Oct. 24, 2024

The Best of October Southern Fried: 2022, Ep167: The Murder of Fred Jablin

The Best of October Southern Fried: 2022, Ep167: The Murder of Fred Jablin

Today's episode is a "best of October" Southern Fried is from 2022, 167: The Murder of Fred Jablin

Dr. Fred Jablin, a highly regarded professor of communication, was a dedicated husband to his wife, Piper Rountree. For years, he did everything in his...

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Today's episode is a "best of October" Southern Fried is from 2022, 167: The Murder of Fred Jablin

Dr. Fred Jablin, a highly regarded professor of communication, was a dedicated husband to his wife, Piper Rountree. For years, he did everything in his power to make her happy, but nothing he did was ever enough. In 2002, the Jablin marriage came to an end and Fred was awarded full custody of their three children.

Following the divorce, it took some time for Fred and the kids to adjust to their new normal. Luckily, by the fall of 2004, things were starting to look up. The children were adjusting well, and Fred was moving on romantically. He was even looking forward to his favorite holiday, Halloween.

But Fred would never get the chance to celebrate.

Piper would make sure of that.

Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley
Researched and written by Haley Gray & Erica Kelley
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio
Edited & Mixed by Erica Kelley

Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/the-murder-of-fred-jablin

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WEBVTT

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Hey guys, I'm sorry. I know this isn't the episode

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you've been waiting for, and I am really sorry about that.

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There are many reasons. First, my fault. As you know,

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I have had health problems for years. I had a

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procedure and needed to take time off. It was all unavoidable.

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As that saying I hate goes, it is what it is.

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I am human. This is a small indie show, not

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a huge production with a bunch of episodes in the can.

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However much I always wished to get far ahead. I

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really appreciate the kind words you've sent me and tried

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to answer when I could, but it was a bit overwhelming,

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so I'm sorry if you didn't hear back from me. Also,

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the case of Emily Anderson was never meant to be

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two parts, but as always seems to happen when I

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dig into some cases, it turned into a two parter

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and that's why the break came at the worst time.

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The procedure was already scheduled, and try as I might,

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I couldn't get the second part done in time. But

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I also so heard from a few outside sources for

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part two that I needed to vet and see if

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there were something we needed for the story and also

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if appropriate. As you know, I am always sensitive to

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the victims and their families and would never want to

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upset them, though I am not talking about speaking to

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family members for this part. It's other people who have

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reached out that know things about the case. And then,

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of course, the horrific disaster of Helene ripped through western

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North Carolina as well as other states with Milton on

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her heels. From what I can tell, the town and

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county where Emily lived have been affected. And I've also

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been waiting to hear some news I can share without

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sharing misinformation, which there is way too much of going around. Again,

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I do not want to add to the cacophony of

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news still coming from every direction. That has been the

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final thing that made me want to put off part

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two for a bit longer. It feels the most respectful

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thing to do. As you may remember, Emily volunteered with

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the Red Cross in her home state of Kentucky after

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a huge storm, and I feel a very solemn respect

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toward her in that sense as well. I always want

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to share the truth, but with the utmost sensitivity and respect.

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With Emily's case, and now what's happened in her adopted

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home state. I will be back soon with part two.

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Don't worry, I want Emily's case wrapped up as much

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as you guys do. Talk to you soon. Y'll take

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care in the meantime and enjoy this October favorite and

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as always, thank you. Southern Fried people are the best

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true crime covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners,

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and there may also be some explicit language used. Listener

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discretion is advised. Fred Jablin was a man of routine.

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Every day, he would wake up at six am, put

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on a pot of coffee, and then go out the

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back door to grab the newspaper from the driveway. Reading

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the paper while drinking fresh brewed coffee was Fred's favorite

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way to start the day. The morning of October thirtieth,

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two thousand and four was supposed to be like all

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the others. Fred woke up, put on a pot of coffee,

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and walked out the back door to grab the paper.

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He would have had an extra spring in his step.

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It was almost Halloween, his favorite holiday. It was Saturday,

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so he could lounge around enjoying his coffee and paper.

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He was probably excited to get the candy ready for

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trigger treaters. The next night, on Halloween Day, he was

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supposed to take his three kids on a hay ride

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before carving pumpkins and then getting into costumes. But he

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would never get to drink that coffee or enjoy his Saturday.

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Before All Hallows Eve, Fred was walking out his own

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back door into an ambush. Just before six forty am,

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A Henriko County genuine man named Bob called nine one

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one to report three gunshots he had just heard in

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his residential neighborhood. Police arrived in the neighborhood and started searching,

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but they didn't find anything. At seven am, they called

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Bob back to tell him the news. Bob said he

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would take his dog for a walk when the sun

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came up and if he saw anything, he'd give them

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a call back. Less than thirty minutes later, Bob and

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his wife were walking their dogs when Bob noticed something

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crumpled up in a neighbor's driveway. It was the body

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of fifty two year old Fred Jablin. He had been

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shot twice. Another neighbor later told Dupress that because it

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was such a nice neighborhood, if you didn't know any

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better and saw the yellow crime scene tape across the

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Jablin driveway. You would just think it was a Halloween decoration.

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Welcome to episode one sixty seven, The Murder of Fred Jablin.

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Frederick Mark Joblin was born on July twenty third, nineteen

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fifty two, in Queens, New York. His father, Irving, was

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an accountant, and his mother, Mildred, was a stay at

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home mom while Fred and his older brother Michael were young.

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She later became a bookkeeper. The Jablins raised their two

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sons in Floral Park, a Jewish working class neighborhood. Growing up,

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Fred wanted to be a scientist. He would later graduate

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with a doctorate, but he didn't exactly become a scientist

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like he had dreamed of. Instead, he conducted groundbreaking research

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in the communications field. At the time of his death,

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he was a very distinguished university professor and department chair.

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Aside from Fred's intelligence, he was known for having a

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playful nature, a sharp sense of humor, and a zest

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for living. One friend told Catherine Casey, author of Die

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My Love, that Fred had an infectious curiosity that made

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him stand out in a crowd. Another said Fred had

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a wry sense of humor and a contagious love of life.

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Fred graduated from the State University of New York with

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a bachelor's in political science and speech. He then went

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to the University of Michigan in an Arbor and earned

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a master's degree in communication. But Fred wasn't done with

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school yet. He then graduated from Purdue University with a

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pH d an organizational communication. After earning his pH d,

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Fred accepted an assistant professor position at the University of

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Wisconsin at Milwaukee. There he wrote his breakthrough article. It

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was about supervisor and subordinate communication. The article was accepted

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for publication and the Psychological Bulletin, a monthly peer reviewed

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academic journal. Ad and colleague of Fred's told Catherine Casey,

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at that point, organizational communication was just getting its legs.

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Getting an article published and another discipline's leading journal was

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a coup. With that paper, Fred leapfrogged to the head

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of his class and built a reputation for himself in

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the field. Not long after writing the breakthrough article, Fred

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was offered a teaching position at the University of Texas

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at Austin. He accepted and became a professor of organizational

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communication At u T Austin, Fred met and befriended fellow

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professor John Daley. He later said Fred was a true

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teacher at heart. There was nothing he enjoyed more than

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working one on one with a bright student. In his

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first five years at the university, Fred wrote thirteen articles

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for scholarly journals and was officially considered an expert in

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the field. He won many award words for his groundbreaking research.

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Fred bought a house on Harper's Ferry Lane in Austin.

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This was game changing for Fred. He loved Halloween and

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would decorate his house in cobwebs, spiders, and a dummy

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he named mister Myers. He would carve pumpkins and host

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an annual Halloween party. John Daly told Catherine Casey, Fred

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believed that Halloween was a time when you could be

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a different person. He'd spend days making sure the decorations

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were just right, arranging and rearranging the cobwebs so they

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looked real. Fred also obsessed over his costumes. His favorite

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was an elaborate wizard costume. In the fall of nineteen

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eighty one, John introduced Fred to one of his students,

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a young woman named Piper Rountree. Fred soon learned that

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Piper had previously been in one of his classes, but

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since it was such a large class, he didn't remember her.

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For a girl, he couldn't remember the determined Piper was

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about to take over his life. Piper and Fred were

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the epitome of opposites attract Catherine Casey described Fred as

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precise and exacting and Piper as a free spirit. John

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Daley said they each found something in the other that

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they lacked. Piper helped make Fred quote more of a person.

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I take that to mean a more easy going, fun person.

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Fred was a brilliant, accomplished academic, so perhaps he was

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a little awkward, and Piper helped smooth out the edges.

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And Fred offered Piper financial support and commitment. They said

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he waited on her hand and foot. It would seem

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he adored her, at least in the beginning. I'm going

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to pause now for a short commercial break. Piper Ann

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Roundtree was born on January sixth, nineteen sixty in Japan

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to parents Bill and Betty. Piper was eight years younger

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than her soon to be husband, but she was used

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to being the youngest. She was the spoiled baby sister

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of five siblings. She was very close to all of

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her family, but she shared a special bond with her

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sister Tina, who was also eight years older than her.

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The Roundtree family lived all over the place until Bill retired,

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then they settled in Harlingen, Texas. According to Piper, she

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grew up thinking her parents were divorced because Bill was

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gone for many of her school years. She felt like

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she barely knew her own father. When he was home,

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he was drinking, and when he drank, he was mean.

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Betty was described as a good mom by Piper's childhood friends.

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She went to pta meetings and was always there for

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her kids. However, Piper later told a psychiatrist that Betty

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wasn't ever around. It was Tina who raised her. Tina

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told a different story to Catherine Casey, saying Piper was

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the baby of the family and my mom was really protective.

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She would give Piper a lot of attention. Piper, a bookworm,

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graduated from Harlingen High School in nineteen seventy eight. She

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was very popular there and was a top student. She

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was a member of the National Honor Society, the student Council,

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and the yearbook committee. She was the editor of the

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school's literary publication, and she participated in speech, drama, tennis,

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and choir. In nineteen seventy eight, Piper started at the

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University of Texas and Austin. She majored in speech and

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studied German. She was already fluent in Spanish. It was

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the fall of nineteen eighty one that Piper's teacher, John Daley,

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introduced her to doctor Fred Jablin. At this point, Piper

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was a senior at the university. She would often talk

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to John in between classes. One day, he told Piper

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about an event he and Fred were going to. She

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asked if she could go, and John said yes. He

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ended up having to cancel at the last minute, but

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he asked Fred to still go. Fred went, and he

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and Piper seemed to fall for each other right away.

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By December nineteen eighty one, they were living together. In

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the spring of nineteen eighty two, Piper graduated with a

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bachelor's in communication in German. Then she left for a

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year on a scholarship in Germany. While there, Piper met

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another man. When Fred found out, he flew over to

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win her back. His plan worked. She came back to

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him when the scholarship was over, and they moved back

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in together. In the fall of nineteen eighty three, Piper

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enrolled in a San Antonio law school, with Fred paying

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her tuition, of course. Then on October fourteenth, nineteen eighty three,

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Fred and Piper got married. It wasn't long before Fred

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found out that Piper wasn't exactly who he thought she was.

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She was very demanding, and she had a formidable temper,

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which she wasn't afraid to show. Despite all of this,

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Fred remained an extremely devoted partner. When Piper's law school

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grades dropped, Fred put his beloved house up for rent

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and moved to San Antonio to help support her. He

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continued working in Austin, driving three hours round trip to

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work every day for two years. Fred's sacrifices seemed to

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be worth it in the end. Piper graduated from law

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school in the spring of nineteen eighty six, and the

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couple moved back to Austin. She enjoyed painting while studying

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for the bar and looking for a job. By October,

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she had a job with the Hayes County District Attorney's Office,

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but just a year later, Piper was unemployed. When people

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asked why she left the DA's office. Piper said she

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didn't feel safe as a prosecutor after a man came

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in to negotiate a plea deal and took out a

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gun and put it in between them. The truth was

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that she had been fired. This would be the beginning

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of a pattern of lying in Piper's life. She always

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bent the truth to make herself sound better or to

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sound like the victim in any situation. She was able

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to get a new job at the Texas Association of

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school Boards fairly quickly after being fired in nineteen eighty eight.

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Piper and Fred started talking about having children, and in

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July nineteen eighty nine, the couple welcomed a daughter, Jocelyn.

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Piper continued to work while Jocelyn went to daycare, but

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then quit the school Board Association and took a higher

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paying job at a law firm. A year later, she

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was unemployed again. She told people that she was fired

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for being pregnant with her second child, but the firm

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said it was for a lack of performance. Looking back

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at the academic accomplishments of Piper Rountree, you would think

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she was destined for success. Like her husband. Maybe she

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was one of those people who thrives in an insulated

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school environment, but struggles out in the real world. In

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March of nineteen ninety two, Piper gave birth to a

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boy named Paxton. She ended up experiencing intense postpartum depression.

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She spent weeks in bed and didn't have the energy

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to care for her newborn when she recovered. Piper then

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went to work for the Texas Classroom Teachers Association. After

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a year, she was let go for quote not having

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passion for the job. Then Piper impetuously opened up her

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own law office, which was unsuccessful from the get go.

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Then in nineteen ninety three, she found out she was

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pregnant with her third child, but this time there were complications,

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and well into the pregnancy, Piper suffered a miscarriage. It

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was a very difficult time for Piper and Fred. They

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were devastated and Piper fell into another deep depression. She

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decided she wanted to stay home with the kids. She

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no longer wanted to work. To help pay the bills,

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Fred took on consulting work, something he didn't want to

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do but felt he had to do to keep the

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family afloat. The second job didn't last long, not because

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Fred gave it up, but because Piper demanded he'd be

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at home more with her and the kids. Around the

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same time that Piper said she wanted to stay home,

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the Jablin started going to marriage counseling. According to Katherine Casey,

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they might have started counseling because of something Piper did.

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Shortly after Paxton was born. Piper withdrew her retirement fund,

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which was around sixteen hundred dollars. She combined that with

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fourteen hundred dollars from a joint account with Fred, and

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then she paid for breast implant surgery. Maybe it doesn't

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sound like a huge amount she took from their joint account,

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but it's worth about three thousand today, which adds perspective.

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She didn't tell Fred until two days before the surgery,

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and he didn't want Piper to get the surgery. He

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was worried about leaking implants and how breastfeeding would work,

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but Piper didn't care about his concerns. Yes, it was

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her body and her choice, but healthy couples discussed major

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medical decisions, and one partner should not be sneaking money

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out of a joint account. That's a major breach of trust.

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Then in nineteen ninety four, Fred was offered a job

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at the University of Richmond in Virginia. This job paid

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a lot more than his position in Texas. The Jablins

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bought a house on hearth Glow Lane in the Kingsley

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suburb of Richmond. It was a nice house, a two

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story red brick home set far off from the street.

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In December nineteen ninety five, Piper gave birth to another daughter,

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Callen or Calli for short. Once again, Piper suffered from

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postpartum depression, except this time when the postpartum left motherhood

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didn't come as naturally as it had with her first

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two kids. Callie needed attention, but Piper didn't have any

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to give to her. In nineteen ninety six, Piper and

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Fred were back in marriage counseling. She said she felt

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underappreciated and ignored. She wanted Fred to pay more attention

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to her and the kids. She complained that Fred kept

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her on a financial leash. She wanted to be in

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control of the money, so Fred gave her the control.

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He always tried to give her what she wanted. By

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nineteen ninety eight, people were starting to notice that Piper

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didn't really seem to care about her children. She wouldn't

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even pick them up from school if they were sick.

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She would escape to her neighbor Mel's house just to

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get away for a little while. She said. Mel would

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then look outside her window and see Kelly playing in

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the yard by herself. She would have been just over

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two years old. Fred ended up sending Callie to day

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care so he knew she would be cared for. He

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hired nanny's and cleaning ladies even though Piper didn't work,

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but she would often fire them. Fred told his friend

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John Daly that Piper was never happy no matter what

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he did. It wasn't enough, but he said he loved

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Piper and had to keep trying. The year nineteen ninety

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nine was another tough one for the Jablin family. Piper

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started having an affair, something Fred knew nothing about, at

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least for a while. She was also diagnosed with a

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possible mood disorder and put on antidepressants and anti anxiety medication.

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Also during this time, Piper wracked up thirty two thousand

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in debt while being in charge of finances that would

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be over fifty seven thousand today. When Fred found out,

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he took back control of the finances and told her

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she needed to get a job and help pay off

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the debt. Piper ended up taking over an attorney's office

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who was looking to retire, but she didn't have a

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license to practice in Virginia. It wasn't long before the

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Bar Association found out that Piper was practicing law without

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a Virginia license. She was ordered to take their bar exam,

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and Fred paid the three thousand dollars for a University

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of Richmond review course to help Piper pass the bar.

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He also hired a full time housekeeper to help Piper

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at home while she studied, but she felled the bar

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exam and fell into another deep depression. In early May

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two thousand, Fred and Piper started seeing a therapist whom

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Piper had already been seeing by herself for couples counseling.

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The therapist quickly realized that Fred was sincerely concerned about Piper.

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He was not the way Piper had made him out

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to be during their solo sessions. That same month, Piper

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had a hysterectomy and again became very depressed. Fred took

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care of the kids that summer while she did her

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own thing. I'm going to pause now to hear a

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on your subscription. By the fall of two thousand, Fred

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00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:30.920
moved into a separate bedroom so Piper could sleep better.

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00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:35.200
Neighbors say her mood darkened, she was rarely seen around

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00:25:35.240 --> 00:25:38.640
the house. She eventually asked Fred for an apartment of

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her own so she could paint, even though she had

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00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:45.960
the whole house to herself during the day. In December

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00:25:46.039 --> 00:25:49.680
two thousand, two days before the Jablin family was supposed

401
00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:52.720
to go to Disney World, Piper called her neighbor Linda

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and asked to borrow her car. Linda thought it was

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for an errand, so she said yes. Hours pass and

404
00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:05.160
Piper didn't return. Linda called her and asked where she was.

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00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:11.519
Piper said, calmly, I don't know. More hours passed and

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00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:14.599
her neighbor Mel got a call about Piper being at

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00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:18.799
a doctor's office. The caller said Piper couldn't drive she

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00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:22.359
needed a ride home, so Mel went to get her,

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and she wasn't even able to walk. She was nearly

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unconscious because the staff had given her something to calm

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00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:33.079
her down. Mel and her husband took Piper home. When

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they carried her inside the Jablin house, the kids were

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00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:42.000
unfazed by their mother's condition or her absence. Then Mel

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00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:46.039
called Fred and told him to come home. Later that night,

415
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:49.240
Piper called Linda and asked her to come over and

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00:26:49.319 --> 00:26:52.319
tell her what had happened that day. When Linda went

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to the house, she said Piper was manic and pacing.

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She ordered Linda to tell her everything. Linda told Piper

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what happened, but then she started yelling that Fred was

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drugging her, and Linda got uncomfortable and left. The next morning,

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00:27:08.920 --> 00:27:11.480
Mel got a call from Fred asking where Piper and

422
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Calli were. Mel said she didn't know. She hadn't seen

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either of them since she had dropped Piper off the

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day before. Come to find out, Piper had called her

425
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sister Tina in the middle of the night and said

426
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Fred was drugging her. She said she was scared and

427
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wanted to travel to Houston with Callie. Piper packed her

428
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suitcases and called a limo service to take her and

429
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Calli to the airport. She didn't tell Fred, but he

430
00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:41.599
eventually found out where they were. It is unclear if

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he asked her to come home, but we do know

432
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that he still took the other two kids to Disney.

433
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He probably didn't want to ruin their vacation. While in Houston,

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Piper told Tina that after she got home on the

435
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day she borrowed Linda's car, Fred was angry. She claimed

436
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he ripped her clothes off and put to bed, calling

437
00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:06.160
her an embarrassment, and she said that Fred drugged her. Tina,

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a nurse practitioner, felt like Piper was suffering from exhaustion

439
00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:16.400
and that Fred was undermining her self esteem. Basically, everything

440
00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:21.839
was Fred's fault. Meanwhile, Fred, Joscelyn, and Paxton spent a

441
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week at Disney. Then they flew to Texas to see

442
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Piper and Calli. A few days later, the whole Jablin

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family went back to Richmond after it was agreed that

444
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Fred would find a teaching job in Texas. He even

445
00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:38.599
applied for his old position at the University of Texas

446
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at Austin. Once again, Fred was giving in to Piper's

447
00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:46.759
every demand. He would really do anything for his family,

448
00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:52.640
but the good times never lasted long. On January sixth,

449
00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:55.400
two thousand and one, Piper moved out of the house

450
00:28:55.480 --> 00:28:57.799
and moved in with her friend Lonnie, who was getting

451
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a divorce. Days later, on January eleventh, Piper called the

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police and said that Fred had pushed her into a

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wall during an argument. She had a small cut on

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one hand, but said she didn't think it was from

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the argument. When police showed up, Fred told them that

456
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:18.559
there had been a verbal argument. Police asked the kids,

457
00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:23.880
who were witnesses, and they said nothing physical happened. Piper

458
00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:27.079
was adamant that Fred had pushed her. She said that

459
00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:30.319
Fred was definitely abusive and they could ask her friend

460
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:33.960
Mel So. Police talked to Mel and Mel said no,

461
00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:38.720
that was not true. Fred was far from abusive. A

462
00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:42.960
week later, on January eighteenth, Fred sent Piper an email

463
00:29:43.319 --> 00:29:46.480
saying that he wanted to stay together. He still cared

464
00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:49.880
about her and missed her. He suggested that they stay

465
00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:53.519
married but live in separate bedrooms while they saw a counselor.

466
00:29:54.920 --> 00:29:57.359
He said he would keep looking for a job in Texas.

467
00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:00.519
If he couldn't find one, he'd take Lee from the

468
00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:03.799
University of Richmond in July, and then moved to Texas

469
00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:07.759
with her and the kids. It is unknown what Piper's

470
00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:13.119
reaction to this email was. On February fourth, Fred found

471
00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:16.200
out that soon after their return from Richmond, Piper had

472
00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:19.279
stolen his master card and ordered a City Bank card

473
00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:24.599
with his information. In thirty days, she had taken out

474
00:30:24.680 --> 00:30:28.559
nine thousand in cash advances and made nearly eleven thousand

475
00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:33.599
in purchases. She also transferred three thousand of his paycheck

476
00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:36.599
to an account she opened at a different bank. She

477
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:41.160
bought clothes, tennis equipment, three years worth of hair salon services,

478
00:30:41.480 --> 00:30:46.960
and seven thousand dollars in prepaid moving expenses. That's thirty

479
00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:50.160
thousand bucks in two thousand and one, which would be

480
00:30:50.200 --> 00:30:55.519
about fifty grand today. The next day, February fifth, Piper

481
00:30:55.559 --> 00:30:58.440
took Joscelyn to a doctor's appointment and then checked into

482
00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:01.960
a hotel with her kids. She called Mel and said

483
00:31:01.960 --> 00:31:05.160
that she was afraid Fred would have her arrested. On

484
00:31:05.240 --> 00:31:08.400
February seventh, Piper and the kids were still in the hotel.

485
00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:11.480
Piper told Mel she thought the police were going to

486
00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:14.599
get her at any time, and then Piper called her

487
00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:19.559
psychiatrist to cancel her appointment. The psychiatrist told her that

488
00:31:19.640 --> 00:31:23.200
her actions were part of a pattern of chaos, her

489
00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:26.359
emotions were out of control. He wanted her to take

490
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:31.400
medicine for mood swings. Later that day, Piper went to

491
00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:35.680
file a restraining order against Fred. She said that on

492
00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:40.440
January eleventh, Fred had been physically abusive. Hours after filing

493
00:31:40.440 --> 00:31:44.680
the order, police arrested Fred at the campus for domestic violence.

494
00:31:46.119 --> 00:31:50.039
After his release the same day, a defeated and probably

495
00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:54.079
very embarrassed, Fred moved to a motel while Piper and

496
00:31:54.119 --> 00:31:59.480
the kids lived in the house. On March eleventh, Fred

497
00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:02.640
went to an emergency hearing and asked for temporary custody.

498
00:32:03.240 --> 00:32:06.359
He said the kids were unsafe with Piper, and the

499
00:32:06.440 --> 00:32:11.839
judge agreed. The next day, Piper felt another report of

500
00:32:11.880 --> 00:32:15.599
domestic violence against Fred. Then she went home and took

501
00:32:15.640 --> 00:32:18.759
all the items she wanted from the house, including Fred's

502
00:32:18.839 --> 00:32:23.759
mother's piano, and moved into a townhouse. Naturally, she didn't

503
00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:27.640
tell Fred, but Fred still wasn't ready to give up.

504
00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:30.759
He begged Piper to come back for the kids, but

505
00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:34.319
Piper said no. With no other move to make, Fred

506
00:32:34.359 --> 00:32:37.240
asked his attorney to falford divorce on grounds of desertion.

507
00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:42.279
On March sixteenth, a judge lifted the restraining order and

508
00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:45.559
let Fred move back into the house. The judge also

509
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:49.079
ruled again that Fred would have temporary custody of their children.

510
00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:54.279
Piper later followed a cross complaint asking for her own divorce.

511
00:32:55.559 --> 00:32:58.519
She said Fred was cruel and was both verbally and

512
00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:03.599
physically abusive, and she asked for joint custody. At this point,

513
00:33:03.880 --> 00:33:06.559
Fred was caring for the children on his own while

514
00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:09.880
paying Piper over eleven hundred dollars in alimony a month.

515
00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:13.240
He needed more money, so when he was asked to

516
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:16.039
step in as the acting dean, a job that would

517
00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:19.279
come with a pay raise, Fred said yes, and then

518
00:33:19.319 --> 00:33:23.240
he hired a nanny. As the year went on, things

519
00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:26.599
with Piper continued to spiral downward, and Fred became more

520
00:33:26.599 --> 00:33:30.559
worried for his safety. He created a new will, saying

521
00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:32.960
that his brother Michael would get custody of the kids

522
00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:37.359
if anything happened to him. He also installed a security system,

523
00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:41.000
and he talked to the kids about what they should

524
00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:45.599
do if their mom came to take them away. By then,

525
00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:48.680
the kids would have been around the ages thirteen, ten

526
00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:53.720
and seven. Joscelyn and Paxton had witnessed so much drama

527
00:33:53.720 --> 00:33:57.599
from their mother over the years, and poor Calli while

528
00:33:57.799 --> 00:34:01.839
she was more neglected by Piper than anything. But imagine

529
00:34:01.880 --> 00:34:05.359
basically explaining to your kids what to do if their

530
00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:10.679
own mom came to kidnap them. On July eighteenth, Fred

531
00:34:10.679 --> 00:34:14.480
filed for full custody. He was worried about Piper's behavior.

532
00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:17.519
She had been doing a lot of odd things, like

533
00:34:17.599 --> 00:34:20.880
sending an email to a bunch of people, including Fred

534
00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:24.480
and her son Paxton, about an idea for a new

535
00:34:24.519 --> 00:34:28.239
type of computer joystick that could be used for sexual pleasure.

536
00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:33.719
Other concerning behavior included letting the kids cross a four

537
00:34:33.800 --> 00:34:36.320
lane road by themselves to go to a gas station.

538
00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:41.039
The list went on and on. Fred was genuinely worried

539
00:34:41.400 --> 00:34:44.119
about the children when they were with their mother. He

540
00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:48.960
needed full custody so he could keep them safe. In September,

541
00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:52.119
the judge ruled that Fred would have physical custody, but

542
00:34:52.199 --> 00:34:55.800
he and Piper would both continue to have temporary joint custody.

543
00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:00.559
The judge ordered a psychiatrist to evaluate both to see

544
00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:05.039
who was suitable to raise the kids. As the months passed,

545
00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:08.440
Fred continued trying to be as cordial as possible, to Piper.

546
00:35:10.119 --> 00:35:13.199
On January seventh, two thousand and two, a hearing was

547
00:35:13.239 --> 00:35:17.400
held to go over the psychiatry evaluations for Piper and Fred.

548
00:35:17.960 --> 00:35:22.639
Doctor Lee Hagen, a psychiatrist, testified about the results. He

549
00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:29.119
speculated that Piper had eighty D bipolar disassociative disorder, issues

550
00:35:29.159 --> 00:35:32.719
with substance abuse, or what he called a character disorder

551
00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:37.559
because of her socially unacceptable behavior. Doctor Hagen said he

552
00:35:37.679 --> 00:35:41.400
leaned more towards a dissociative disorder and said that Piper

553
00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:46.119
was hyper emotional and might have impaired judgment, but he

554
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:49.880
also said there was nothing damaging about Fred. He relied

555
00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:55.360
on tact and diplomacy. According to Catherine Casey, on March fifth,

556
00:35:55.400 --> 00:35:58.119
two thousand and two, the judge said that both Piper

557
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:02.079
and Fred loved their children. However, the animosity between them

558
00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:07.320
was potentially detrimental to their children. The judge said, doctor

559
00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:10.480
Jablin is more of a peacemaker, more able to bend.

560
00:36:11.079 --> 00:36:14.920
He brought up that Piper's own psychiatrist said Piper's mental

561
00:36:14.920 --> 00:36:20.440
health improved while Fred had custody, which is telling Piper's

562
00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:24.079
mental health improved when she wasn't responsible for her children.

563
00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:29.960
It's sad that she could not accept that. Because of

564
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:33.239
these reasons and others, the judge ruled that Piper and

565
00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:36.760
Fred would have joint legal custody, but Fred would have

566
00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:42.280
permanent physical custody of all three children. Piper was inconsolable

567
00:36:42.440 --> 00:36:46.159
when she found out. She told her friends that Fred

568
00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:50.639
used his expertise in communication to manipulate the judge. She

569
00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:54.039
didn't tell them that it was actually her bizarre behavior

570
00:36:54.320 --> 00:36:58.400
that caused the judge's decision. Three days after the hearing,

571
00:36:58.920 --> 00:37:02.519
Piper emailed a forty two page document to a bunch

572
00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:06.800
of people Fred knew. The email's subject line was Jablin's

573
00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:11.400
psychological profile, and it was marked relevant if you have children,

574
00:37:11.480 --> 00:37:16.360
he supervises. The body of the email read, after serious

575
00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:20.079
consideration of the wider implications of the attached court report,

576
00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:24.519
I am forwarding it to you. But what she forwarded

577
00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:27.639
was not an official court document. It was just a

578
00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:32.559
word document full of lies that Piper's sister Tina typed up.

579
00:37:33.159 --> 00:37:36.239
She even listed a bunch of fake credentials to make

580
00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:41.199
the document look more official. According to Catherine Casey, the

581
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:45.440
document was a direct assault on Fred Jablin's character, morals,

582
00:37:45.559 --> 00:37:50.280
and ethics. Tina wrote that Fred was a narcissist, He

583
00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:53.679
didn't care about anyone but himself, and he lacked empathy

584
00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:58.679
for everyone, including Piper and the kids. Tina wrote that

585
00:37:58.719 --> 00:38:02.559
Fred had violent and a outbursts and showed a calculated

586
00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:06.159
pattern of intentional neglect. She said that children were at

587
00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:09.519
a high risk for psychological abuse. She wrote that Fred

588
00:38:09.559 --> 00:38:12.960
frequently smoked pot and that he had physically and sexually

589
00:38:12.960 --> 00:38:17.400
assaulted Piper. He never gave Piper any money or affection,

590
00:38:18.039 --> 00:38:22.960
and that Fred hated children and never wanted them. Tina

591
00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:26.840
wrote that Fred beat Paxton and that Joscelyn psychiatrist said

592
00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:30.320
that since Fred started caring for the children, Joscelyn had

593
00:38:30.360 --> 00:38:34.880
been bordering on anorexia and suicide for months. This is

594
00:38:34.920 --> 00:38:40.159
not what the psychiatrist said. In fact, he said the opposite.

595
00:38:40.199 --> 00:38:45.000
Tina also added that Fred beat Paxton, and of course

596
00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:48.360
she couldn't end the document without a racist comment about

597
00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:55.079
Jewish people having a persecution complex. The document was very

598
00:38:55.199 --> 00:38:59.480
damning to Fred's reputation. He had to make many embarrassing

599
00:38:59.480 --> 00:39:02.639
phone calls telling people who got the email that it

600
00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:07.000
was all lies. But in the end Fred didn't feel

601
00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:10.400
that was enough, so he withdrew his name from consideration

602
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:15.000
from the permanent deanship. He also told Piper that her

603
00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:20.199
actions were detrimental to the children's welfare. Yet still, over

604
00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:24.960
the summer, Fred remained as cordial as ever, even though

605
00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:28.239
he didn't legally have to. Fred always told Piper what

606
00:39:28.360 --> 00:39:31.119
was going on with the children and what their plans were.

607
00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:37.039
Piper would, in turn fight Fred on everything. Her behavior

608
00:39:37.079 --> 00:39:40.559
had a profound effect on the children. According to the neighbors,

609
00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:46.000
they became quieter, withdrawn, and less interested in playing with friends.

610
00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:49.920
On July fifteenth, Piper and Fred went to court to

611
00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:54.119
discuss the document Piper sent out. At the hearing, Fred

612
00:39:54.159 --> 00:39:58.079
asked the judge to finalize their divorce. His request was granted.

613
00:39:58.679 --> 00:40:03.320
Piper and Fred were a thing divorced. Then Fred asked

614
00:40:03.360 --> 00:40:06.679
that he be granted full permanent custody. He said, I

615
00:40:06.760 --> 00:40:10.679
cannot trust Piper's judgment. This email shows a person who

616
00:40:10.679 --> 00:40:14.039
does not know right from wrong, has no moral standards,

617
00:40:14.360 --> 00:40:18.239
will lie and spread hatred. She does not have the

618
00:40:18.320 --> 00:40:22.039
welfare of the children at heart. The judge gave Fred

619
00:40:22.119 --> 00:40:28.480
full permanent custody and limited Piper's visitation to twice monthly weekends, holidays,

620
00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:33.159
and three weeks a summer following this ruling, Piper told

621
00:40:33.159 --> 00:40:38.840
a friend Fred torched my village. In August, Piper moved

622
00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:42.440
to Houston and started living with Tina. She didn't tell

623
00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:45.920
Fred she was moving. He heard about it from the kids.

624
00:40:46.400 --> 00:40:50.679
Then Piper started working as a guardian ad litem. She

625
00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:54.199
was an attorney in charge of overseeing the best interests

626
00:40:54.199 --> 00:40:58.719
of other people's minor children and divorce cases. Good Lord

627
00:40:59.079 --> 00:41:03.440
the irony. Her business card said that she had twenty

628
00:41:03.480 --> 00:41:07.800
years of experience, yeah, twenty years of screwing up her

629
00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:12.559
own children's lives. After she was ultimately fired from being

630
00:41:12.599 --> 00:41:15.880
a guardian, Piper took a job working as a landman,

631
00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:20.559
and the oil filled. As the months passed, Fred emailed

632
00:41:20.599 --> 00:41:23.840
Piper about the kids and their activities, and she for

633
00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:29.280
once appeared to be cordial. That didn't last long. By

634
00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:32.079
the summer of two thousand and four, Piper was not

635
00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:35.920
paying child support. She was over eight thousand dollars behind

636
00:41:35.960 --> 00:41:39.360
at that point, close to thirteen grand and twenty twenty

637
00:41:39.360 --> 00:41:44.800
two dollars. Even though she wasn't paying anything, Piper demanded

638
00:41:45.079 --> 00:41:47.519
that Fred pay to fly all three children out to

639
00:41:47.559 --> 00:41:50.440
see her in Texas. She said he had to do it,

640
00:41:51.400 --> 00:41:54.199
but Fred knew better. There was nothing in the agreement

641
00:41:54.280 --> 00:41:57.199
stating that he had to do that, so he didn't.

642
00:41:57.960 --> 00:42:02.320
He was finally standing up for himself. That had to

643
00:42:02.320 --> 00:42:07.719
feel good. Despite his issues with Piper, things in Fred's

644
00:42:07.800 --> 00:42:11.039
romantic life were going well. He had started dating a

645
00:42:11.039 --> 00:42:14.440
woman named Charlene and had even introduced the kids to her.

646
00:42:15.400 --> 00:42:20.079
He was moving on. He was finally happy again. In

647
00:42:20.119 --> 00:42:24.079
October two thousand and four, Fred and the children got

648
00:42:24.119 --> 00:42:27.760
ready for Fred's favorite holiday by decorating the outside of

649
00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:32.119
the house with a homemade scarecrow, carved pumpkins, and sheet ghosts.

650
00:42:33.679 --> 00:42:36.800
For Halloween Day, Fred had plans to take the children

651
00:42:36.840 --> 00:42:39.519
to a local farm so they could pick out pumpkins

652
00:42:39.719 --> 00:42:43.119
and go on a hay ride, but that trip would

653
00:42:43.119 --> 00:42:47.360
never happen. I'm going to pause now to her a

654
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On Wednesday, October twenty seventh, Piper told her boss she

720
00:46:32.679 --> 00:46:35.920
couldn't work on Thursday or Friday because she had a

721
00:46:35.960 --> 00:46:40.800
continuing education class. This was a blatant lie. Piper wasn't

722
00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:45.159
taking a continuing education class. She did have other plans though.

723
00:46:46.599 --> 00:46:49.760
On the morning of October thirtieth, fifty two year old

724
00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:53.800
Fred followed his daily routine wake up at six am,

725
00:46:54.039 --> 00:46:57.119
put on the coffee, and grab the newspaper from the driveway.

726
00:46:58.039 --> 00:47:01.119
At six thirty seven am, Fred walked out his back

727
00:47:01.199 --> 00:47:06.440
door to grab the paper. Because it was still dark outside,

728
00:47:06.480 --> 00:47:09.159
Fred could not see that Piper was waiting in the

729
00:47:09.239 --> 00:47:14.320
driveway for him. She ambushed her ex husband, shooting and

730
00:47:14.400 --> 00:47:20.960
killing him while their children slept inside. Fred's next door neighbor, Bob,

731
00:47:21.360 --> 00:47:24.760
called nine one one to report three gunshots. He told

732
00:47:24.800 --> 00:47:28.079
the despatcher that after hearing shots, he looked out his

733
00:47:28.159 --> 00:47:31.280
window and saw a shadowy figure running left to right

734
00:47:31.320 --> 00:47:36.320
across his lawn. Police arrived in the neighborhood and started searching,

735
00:47:36.480 --> 00:47:40.199
but they didn't find anything. At seven a m. They

736
00:47:40.239 --> 00:47:43.079
contacted Bob to tell him the news, and Bob said

737
00:47:43.079 --> 00:47:44.800
he would take his dogs for a walk when it

738
00:47:44.840 --> 00:47:47.639
got light out and if he saw anything he would

739
00:47:47.679 --> 00:47:51.320
give them a call. Bob and his wife were walking

740
00:47:51.360 --> 00:47:54.920
the dogs by Fred's driveway when he noticed something crumpled

741
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:58.280
up in the driveway. His wife said to go check

742
00:47:58.320 --> 00:48:02.159
what it was. It was Fred. He was lying in

743
00:48:02.159 --> 00:48:05.199
his driveway on his stomach with his head turned to

744
00:48:05.239 --> 00:48:08.719
the side. He had landed on a bed of leaves

745
00:48:09.280 --> 00:48:13.199
in a fetal position, staring toward the street, with his

746
00:48:13.239 --> 00:48:17.599
glasses lying on the ground. Bob turned to his wife

747
00:48:17.639 --> 00:48:20.360
and told her to call the police. It was seven

748
00:48:20.400 --> 00:48:25.400
twenty five am. The police came back and paramedics showed

749
00:48:25.480 --> 00:48:28.800
up soon after, but it was too late. Fred was

750
00:48:28.840 --> 00:48:33.800
dead from two gunshot wounds. Later, an autopsy would show

751
00:48:33.840 --> 00:48:36.239
that the first of two bullets entered from the back,

752
00:48:36.800 --> 00:48:40.599
piercing Fred's lower right side. The bullet did a lot

753
00:48:40.599 --> 00:48:44.159
of damage to organs and was a fatal shot. The

754
00:48:44.239 --> 00:48:47.880
second bullet entered Fred's right arm and exited without hitting

755
00:48:47.920 --> 00:48:52.239
any vital tissues. The killer most likely stood near the

756
00:48:52.280 --> 00:48:55.880
garage and waited for Fred to get his newspaper. Then

757
00:48:55.920 --> 00:48:59.760
they approached him and fired. No casings were found at

758
00:48:59.760 --> 00:49:02.920
the site, meaning the weapon was most likely a revolver.

759
00:49:04.400 --> 00:49:07.039
Because no one knew where the shooter was, it was

760
00:49:07.119 --> 00:49:10.239
unclear if the children were being held hostage inside the house.

761
00:49:11.400 --> 00:49:14.960
SWAT arrived and made their way inside to rescue the children.

762
00:49:16.199 --> 00:49:19.519
Just then, fifteen year old Joscelyn came out of her room,

763
00:49:20.039 --> 00:49:24.079
confused about what was going on. Officers escorted her out

764
00:49:24.119 --> 00:49:27.679
of the house. Next, they went to eight year old

765
00:49:27.719 --> 00:49:31.400
Calli's room and woke her. Then they woke up twelve

766
00:49:31.440 --> 00:49:35.880
year old Paxton. On the way to a rescue vehicle,

767
00:49:36.280 --> 00:49:38.639
the children were directed away from where Fred lay in

768
00:49:38.679 --> 00:49:41.719
the driveway. They were taken to the home of a

769
00:49:41.760 --> 00:49:45.760
police officer's family. The family lived nearby and the kids

770
00:49:45.760 --> 00:49:50.639
were on the same soccer team. Henriiko County police quickly

771
00:49:50.639 --> 00:49:54.920
got to work investigating Fred's murder. They started searching the

772
00:49:54.960 --> 00:49:59.519
sewer for the murder weapon, talking to witnesses, obtaining search warrants,

773
00:49:59.760 --> 00:50:04.719
and swabbing for DNA. Officers called Fred's brother, Michael to

774
00:50:04.760 --> 00:50:09.039
relay the bad news. After the initial shock, he asked

775
00:50:09.320 --> 00:50:13.679
if they considered Piper to be a suspect. When officers

776
00:50:13.679 --> 00:50:16.599
spoke with the neighbor, Mel, she told them about Piper

777
00:50:16.840 --> 00:50:21.039
and Fred's new girlfriend, Charlene. After Mel explained all the

778
00:50:21.039 --> 00:50:24.559
things that had happened during the Jablin's divorce, officers could

779
00:50:24.599 --> 00:50:27.840
see while Michael asked if Piper was a suspect yet.

780
00:50:29.199 --> 00:50:32.400
Police interviewed Charlene, who said she had talked to Fred

781
00:50:32.440 --> 00:50:35.239
the night before. They talked about how Fred was going

782
00:50:35.280 --> 00:50:38.079
to let the kids go to Texas for Thanksgiving, but

783
00:50:38.199 --> 00:50:41.559
how he also had to email Piper about money, she owed.

784
00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:47.039
Police also spoke with the Jablin children. Joscelyn said she

785
00:50:47.079 --> 00:50:49.599
had heard the shots, but she didn't know what the

786
00:50:49.679 --> 00:50:53.719
sound truly was, so she went back to sleep. All

787
00:50:53.760 --> 00:50:56.840
three kids said their relationship with their father was great,

788
00:50:57.440 --> 00:51:01.559
there were no problems, and nothing unnews usual had happened recently.

789
00:51:03.239 --> 00:51:05.480
They said their mom had called them the night before

790
00:51:05.639 --> 00:51:09.480
to say she was driving home from Galveston. After hearing

791
00:51:09.519 --> 00:51:13.599
this information, officers wanted to obtain Piper's phone and bank

792
00:51:13.679 --> 00:51:17.000
records to see if she was telling the truth. They

793
00:51:17.039 --> 00:51:20.599
also asked Houston police to go to Piper's and see

794
00:51:20.599 --> 00:51:25.559
if she was home. She was not. By eleven am.

795
00:51:25.920 --> 00:51:30.440
Henriko Police had Piper's phone records. They found that she

796
00:51:30.519 --> 00:51:33.559
had made calls from her cell that bounced off towers

797
00:51:33.559 --> 00:51:36.840
in Richmond. She made a call at four thirty am

798
00:51:36.960 --> 00:51:40.119
and it bounced off a tower five miles from Fred's house.

799
00:51:41.159 --> 00:51:45.159
By noon, it was used in Norfolk, Virginia. One and

800
00:51:45.199 --> 00:51:48.239
a half hours later, it was used in Baltimore, Maryland.

801
00:51:49.079 --> 00:51:54.320
With this information, officers knew Piper had flown somewhere, so

802
00:51:54.360 --> 00:51:57.119
an officer drove to the Norfolk airport and found out

803
00:51:57.159 --> 00:52:00.360
that a Tina Rountree had flown out of Norfolk at

804
00:52:00.360 --> 00:52:05.199
twelve thirty PM. That plane changed in Baltimore and was

805
00:52:05.239 --> 00:52:09.440
going to lend in Houston at four thirty Central. Henraiko

806
00:52:09.519 --> 00:52:12.519
called Houston police and asked for officers to go to

807
00:52:12.559 --> 00:52:16.440
the airport with pictures of Piper and Tina. They needed

808
00:52:16.440 --> 00:52:19.320
to see which one got off the airplane, then seize

809
00:52:19.320 --> 00:52:23.639
any luggage until police had a warrant. But the Houston

810
00:52:23.679 --> 00:52:26.400
police did not find Piper or Tina at the airport,

811
00:52:27.000 --> 00:52:30.559
they were too late. One Houston officer headed to Tina's

812
00:52:30.559 --> 00:52:33.440
house to see if Piper was there, and another went

813
00:52:33.480 --> 00:52:38.880
to Piper's house. Neither were home. By the evening hours,

814
00:52:39.280 --> 00:52:43.000
police had obtained more of Piper's cell phone records. These

815
00:52:43.079 --> 00:52:46.000
showed that at four forty six a m. Someone checked

816
00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:49.920
messages on Piper's phone near Fred's house. The tower was

817
00:52:49.920 --> 00:52:53.840
by a bunch of hotels. Police then checked with those

818
00:52:53.880 --> 00:52:57.320
hotels to see if Piper or Tina had been registered.

819
00:52:58.519 --> 00:53:01.440
A clerk at Homestead Sue Eat said that a Tina

820
00:53:01.519 --> 00:53:04.880
Rountree had a reservation for last night, but did not

821
00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.519
check in. At around nine p m. Henriiko Detective Kobe

822
00:53:09.599 --> 00:53:13.639
Kelly finally got a hold of Piper. She immediately asked

823
00:53:13.679 --> 00:53:16.719
where her kids were. Kelly said he wanted to talk

824
00:53:16.760 --> 00:53:20.920
to her about that, but first he asked about her divorce.

825
00:53:21.679 --> 00:53:25.400
She said Fred was physically abusive and then changed the subject.

826
00:53:26.039 --> 00:53:27.880
She said she wanted to come and get the kids

827
00:53:28.239 --> 00:53:32.639
because she had custody. No matter what Detective Kelly said,

828
00:53:33.000 --> 00:53:36.800
Piper only wanted to talk about the kids. Kelly informed

829
00:53:36.840 --> 00:53:39.440
her that Fred had a will stating that the kids

830
00:53:39.440 --> 00:53:43.480
would go to his brother, not to her. After hearing this,

831
00:53:44.159 --> 00:53:48.039
Piper became angry. She told Kelly that she was their mother,

832
00:53:48.800 --> 00:53:52.840
but before she could continue, her phone went dead. The

833
00:53:52.880 --> 00:53:56.360
next day, Detective Kelly arrived in Houston with his partner.

834
00:53:56.960 --> 00:53:59.719
They met with HPD, and then they all went to

835
00:53:59.719 --> 00:54:05.000
speak with Piper. After tracking her down, officers asked where

836
00:54:05.039 --> 00:54:10.280
she was that weekend. Piper became uncomfortable and squirmed. Officers

837
00:54:10.320 --> 00:54:13.199
asked if she was in Virginia on October thirtieth, and

838
00:54:13.280 --> 00:54:17.039
she said no. One of the officers later said he

839
00:54:17.079 --> 00:54:19.679
could tell that Piper was lying. She was slow to

840
00:54:19.760 --> 00:54:24.039
answer and was evasive. They asked her where she was

841
00:54:24.119 --> 00:54:27.800
on October thirtieth and if anyone saw her. She said

842
00:54:27.840 --> 00:54:31.920
she was uh right here, and they asked in this

843
00:54:32.159 --> 00:54:36.519
room and she said no. She was working in Houston

844
00:54:36.719 --> 00:54:40.039
and Galveston. She couldn't give a clear answer on where

845
00:54:40.119 --> 00:54:43.639
exactly she was working. She said she was all over.

846
00:54:44.480 --> 00:54:47.159
Piper said she was in her car driving from Galveston

847
00:54:47.599 --> 00:54:51.639
when she called Paxton. Police kept trying to get Piper

848
00:54:51.679 --> 00:54:55.480
to tell them exactly where she was. She finally gave

849
00:54:55.519 --> 00:54:58.400
in and said she was with a married man and

850
00:54:58.440 --> 00:55:03.239
that's why she wasn't being truthful. The officers reminded Piper

851
00:55:03.559 --> 00:55:06.440
that this was a homicide investigation and she needed to

852
00:55:06.480 --> 00:55:10.079
tell the truth, no matter how embarrassing it was. And

853
00:55:10.119 --> 00:55:13.599
then Piper changed her story. She had been at Tina's house,

854
00:55:13.960 --> 00:55:19.559
but Tina wasn't there. Officers kept questioning Piper. They said

855
00:55:19.559 --> 00:55:22.199
if she gave them information, they could try to work

856
00:55:22.239 --> 00:55:25.159
something out with CPS, with a mention of getting to

857
00:55:25.159 --> 00:55:28.679
see her children. Piper asked the officers if they had

858
00:55:28.719 --> 00:55:32.840
talked to Fred's girlfriend. She said they had been dating

859
00:55:32.880 --> 00:55:36.760
for five years, two years before the divorce, that Fred

860
00:55:36.840 --> 00:55:40.400
cheated on her a lot, but of course she hadn't

861
00:55:40.440 --> 00:55:44.199
noticed because she was too busy caring for her kids.

862
00:55:44.880 --> 00:55:49.559
Can you hear my eyes rolling? Knowing they weren't getting anywhere,

863
00:55:49.840 --> 00:55:53.920
officers decided to end the conversation. Piper promised to call

864
00:55:54.000 --> 00:55:57.079
Detective Kelly at six o'clock that night so they could

865
00:55:57.079 --> 00:56:00.239
talk about custody of the kids. She said she would

866
00:56:00.239 --> 00:56:02.760
provide Kelly with the name of the married man she

867
00:56:02.880 --> 00:56:07.400
was with during the murder. Now, the police headed to

868
00:56:07.440 --> 00:56:10.480
Tina's place to talk to her. They asked if she

869
00:56:10.519 --> 00:56:14.360
had seen Piper on October twenty ninth or thirtieth. Tina

870
00:56:14.480 --> 00:56:19.239
was evasive. She wouldn't answer any questions. Instead, she just

871
00:56:19.360 --> 00:56:23.559
kept asking about the children. After some time, Tina said

872
00:56:23.599 --> 00:56:26.159
she would tell the officers where her sister was on

873
00:56:26.199 --> 00:56:28.960
the twenty ninth and thirtieth, but only if they brought

874
00:56:28.960 --> 00:56:33.320
the kids to Texas. They asked where she was on

875
00:56:33.360 --> 00:56:37.000
October twenty ninth and if she saw Piper. It was

876
00:56:37.039 --> 00:56:41.280
an easy question, but Tina wouldn't answer it again. She

877
00:56:41.360 --> 00:56:44.119
said she was not going to talk to them. Then

878
00:56:44.400 --> 00:56:48.639
she yelled at them to leave. That afternoon, Piper told

879
00:56:48.679 --> 00:56:51.440
Detective Kelly that she didn't want to talk because she

880
00:56:51.480 --> 00:56:53.880
felt like she was between a rock and a hard place.

881
00:56:54.760 --> 00:56:56.960
He asked if she felt like she was being accused

882
00:56:56.960 --> 00:57:01.159
of anything. She said she was exhalted and needed to

883
00:57:01.199 --> 00:57:04.480
figure out how to get her kids. They agreed to

884
00:57:04.519 --> 00:57:08.000
meet the next day at nine a m. But that

885
00:57:08.039 --> 00:57:11.880
meeting never happened because Piper called Detective Kelly and said

886
00:57:11.920 --> 00:57:16.000
she couldn't meet him due to the thunderstorms. When the

887
00:57:16.000 --> 00:57:19.199
storms passed, she asked her former boss to tell the

888
00:57:19.239 --> 00:57:22.079
police that she had talked to an attorney in Virginia,

889
00:57:22.559 --> 00:57:25.239
and they suggested that she not talk to the police

890
00:57:25.719 --> 00:57:29.679
as anything she said could hurt her case. What case

891
00:57:29.880 --> 00:57:34.199
if she was innocent her custody case. I suppose Fred

892
00:57:34.239 --> 00:57:37.000
did name his brother Michael as guardian of his children.

893
00:57:37.719 --> 00:57:43.159
But still with the round Tree sisters not talking, officers

894
00:57:43.239 --> 00:57:46.719
kept digging, hoping they would find enough evidence for an arrest.

895
00:57:48.119 --> 00:57:50.800
They found that Piper used a friend's account to purchase

896
00:57:50.840 --> 00:57:56.360
two wigs at Paris Boutique Whigs. The whigs, one read,

897
00:57:56.440 --> 00:58:01.639
the other blonde, were long and flowing. Police also noticed

898
00:58:01.960 --> 00:58:04.480
that the same friend's debit card was used on October

899
00:58:04.480 --> 00:58:09.039
twenty eighth through the thirtieth in the Richmond area. One

900
00:58:09.079 --> 00:58:12.079
of the purchases was at CVS for make up and

901
00:58:12.159 --> 00:58:17.119
a box of small Latex gloves. They obtained camera footage

902
00:58:17.159 --> 00:58:20.360
from places the debit card was used. One tape from

903
00:58:20.360 --> 00:58:23.440
A seven eleven showed a woman who looked like Piper

904
00:58:23.800 --> 00:58:26.840
wearing a blond wig similar to the one bought on

905
00:58:26.840 --> 00:58:31.800
the website. On November second, police found that one of

906
00:58:31.840 --> 00:58:35.440
Piper's calls in Virginia was to a Papa John's. They

907
00:58:35.480 --> 00:58:38.159
called the pizza place and asked if a person with

908
00:58:38.239 --> 00:58:42.559
the last name of round Tree ordered a pizza they had.

909
00:58:43.480 --> 00:58:46.760
It was delivered to Homestead Suites to Room one seventy

910
00:58:46.800 --> 00:58:51.119
one on the twenty eighth, police went to Homestead Suites

911
00:58:51.280 --> 00:58:55.719
and asked who rented Room one seventy one. The manager

912
00:58:55.760 --> 00:58:58.039
on duty from that night said it was a woman.

913
00:58:58.639 --> 00:59:00.760
She checked in at nine fifty on the night of

914
00:59:00.800 --> 00:59:05.920
the twenty eighth under the name Tina Roundtree. Then she

915
00:59:06.039 --> 00:59:09.480
asked to change the name on the register to Jerrelynn Smith.

916
00:59:10.599 --> 00:59:14.000
The woman paced the lobby and look nervous, according to

917
00:59:14.039 --> 00:59:18.840
the manager. Officers showed the manager a photo of Piper.

918
00:59:19.440 --> 00:59:22.119
They confirmed that it was the woman who checked in

919
00:59:22.199 --> 00:59:25.679
that night. She had been wearing a hat, coat, scarf

920
00:59:25.800 --> 00:59:29.159
and sunglasses, even though it wasn't cold out and it

921
00:59:29.199 --> 00:59:34.679
was nighttime. Next Henriiko officers found that a Tina round

922
00:59:34.760 --> 00:59:38.639
Tree had called around October twenty fourth, asking if she

923
00:59:38.639 --> 00:59:41.320
could rent a car later that week without a credit card.

924
00:59:41.960 --> 00:59:44.599
The clerk said she could, but she needed to bring

925
00:59:44.599 --> 00:59:48.679
a driver's license and utility bill. This Tina asked to

926
00:59:48.760 --> 00:59:51.440
reserve a car, but they said they only rented on

927
00:59:51.480 --> 00:59:55.920
a first come, first serve basis. At around five pm

928
00:59:56.039 --> 00:59:59.800
on October twenty eighth, this Tina called the company from

929
00:59:59.840 --> 01:00:02.880
the airport, asking them to hold a car for her

930
01:00:03.800 --> 01:00:06.960
when she got there. The clerk noticed she was clearly

931
01:00:07.000 --> 01:00:11.000
wearing a wig and heavy makeup. After handing over her

932
01:00:11.079 --> 01:00:15.280
driver's license and utility bill, Tina said she would return

933
01:00:15.320 --> 01:00:19.559
the car on the thirtieth. Police showed the clerk a

934
01:00:19.599 --> 01:00:22.360
photo of Tina, but the clerk didn't think that was

935
01:00:22.400 --> 01:00:25.559
the woman they had seen. Then officers showed a photo

936
01:00:25.639 --> 01:00:28.760
of Piper and the clerk was one hundred percent sure

937
01:00:28.800 --> 01:00:33.719
it was her. Unfortunately, the van had already been cleaned,

938
01:00:33.920 --> 01:00:37.280
rented to someone else, and returned back to the rental agency.

939
01:00:38.400 --> 01:00:40.400
The police still went through the van to see if

940
01:00:40.440 --> 01:00:43.800
they could find anything. They found one piece of evidence,

941
01:00:44.320 --> 01:00:50.119
a key to homestead suits. Meanwhile, Detective Kobe Kelly was

942
01:00:50.159 --> 01:00:53.760
still in Houston. He went to Tina's clinic and talked

943
01:00:53.800 --> 01:00:57.039
to her medical assistant. He asked the assistant if she

944
01:00:57.079 --> 01:01:00.119
saw Tina on the thirtieth. The assistant said, yeah, yes,

945
01:01:00.599 --> 01:01:05.079
Tina had appointments with patients until twelve thirty. At that time,

946
01:01:05.480 --> 01:01:09.400
she got a phone call and left in a hurry. Next,

947
01:01:09.880 --> 01:01:14.400
Kelly looked into the flights Tina aka Piper had taken

948
01:01:14.440 --> 01:01:18.199
between Houston and Norfolk. He spoke with the ticket agent

949
01:01:18.239 --> 01:01:21.119
who checked Piper in for her flight in Houston. The

950
01:01:21.199 --> 01:01:24.960
agent remembered Piper because quote she was a really cute

951
01:01:24.960 --> 01:01:29.320
woman who was wearing a blond wig. Detective Kelly showed

952
01:01:29.360 --> 01:01:32.920
the employee a photo of Piper and she confirmed that

953
01:01:33.039 --> 01:01:35.960
it was the woman she had seen. She recalled that

954
01:01:36.000 --> 01:01:38.760
Tina was in a rush. She needed to be on

955
01:01:38.840 --> 01:01:41.679
the next available flight to Norfolk, and she had a

956
01:01:41.719 --> 01:01:46.400
gun to declare. Tina hesitated when the clerk told her

957
01:01:46.440 --> 01:01:49.679
the gun had to be inspected. She fumbled around and

958
01:01:49.760 --> 01:01:52.519
finally got it out and showed that it wasn't loaded.

959
01:01:53.159 --> 01:01:55.760
Then the agent gave Piper forms to fill out and

960
01:01:55.840 --> 01:02:00.480
called over a TSA agent to inspect the gun. Detective

961
01:02:00.519 --> 01:02:03.280
Kelly talked to the TSA agent who inspected the gun.

962
01:02:03.760 --> 01:02:07.000
He said it was a revolver. When shown a photo

963
01:02:07.039 --> 01:02:09.679
of Piper, he said he thought it was Piper, but

964
01:02:09.760 --> 01:02:14.760
he wasn't sure. The hair was different. Meanwhile, Piper got

965
01:02:14.760 --> 01:02:17.679
a hotel room to avoid the police. She did not

966
01:02:17.719 --> 01:02:22.679
fly to Virginia to attend Fred's funeral with her children. Instead,

967
01:02:23.000 --> 01:02:26.159
she went to the Volcano Bar and asked the bartender

968
01:02:26.519 --> 01:02:30.159
if she remembered seeing her. On Friday, October twenty ninth,

969
01:02:31.000 --> 01:02:35.159
the bartender. Cheryl said she thought so, but wasn't sure

970
01:02:35.159 --> 01:02:39.519
if it was Friday or not. Piper said she needed

971
01:02:39.519 --> 01:02:41.559
to find the married man she had been talking to

972
01:02:41.679 --> 01:02:46.159
that night. Cheryl turned to a group of people and

973
01:02:46.280 --> 01:02:49.199
asked if any of them had seen Piper. A man

974
01:02:49.320 --> 01:02:52.920
named Kevin said he thought he remembered seeing her, and

975
01:02:52.960 --> 01:02:57.320
then asked why it was important. Piper said that she

976
01:02:57.320 --> 01:03:00.000
got a call from Virginia police that her ex boyfriend

977
01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:03.079
and had been stabbed to death and police wanted to

978
01:03:03.079 --> 01:03:07.039
know where she was. Piper asked Kevin for the best

979
01:03:07.079 --> 01:03:09.119
way to get a hold of him in case she

980
01:03:09.199 --> 01:03:12.320
needed him to prove where she was. He gave Piper

981
01:03:12.320 --> 01:03:16.880
his number, and then she left. A few minutes later,

982
01:03:17.280 --> 01:03:21.079
Piper went back inside the bar, this time accompanied with

983
01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:25.719
Tina and two men in business suits. The men asked

984
01:03:25.840 --> 01:03:29.159
Kevin to sign a statement and have it notarized so

985
01:03:29.199 --> 01:03:31.920
she could prove she was there on Friday. He said

986
01:03:31.960 --> 01:03:34.840
no and said that she had his number. If the

987
01:03:34.840 --> 01:03:39.039
police wanted to talk, they could call. Piper started arguing

988
01:03:39.079 --> 01:03:41.760
with Kevin, but Tina told her they needed to leave.

989
01:03:43.159 --> 01:03:46.599
Piper later let Detective Kelly know about Kevin and the

990
01:03:46.639 --> 01:03:49.920
bartender Cheryl. She said she was still trying to find

991
01:03:49.920 --> 01:03:53.719
the married man who walked her home. Kelly set up

992
01:03:53.760 --> 01:03:57.719
a meeting with Kevin at the Volcano Bar. Kevin relaid

993
01:03:57.719 --> 01:04:01.519
the story Piper told him about her ex boyfriend getting stabbed.

994
01:04:02.199 --> 01:04:05.719
Detective Kelly said it was her former husband of eighteen

995
01:04:05.840 --> 01:04:10.320
years who had been shot. Kevin then admitted that he

996
01:04:10.440 --> 01:04:13.400
wasn't one hundred percent sure he saw Piper at the

997
01:04:13.400 --> 01:04:18.199
bar on Friday night. Detective Kelly asked the bartender, Cheryl,

998
01:04:18.360 --> 01:04:23.320
to check the tabs. Then she realized Kevin hadn't even

999
01:04:23.400 --> 01:04:26.880
been in the bar on Friday. That meant he couldn't

1000
01:04:26.880 --> 01:04:30.880
have seen Piper. Then they figured out that Kevin and

1001
01:04:31.000 --> 01:04:33.920
Cheryl were both at the bar on Saturday night and

1002
01:04:34.000 --> 01:04:37.280
that's when they had seen Piper. She had gone to

1003
01:04:37.320 --> 01:04:43.039
the bar the same day she killed her husband. I'm

1004
01:04:43.079 --> 01:04:51.079
going to pause now for a final commercial break. After

1005
01:04:51.119 --> 01:04:54.800
the revelations at the Volcano Bar, police found out that

1006
01:04:54.840 --> 01:04:57.440
Piper asked Tina to stay the night at her house

1007
01:04:57.840 --> 01:05:02.320
on the night of October twenty ninth. This way, when

1008
01:05:02.360 --> 01:05:06.119
a neighbor delivering Girl Scout cookies came by, she would

1009
01:05:06.159 --> 01:05:10.360
think Piper was home, but Piper's plan didn't work. The

1010
01:05:10.400 --> 01:05:13.760
neighbor realized the person who answered the door wasn't Piper.

1011
01:05:14.280 --> 01:05:18.599
This woman was bigger, and Tina cracked criminal that she

1012
01:05:18.880 --> 01:05:24.639
was parked her car outside of Piper's house. On November sixth,

1013
01:05:24.960 --> 01:05:27.800
police met with a friend of Tina and Piper's named Carol.

1014
01:05:28.360 --> 01:05:30.760
They had received a tip that she knew something about

1015
01:05:30.760 --> 01:05:35.119
the murder. During their meeting, Carol told the police everything

1016
01:05:35.159 --> 01:05:38.920
she knew. On the twenty eighth, the same day Piper

1017
01:05:39.039 --> 01:05:42.400
left for Virginia, Tina contacted Carol to say that she

1018
01:05:42.519 --> 01:05:47.400
thought Piper was going to do something stupid. Piper had

1019
01:05:47.400 --> 01:05:50.880
taken off with Tina's driver's license and credit card, and

1020
01:05:50.960 --> 01:05:53.679
the week before she had gone to a shooting range

1021
01:05:53.679 --> 01:05:59.079
with Tina's boyfriend for practice. Carol said that on October thirty,

1022
01:05:59.159 --> 01:06:03.000
first Tea called crying because Piper had gone to Virginia

1023
01:06:03.320 --> 01:06:07.320
and killed her ex. Tina went on to detail how

1024
01:06:07.360 --> 01:06:10.920
she helped Piper dispose of evidence, including a purse and

1025
01:06:10.960 --> 01:06:14.400
a wig. Tina put them in grocery bags and threw

1026
01:06:14.440 --> 01:06:18.000
them into dumpsters, one at a medical center and one

1027
01:06:18.039 --> 01:06:22.440
at a convenience store. After Carol told Tina that the

1028
01:06:22.519 --> 01:06:26.679
dumpsters weren't safe, they decided to retrieve the bags. When

1029
01:06:26.719 --> 01:06:29.840
they were done, Tina dropped Carol off at work, and

1030
01:06:29.920 --> 01:06:32.280
when she came back to get her, the bags were

1031
01:06:32.320 --> 01:06:35.079
gone from the car and it had been washed inside

1032
01:06:35.119 --> 01:06:39.000
and out. Carol said that the next day she went

1033
01:06:39.000 --> 01:06:44.199
to Tina's house. While there, Piper arrived. Carol asked Piper

1034
01:06:44.199 --> 01:06:46.440
where the gun was and she said she didn't know.

1035
01:06:47.320 --> 01:06:51.079
Then Piper asked if either Carol or Tina knew someone

1036
01:06:51.440 --> 01:06:55.679
who could change a hard drive. Piper also asked Carol

1037
01:06:55.760 --> 01:06:57.960
to get rid of the garbage bags in her garage

1038
01:06:58.400 --> 01:07:01.400
and to throw out the desk, top, tower and laptop.

1039
01:07:02.119 --> 01:07:07.119
Tina suggested Carol take her computer too. After she thought

1040
01:07:07.159 --> 01:07:11.400
things over, Carol started worrying. She ended up contacting a

1041
01:07:11.480 --> 01:07:15.880
lawyer who told her to give the evidence to the police. Instead,

1042
01:07:16.360 --> 01:07:20.599
she gave it all back to Piper. Carol later signed

1043
01:07:20.599 --> 01:07:26.159
an immunity agreement. As the investigation went on, Piper called

1044
01:07:26.199 --> 01:07:29.039
Detective Kelly a few times to see how it was going.

1045
01:07:29.639 --> 01:07:31.719
He thought Piper was feeling him out to see if

1046
01:07:31.719 --> 01:07:35.639
she was going to be arrested. Piper was right to worry.

1047
01:07:36.719 --> 01:07:39.639
The prosecution finally felt like they had enough to charge

1048
01:07:39.679 --> 01:07:42.559
Piper with two counts of unlawful use of a firearm

1049
01:07:43.119 --> 01:07:47.480
and first degree murder. They made plans to arrest her

1050
01:07:47.639 --> 01:07:50.400
as she left a custody hearing in Virginia on the

1051
01:07:50.440 --> 01:07:54.519
afternoon of November eighth. They also obtained an arrest warrant

1052
01:07:54.920 --> 01:07:59.400
for Tina for helping cover up the murder. On November eighth,

1053
01:08:00.039 --> 01:08:03.760
Raicho police headed to the Henroiko County Courthouse where Piper

1054
01:08:03.840 --> 01:08:07.440
was attending the custody hearing. The judge ruled that the

1055
01:08:07.519 --> 01:08:10.559
children would stay with their uncle and aunt until the

1056
01:08:10.599 --> 01:08:14.760
investigation into Fred's murder was over, then another hearing would

1057
01:08:14.760 --> 01:08:19.920
be ordered. After Piper left the courthouse, officers followed her

1058
01:08:20.319 --> 01:08:23.399
and then pulled her over at a stoplight. They boxed

1059
01:08:23.399 --> 01:08:27.520
her in with four cars. Piper was arrested and taken

1060
01:08:27.560 --> 01:08:31.239
back to the police station. Officers knew she wouldn't speak

1061
01:08:31.279 --> 01:08:34.520
to them, so they asked who her lawyer was. She

1062
01:08:34.680 --> 01:08:38.600
said her lawyer was Mary Janie, a high profile defense attorney.

1063
01:08:39.720 --> 01:08:42.880
Janice was called to the police station and Piper never

1064
01:08:42.960 --> 01:08:47.920
talked to the police again. Back in Houston, officers were

1065
01:08:47.960 --> 01:08:51.199
busy arresting Tina at her clinic. They brought her back

1066
01:08:51.239 --> 01:08:55.159
to the police station. They told her that if she

1067
01:08:55.279 --> 01:08:59.640
helped them, they might help her not lose her nursing license,

1068
01:09:00.079 --> 01:09:03.840
as well as help her avoid possible jail time. Tina

1069
01:09:03.880 --> 01:09:07.079
said she wanted to talk to an attorney. She refused

1070
01:09:07.119 --> 01:09:10.039
to talk to the police further and was later released

1071
01:09:10.039 --> 01:09:14.720
on bond. On November eleventh, a judge ruled that Piper

1072
01:09:15.079 --> 01:09:19.199
was not eligible for bond. While awaiting trial, she called

1073
01:09:19.239 --> 01:09:22.880
the kids from jail, but got no answer. She wrote

1074
01:09:22.880 --> 01:09:26.680
them letters instead. She wrote that the police had told

1075
01:09:26.720 --> 01:09:29.479
her she was cleared as a suspect, and she didn't

1076
01:09:29.560 --> 01:09:33.800
understand why she was still in jail. The children eventually

1077
01:09:33.800 --> 01:09:36.800
wrote their mother back and talked about their new lives.

1078
01:09:38.560 --> 01:09:42.439
Piper's trial began on February twenty second, two thousand and five.

1079
01:09:44.199 --> 01:09:47.600
The prosecution said Piper killed Fred so she could regain

1080
01:09:47.640 --> 01:09:51.399
custody of the kids, stop making child support payments, and

1081
01:09:51.479 --> 01:09:55.159
probably most importantly, get his two hundred thousand dollars life

1082
01:09:55.199 --> 01:10:00.399
insurance policy that she was still the beneficiary of. They

1083
01:10:00.439 --> 01:10:03.359
said that Piper planned the murder and then covered it up.

1084
01:10:04.880 --> 01:10:09.199
The following timeline is what the prosecution presented on October

1085
01:10:09.199 --> 01:10:13.039
twenty eighth, Piper arrived in Norfolk. She rented a van

1086
01:10:13.199 --> 01:10:16.840
using Tina's ID and utility bill, and then drove to Richmond.

1087
01:10:17.439 --> 01:10:20.920
She spent the next two nights in the hotel. On

1088
01:10:21.000 --> 01:10:24.399
the morning of the thirtieth, Piper drove to Fred's and

1089
01:10:24.479 --> 01:10:28.680
ambushed him in his driveway, shooting him to death as

1090
01:10:28.720 --> 01:10:33.479
their children slept just inside the house. Ninety minutes later,

1091
01:10:33.920 --> 01:10:36.600
she stopped for gas before she returned the van in

1092
01:10:36.680 --> 01:10:40.319
Norfolk just after nine a m. Then she flew back

1093
01:10:40.359 --> 01:10:45.439
to Houston. The defensive strategy was to plant reasonable doubt.

1094
01:10:46.079 --> 01:10:50.680
They suggested Tina was the guilty party, not Piper. No

1095
01:10:50.720 --> 01:10:53.640
one saw Piper pull the trigger, and there was no

1096
01:10:53.720 --> 01:10:57.600
forensic evidence tying her to the scene. No one could

1097
01:10:57.600 --> 01:11:01.319
say that the cell phone pings were made by Piper herself,

1098
01:11:01.880 --> 01:11:06.239
and everything was in Tina's name, not Piper's. Piper was

1099
01:11:06.279 --> 01:11:12.039
too smart to leave behind so many breadcrumbs. Piper testified

1100
01:11:12.239 --> 01:11:15.079
that she did not kill Fred. She also said that

1101
01:11:15.119 --> 01:11:18.880
she did not own a thirty eight, but Tina did. Also.

1102
01:11:19.479 --> 01:11:22.439
She said she didn't own any wigs, but Tina did,

1103
01:11:23.439 --> 01:11:28.439
and Tina used her cell phone all the time when

1104
01:11:28.560 --> 01:11:31.239
asked if she wanted the jury to believe Tina was

1105
01:11:31.279 --> 01:11:35.279
the murderer, Piper said she had no idea what happened.

1106
01:11:37.159 --> 01:11:40.760
On February twenty sixth, the jury deliberated for less than

1107
01:11:40.760 --> 01:11:44.399
an hour before finding Piper guilty a first degree murder

1108
01:11:44.720 --> 01:11:47.560
and use of a firearm during commission of a felony.

1109
01:11:49.600 --> 01:11:53.279
Piper cried when the verdict was read. According to her

1110
01:11:53.319 --> 01:11:58.119
friend Lonnie, she truly thought she was going to be acquitted. Next,

1111
01:11:58.600 --> 01:12:03.239
the jury needed to make a sentence recommendation to the judge.

1112
01:12:03.439 --> 01:12:07.800
They recommended the maximum life in prison. One jury member

1113
01:12:07.840 --> 01:12:10.840
said they decided quickly they didn't want Piper to come

1114
01:12:10.840 --> 01:12:13.680
back into the lives of her children. They were better

1115
01:12:13.760 --> 01:12:18.279
off without her. On May sixth, Piper was sentenced to

1116
01:12:18.359 --> 01:12:23.319
life in prison plus three years. In November two thousand

1117
01:12:23.359 --> 01:12:26.560
and five, Tina took a deal and pled guilty to

1118
01:12:26.600 --> 01:12:30.159
a misdemeanor charge of tampering with evidence. She was sentenced

1119
01:12:30.159 --> 01:12:34.279
to nine months deferred adjudication, a three hundred dollars fined,

1120
01:12:34.600 --> 01:12:38.680
and eighty hours of community service. She kept her license

1121
01:12:38.800 --> 01:12:45.479
and clinic. Piper later appealed her convictions and sentences, both

1122
01:12:45.560 --> 01:12:51.279
of which were affirmed today. Piper and Rowntree is incarcerated

1123
01:12:51.319 --> 01:12:56.039
at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Virginia, where

1124
01:12:56.199 --> 01:13:00.479
she has been extremely litigious, suing her warden and other

1125
01:13:00.560 --> 01:13:05.520
prison workers for various offenses, including supposedly being deprived of

1126
01:13:05.520 --> 01:13:11.439
her bible. Tina, always protective of her baby sister, actually

1127
01:13:11.479 --> 01:13:16.199
told reporters in twenty fourteen, after one lawsuit that prison

1128
01:13:16.239 --> 01:13:19.239
officials were scared of Piper because she used to be

1129
01:13:19.279 --> 01:13:24.399
a prosecutor in Texas. Tina neglected to mention that Piper

1130
01:13:24.439 --> 01:13:28.319
had been fired after one year with the Die's office.

1131
01:13:28.600 --> 01:13:33.039
I swear these two hair brained criminals would be hilarious

1132
01:13:33.560 --> 01:13:35.800
if we were not talking about the brutal murder of

1133
01:13:35.880 --> 01:13:41.239
Fred Jablin, father of three. You don't see many mentions

1134
01:13:41.319 --> 01:13:45.600
of the Jablin kids in these more recent articles, thank God.

1135
01:13:46.199 --> 01:13:49.399
From what I can tell, they are all flourishing adults

1136
01:13:49.560 --> 01:13:55.239
with different careers around the country. Hopefully, as adults, they

1137
01:13:55.279 --> 01:13:58.720
moved on with their lives and are not saddled themselves

1138
01:13:59.039 --> 01:14:02.560
with the burden of maintaining a relationship with their mother

1139
01:14:02.640 --> 01:14:07.680
in prison, not after what she did to them. When

1140
01:14:07.720 --> 01:14:13.000
Piper was convicted, her high profile attorney Murray Janis, announced

1141
01:14:13.239 --> 01:14:16.039
that he would not be representing her in any appeals

1142
01:14:16.520 --> 01:14:21.079
and asked the court to appoint a public defender. Virginia

1143
01:14:21.119 --> 01:14:24.720
has some different laws regarding parole, specifically that once a

1144
01:14:24.720 --> 01:14:28.960
prisoner turned sixty or has served fifteen years, that could apply.

1145
01:14:30.479 --> 01:14:33.039
Janis told the press at the time of her conviction

1146
01:14:33.560 --> 01:14:36.279
that he didn't believe any parole board would let Piper

1147
01:14:36.399 --> 01:14:42.439
Rowntree out. He was right. She is exactly where she belongs.

1148
01:14:43.720 --> 01:14:46.720
Piper's first chance at parole was in twenty twenty, when

1149
01:14:46.720 --> 01:14:50.600
she was sixty, but it was denied. The reasons given

1150
01:14:50.640 --> 01:14:53.079
were that her release would diminish the seriousness of the

1151
01:14:53.119 --> 01:14:57.000
crime and the serious nature and circumstances of the offense.

1152
01:14:57.720 --> 01:15:01.119
Her next chance at parole will be into twenty thirty three,

1153
01:15:01.600 --> 01:15:05.399
when she is seventy three years old. This is the

1154
01:15:05.439 --> 01:15:09.079
part of the episode where I usually wonder about the why,

1155
01:15:10.079 --> 01:15:14.319
but we know why Piper did it. Sure Fred's life

1156
01:15:14.319 --> 01:15:18.039
insurance policy would obviously be a motive for a woman

1157
01:15:18.319 --> 01:15:22.520
who hemorrhaged money the way she did, although I seriously

1158
01:15:22.640 --> 01:15:26.039
doubt two hundred thousand would have even lasted a year

1159
01:15:26.079 --> 01:15:31.119
in her hands. But I think it's painfully obvious Piper's

1160
01:15:31.159 --> 01:15:35.079
motive was really revenge. She was furious she had lost

1161
01:15:35.079 --> 01:15:38.960
to Fred. I don't even think she wanted custody of

1162
01:15:38.960 --> 01:15:43.119
her children in any real sense of that concept. She

1163
01:15:43.159 --> 01:15:46.840
had never been a real mother to them. I will

1164
01:15:46.880 --> 01:15:51.399
say it is obvious she suffered from depression, and especially

1165
01:15:51.760 --> 01:15:57.119
postpartum depression, and that is truly sad. But there is

1166
01:15:57.159 --> 01:16:00.000
a quote I've seen floating around the last few years

1167
01:16:00.159 --> 01:16:04.920
that I feel strongly applies to Piper Rowntree. Your mental

1168
01:16:04.960 --> 01:16:10.199
illness is not your fault, but it is your responsibility.

1169
01:16:10.640 --> 01:16:13.399
It's a quote thrown around more and more as we

1170
01:16:13.479 --> 01:16:17.479
speak more openly about mental health issues, but it is

1171
01:16:17.520 --> 01:16:23.760
also true legally, both criminally and in civil suits. Piper

1172
01:16:23.840 --> 01:16:28.920
saw any number of therapists, including psychiatrists, over the years,

1173
01:16:29.439 --> 01:16:33.039
and her victim went to couples counseling faithfully with her.

1174
01:16:34.000 --> 01:16:38.079
He supported her, He wanted her to get better. She

1175
01:16:38.159 --> 01:16:41.520
had much more support and help than many people get

1176
01:16:41.520 --> 01:16:46.359
for their mental health struggles. Piper knew what she was doing,

1177
01:16:47.039 --> 01:16:51.279
she knew right from wrong. She hurt her children, often

1178
01:16:51.359 --> 01:16:56.039
neglecting them for her own selfishness. She was a hateful

1179
01:16:56.520 --> 01:17:03.439
spiteful woman, and she is a cold blooded murderer. Fred

1180
01:17:03.520 --> 01:17:07.520
Jablin was the epitome of a nice guy. He had

1181
01:17:07.560 --> 01:17:12.720
truly loved his wife, despite how emotionally abusive, not to

1182
01:17:12.800 --> 01:17:17.880
mention financially abusive she was to him. Even after all

1183
01:17:17.960 --> 01:17:22.159
she did to him and said about him and humiliated him,

1184
01:17:22.720 --> 01:17:27.760
Fred always remained civil and friendly to his ex wife.

1185
01:17:27.800 --> 01:17:31.920
He went above and beyond in communicating with her about

1186
01:17:31.960 --> 01:17:36.079
their children. He always tried to do the right thing.

1187
01:17:37.920 --> 01:17:41.399
Fred just wanted peace. He wanted to make sure his

1188
01:17:41.560 --> 01:17:44.960
children were safe, and he wanted to move on with

1189
01:17:45.039 --> 01:17:48.960
his life with a woman he cared about and one

1190
01:17:49.039 --> 01:17:53.560
who finally cared about his feelings and treated him with

1191
01:17:53.640 --> 01:17:58.640
love and respect. Instead, he was brutally shot down by

1192
01:17:58.640 --> 01:18:02.720
his ex wife in his own driveway as their children

1193
01:18:02.880 --> 01:18:10.720
were sleeping inside his house. Southern Fraud True Crime is

1194
01:18:10.720 --> 01:18:14.479
hosted and produced by me Erica Kelly. Today's episode was

1195
01:18:14.520 --> 01:18:19.119
researched and written by Hailey Gray. As always, editorial opinions

1196
01:18:19.199 --> 01:18:23.720
are all mine, especially my closing and especially any sarcasm.

1197
01:18:24.119 --> 01:18:26.479
Southern Fred's original music is by Rob Harrison of gamer

1198
01:18:26.560 --> 01:18:29.279
Radio and the original graphic artist by Coly Horner If

1199
01:18:29.319 --> 01:18:32.119
you have any case suggestions, please go to my website

1200
01:18:32.199 --> 01:18:34.640
and click on the listener's suggestion tab. This is the

1201
01:18:34.640 --> 01:18:36.439
best way for me to get to those little known

1202
01:18:36.479 --> 01:18:39.119
cases y'all always send me. Please remember that I do

1203
01:18:39.199 --> 01:18:42.359
not accept suggestions on social media private messages. With three

1204
01:18:42.399 --> 01:18:45.199
platforms to manage, that is very overwhelming for me. I

1205
01:18:45.239 --> 01:18:49.199
hope you understand, but please come join our Facebook group

1206
01:18:49.479 --> 01:18:53.159
Southern Freud True Crime Fans discussion group where we swap recipes,

1207
01:18:53.479 --> 01:18:56.960
worship Dolly Parton, and share memes. I much prefer spending

1208
01:18:56.960 --> 01:19:00.680
my social media time and our lovely group, of course

1209
01:19:00.720 --> 01:19:04.239
discuss true crime, not just Southern fried but all kinds.

1210
01:19:04.520 --> 01:19:07.279
But it is still very much a Southern lifestyle group.

1211
01:19:07.720 --> 01:19:10.399
Our group is a safe and fun corner of Facebook,

1212
01:19:10.640 --> 01:19:12.319
and by god, we mean it when we say no

1213
01:19:12.399 --> 01:19:15.159
shit ass is allowed. It's not just a motto, it's

1214
01:19:15.159 --> 01:19:18.199
how we run the group. If you enjoy today's show,

1215
01:19:18.560 --> 01:19:21.439
please don't forget to subscribe and tell a friend, or

1216
01:19:21.560 --> 01:19:24.800
rate and review on iTunes. I'm also on all large

1217
01:19:24.840 --> 01:19:29.159
platforms like aheart, Stitcher, Spotify and now Amazon and Audible.

1218
01:19:29.880 --> 01:19:33.960
Until next time, thanks so much for listening, y'all. Take

1219
01:19:34.000 --> 01:19:34.279
care