked up the phone to call his friend. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:28.000 Now, if an average person or even an emotionally unstable teenager having a psychotic break committed an act of violence that horrific, you would expect immediate panic, right? 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:34.240 You would expect crying, running into the street, hysterics, or trying desperately to hide the weapon. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:35.679 But not Paris. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:40.000 After Ella was dead, Paris didn't drop to his knees in horror. 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:44.559 He set the knife down, walked over to the phone, and called one of his school friends. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:54.720 He had just brutally slaughtered his four-year-old sister, and his very first move was to dial up a classmate from school and have a casual six-minute chat. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:56.320 Six minutes? 00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:59.519 What do we even talk about in that phone call? 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:08.799 Middle school homework, video games, the absolute detachment required to carry on a normal conversation with a peer while your sister's body is laying in the next room? 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:10.320 It's mind-bending. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:15.120 At 11:42 p.m., Paris finally hung up with his friend and dialed 911. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:23.519 The recording of that 911 call has been dissected by true crime commentators, law enforcement, and forensic psychologists for years. 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:27.519 And it is a masterclass in performance composure. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:34.960 On the line, Paris speaks to Taylor County Emergency Dispatcher in a calm, surprisingly articulate voice. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:42.399 He tells the dispatcher that he just killed his sister, but then he weaves a very specific narrative. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:53.519 He claims that he experienced a hallucination, that he saw a demonic or monstrous version of Ella, or that an illusion took over his mind, causing him to attack her. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:13:01.200 As the dispatcher stays on the line with him, trying to figure out if Ella can be saved, Paris is instructed to perform CPR. 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:09.360 On the audio, Paris makes sounds and gives verbal responses as if he's actively pumping Ella's chest and attempting rescue breaths. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:16.159 But when emergency medical responders and Albaline police officers arrived at the scene minutes later, the reality was stark. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:18.559 Ella had been dead for quite some time. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:26.399 The physical condition of her body and the crime scene made it immediately clear that no genuine panicked CPR had taken place. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:28.639 It had been theater for the recording. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:30.960 And this is where I want to stop talking for a minute. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:34.159 Because I can sit here and tell you what Paris said on that call. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:36.000 I can explain the way he spoke. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:43.519 I can tell you about the story he gave the dispatcher, but there is something very different about actually hearing that his voice. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.039 So I'm going to let you hear the call for yourself. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:50.240 Hello? 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:51.440 Hello, no, no, no. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:13.360 No, I don't know. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:25.440 No, I don't talk about the cloud. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:18.000 And there you have it, besties. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:19.120 That is the call. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:23.679 And honestly, hearing it for yourself is different than reading a transcript. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:26.240 There's no narrator telling you how to feel about it. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:33.039 You can hear the calmness in his voice, the way he responds to the dispatcher, and the way the story unfolds in real time. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:37.679 And while that call was happening, emergency responders were already on their way. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:47.440 What they found when they arrived would make it clear that the story Paris had been telling on the phone wasn't the reality of what had happened inside the house. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:49.840 So now let's go back to that scene. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.399 Police officers walked into that home expecting a hysterical child. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:17:02.080 Instead, they found a 13-year-old Paris Bennett waiting for them, completely calm, uninjured, and unnervingly composed. 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:10.400 Charity was still at Buffalo Wild Wings, wiping down tables and closing out tabs from the Super Bowl rush when law enforcement showed up at the restaurant. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:14.240 They told her there had been an incident in her house and that Ella was hurt. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:21.039 Charity rushed towards the hospital, praying with every fiber of her being that her baby girl was clinging to life. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:29.599 She arrived only to be met by detectives who sat her down in an interrogation room and

delivered two back-to-back emotional sledgehammers. 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:33.200 Ella was dead, and Paris was in handcuffs. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:41.519 In the days and weeks that followed the murder, investigators, child psychiatrists, and charity herself tried to answer the only question that mattered. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:42.480 Why? 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:55.200 At first, Paris leaned on that attributed claim that he made with the 911 call that he had suffered a sudden psychotic break, a hallucination where Ella appeared as a fiery demon and that he snapped. 00:17:55.359 --> 00:18:03.599 But as interrogations continued, and as Paris spoke more openly with forensic examinators, that defense completely disintegrated. 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:14.000 The real motive that emerged from police interviews and Paris's own later admissions was far darker, far more calculated, and frankly, completely sadistic. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:18.000 Paris harbored deep simmering resentment toward his mother. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:31.200 He felt angry at Charity, partly over his perception of her past drug struggles, partly over family tensions, and partly out of a twisted, narcissistic desire for ultimate control. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:37.039 He admitted to investigators and journalists that he had initially thought about murdering Charity. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:40.400 He considered waiting for her to come home from work and ambushing her. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:45.519 But then he had sat back and analyzed the situation like an absolute tactician of misery. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:48.640 He realized, if I kill my mother, she dies. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:53.279 She gets put out of her misery, her pain is over in a matter of minutes. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:19:04.720 But if I kill Ella, Charity will have to wake up every single day for the rest of her life, knowing her daughter is in a grave and her son is the monster who put her there. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:10.160 He deliberately chose to murder Ella because he knew Ella was Charity's greatest joy. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:19.680 By killing his sister, he was engineering a lifetime prison of grief for his mother while ensuring he would still be alive to watch her suffer through it. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:22.400 I want you to pause and really process that. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:38.720 A 13-year-old kid evaluated two murder targets and consciously selected a four-year-old child, not because he hated the child, but because using that child as a sacrificial pawn would inflict maximum psychological damage on his mother. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:41.119 That is not a crime of passion. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:45.200 That is psychological warfare executed with a kitchen knife. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:54.720 Because Paris was 13 years old at the time of the offense on February 4th, 2007, the Texas legal system hit an immediate jurisdictional wall. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:20:04.960 Under Texas state law, the absolute minimum age at

which a juvenile defendant can be certified to stand trial as an adult for a felony offense is 14. 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.640 Paris was 13 and 4 months old. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:15.519 By a matter of eight months, the state could not legally transfer him to adult criminal court for trial. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:20.240 This meant Paris could only be prosecuted within the juvenile court system. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:27.519 Now, usually people hear juvenile court and think, wait, does that mean he walks free at age 18 or 21? 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:37.440 Fortunately, Texas has a specific legal mechanism known as a detriment sentence for juvenile offenders charged with violent capital offenses. 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:43.039 Under the detriment sentence, the juvenile can be sentenced up to a maximum of 40 years. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:21:04.160 They begin serving that sentence in the secure juvenile correction facility, and then before they age out of the juvenile system, a judge holds a transfer hearing to decide whether they should be released on adult parole or transferred directly to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, adult prison system, to serve out the remainder of their 40-year term. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:08.079 In juvenile court, Paris did not fight the charges through a protracted trial. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:13.440 He pledged the juvenile equivalence of a guilty plea in capital murder. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:20.480 The judge sentenced Paris Lee Bennett to the maximum allowable penalty under the law, 40 years in prison. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:27.839 Under the terms of that sentence, Paris would be eligible to apply for parole after serving half of his sentence, meaning 20 years. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:35.839 Paris was initially sent to the Texas Department of Juvenile Justice, High Security, Giddings State School for several years. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:37.759 He lived among juvenile offenders. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:50.400 Reports from his crime in juvenile custody indicated that he was clean cut, polite to staff, highly articulate, and well behaved on paper, but staff and counselors noted a profound emotional coldness. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:57.119 When Paris turned 19, the state of Texas held his mandatory transfer hearing in Taylor County. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.759 The court had to make a critical decision. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.759 Do we let this 19-year-old out on supervised probation or parole? 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:06.880 Or do we send him to an adult maximum security prison? 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:21.759 At that hearing, Paris' defense attorney argued that he had a developmental disorder, specifically asserting an Asperger's syndrome profile, suggesting his emotional detachment and flat affect were neurodevelopmental rather than malicious. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:34.559 However, psychiatric evaluators in the state disputed this framing, pointing to executive testing showing high psychopathic traits, severe conduct disorder, and calculated premeditation. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:40.400 And in a move that broke everyone's heart in that courtroom, Charity Lee submitted a formal statement. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:44.640 Despite being Paris' mother, she knew what her son was capable of. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:52.720 She advocated to the judge that Paris was far too dangerous to be released into society and needed to be transferred to adult prison. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:54.000 The judge agreed. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:23:02.799 Paris Bennett was officially remanded to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to serve out his 40-year sentence in the adult prison system. 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:14.240 As Paris grew into adulthood behind bars, he became a subject of intense fascination for criminologists, forensic psychologists, and documentary filmmakers. 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:29.839 Public reporting and prison records indicated that Paris had spent a bulk of his adult incarceration housed within TDCJ facilities, commonly identified in public reporting as the Ferguson Unit in Madison County, Texas. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:36.640 Throughout his 20s and into his 30s, Paris participated in several high-profile media appearances. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:45.599 In 2017, he was featured exclusively in the acclaimed documentary The Family I Had, directed by Katie Green and Carlisle Rubin. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:54.720 In 2019, he sat down behind the glass for a face-to-face interview with British podcaster Pierce Morgan for the television special Psychopath with Pierce Morgan. 00:23:54.880 --> 00:24:07.440 If you watch those interviews, and I did, the experience is profoundly unsettling because Paris doesn't look or sound like the stereotypical media deception of the prison inmate. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:09.039 He sits up straight. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:12.480 He speaks with an elevated academic vocabulary. 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:18.160 His voice is measured and articulate, and there's very little visible emotional fluctuation. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:20.960 And I think that's what bothered me the most. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:25.200 You're watching this person calmly discuss the murder of his four-year-old sister. 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:32.160 And there is this incredibly uncomfortable disconnect between the subject matter and the way he's talking about it. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:39.839 It's almost as if he's discussing something completely ordinary, like a chess move, a book he read, or what he had for lunch. 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:46.559 And I found myself sitting there thinking, how the hell are you talking about this so calmly? 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:59.279 Paris had repeatedly acknowledged in interviews that he has what he describes as a flat affect, saying that he can't force himself to perform emotions he doesn't actually feel. 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:10.240 Whether you find that explanation convincing or not, watching those interviews makes it impossible not to

notice just how different his emotional presentation is from what most of us would expect. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:16.079 And then it gets even more unsettling when he talks about his fascination with death. 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:23.519 In his own writings and interviews, Paris has discussed how his childhood interests become increasingly morbid. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:30.720 He described himself as having settled on the morbid and openly acknowledging that he wanted to see someone die. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:42.640 And that's the part where, as a viewer, you have to take a step back because you're not watching some Hollywood villain twirling a mustache and announcing that he's evil. 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:52.720 You're watching a person who can sit there, speak intelligently and calmly, and talk about something unimaginably horrific with an almost clinical detachment. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:56.480 And honestly, Besties, it makes my skin crawl. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:13.200 Forensic evaluations conducted throughout his incarceration have documented significant psychopathic traits, specifically narcissistic grandiosity, superficial charm, pathological lying, emotional callousness, and an absence of genuine remorse. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:28.240 While Paris occasionally uses the language of therapy saying he takes responsibility for his actions, experts who have evaluated him note that his admissions often sound intellectualized and performative rather than empathetic. 00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:32.880 And that brings us to the legal calendar, which is creeping up faster than people realize. 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:45.839 Under Texas determinant sentencing laws, Paris Bennett's first formal parole eligibility date arrives in February of 2027, marking exactly 20 years since the murder of Ella Bennett. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.559 Now let's make an important legal distinction here. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:52.960 Parole eligibility does not mean automatic release. 00:26:53.200 --> 00:27:11.680 When Paris comes before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in 2027, the board will review the entirety of his life, the nature of the Capitol murder, his psychological evaluations, victim impact statements, institutional behavior, and the overwhelming assessment of his future risk to society. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:22.720 Given the calculated predatory nature of Ella's murder, true crime experts and legal analysts consider early parole release to be an extremely steep uphill battle for him. 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:37.359 If Paris is repeatedly denied parole throughout his sentencing, he will remain incarcerated until his 40-year term expires in February 2047, at which point he would be 53 years old and released by mandatory discharge. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:45.359 We cannot finish this story without talking about Charity Lee, because what this woman has endured is something no human being should ever have to survive. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:48.400 Think about the psychological torture of Charity's existence. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:52.960 Her daughter was violently murdered, the person who murdered her daughter is her own son. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:58.000 How do you mourn your baby girl when the person who killed her is also your child? 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:01.440 If you hate the murderer, you're hating your own son. 00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:05.119 If you love your son, do you feel like you're betraying your dead daughter? 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:12.160 In the years following the tragedy, Charity made a decision that baffled some outsiders, but saved her own sanity. 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:18.640 She chose radical, unconditional love paired with fierce, unflinching accountability. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.039 Charity chose to forgive Paris. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:27.839 Not because what he did was acceptable, but because she refused to let his hatred destroy the rest of her life. 00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:31.839 She maintains monthly visits and regular phone calls with Paris in prison. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.720 She sent him books, they discussed literature. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:39.279 She remained his only consistent advocate in the outside world. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:46.400 But, and this is a massive, crucial distinction, Charity never lived in denial. 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:48.880 She never pretended Paris was innocent. 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:50.880 She never made excuses for him. 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:57.599 When Charity gave birth to her third child, a son named Phoenix, she established ironclad boundaries. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:07.759 She had stated publicly that while she loves Paris as her firstborn child, she is terrified of what he might do if he ever walked out of prison gates. 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:13.200 She openly acknowledges that Paris poses a mortal threat to her and Phoenix. 00:29:13.359 --> 00:29:19.680 She loves him through the prison glass, but she actively fought to keep him behind that glass. 00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:24.640 Charity also turned her unimaginable agony into tangible advocacy. 00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:30.799 She founded the Ella Foundation, an acronym for empathy, love, loneliness, action. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:44.079 It's a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families affected by violent crime, providing trauma resources, and advocating for criminal justice reform that centers on both victim support and emotional healing. 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:53.599 Charity Lee took a weapon designed by her son to destroy her soul forever, and she forged it into a lifeline for other grieving families. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:59.359 And that, besties, is the haunting, deeply unsettling case of Paris Lee Bennett. 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:04.480 It is a case that defies every comforting myth we tell ourselves about childhood innocence. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:12.240 It forces us to confront the reality that true malice isn't always monsters lurking in the bushes at midnight. 00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:21.359 Sometimes it's a polite, smiling 13-year-old boy sitting at your kitchen table, helping with your homework while quietly plotting your family's ruin. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:29.519 As 2027 approaches, Ella Bennett should have been preparing for her mid-20s, graduating college, falling in love, building a life. 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:32.079 Instead, she remains forever four years old. 00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:36.799 Let's keep Ella's memory and charity's incredible resilience in our hearts tonight. 00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:40.319 And before I let you go, Besties, I have a little announcement. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:47.920 This week I'm stepping outside of Thick Thies and Murder Vibes and heading over to the Oddities department as a guest host. 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:54.960 And if you know me, you already know they probably should have thought twice before giving me temporary curator credentials. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:31:00.480 I'll be joining Gavin and Lindsay for an episode all about strange cures and questionable remedies. 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:03.119 And I'm bringing an exhibit of my own. 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:05.119 So keep an eye out for that episode. 00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:12.400 Go show the Oddities department some love, and come hang out with me while I cause a little chaos in someone else's podcast for once. 00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:19.839 Until next time, lock your doors, trust your gut, and remember, the darkest shadows weren't always outside your window. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.480 Sometimes they're already inside the house. 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:26.799 Stay weird, stay safe, and I'll catch you in the next episode.