Episode 224 - Do We Still Get to See the Birds?

Think Hawaii is all pristine beaches and postcard-perfect sunsets? Think again. This week, we’re swapping our beach towels for crime scene tape as we dive headfirst into the dark underbelly of the Aloha State. From high-stakes island syndicates to mysteries buried deep beneath the volcanic soil, we’re proving that even paradise has a body count. Pack your sunscreen—and your skepticism—because it’s about to get shady in the sun.

Research links below!

SFGate - "The FBI warned Hawaii serial killers were coming. Then one struck."
Serial Killer Calendar - "Murders in Paradise"
PBS Hawai'i - "The Honolulu Strangler with Robbie Dingeman"
Medium - "The Honolulu Strangler"
Ke Alaka'i - "The tragic deaths of five women and an escaped murderer known as the 'Honolulu Strangler'"

Hawaii News Now - "20 years ago, a killer shattered the morning calm and changed Hawaii forever"
khon2 - "Xerox Murders"
Star Bulletin - "Carlisle: Uyesugi was in control"
Star Bulletin - "Grand jury indicts Uyesugi for first-degree murder"
Star Bulletin - "7 dead in Nimitz Hwy. Xerox shooting"
Star Bulletin - "Uyesugi's father, brother tell of torment in his head"
State of Hawaii vs. Byrab Uyesugi

Speaker 1: Hm why upon their arrivals unspeakable, I'm not doing they

did want bother me.

Speaker 2: It's the living.

Speaker 1: You gotta worry about.

Speaker 2: Something.

Speaker 1: If I couldn't keep them there with me whole, at

least I felt that I could keep their skeletons.

Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the Bad Taste Crime Podcast. I'm Rachel.

I'm Vicky. I always almost say I'm Vicky. Why because

you're not me? Because I'm an audio learner, and so

my brain's like, Hi, I'm Vicky. Welcome to the Bad

Taste Crime Podcast. Okay, I'm you. I'm you from the

future me. You don't want to be me. You make

more money than me.

Speaker 3: You don't hear say home U right, Okay, you're not

technically wrong.

Speaker 2: You're not technically wrong. The best way to not be

wrong don't have kids, right yourself. You have a venus

fly trap. That's cool. How's it doing good? It has

a bloom right now. I'm hoping to get some seeds

out of it so I can propagate a couple other

plants and see if I can get anything else to

rows that I can gift some venus fly traps.

Speaker 1: Way.

Speaker 2: Wow, we'll see.

Speaker 3: We'll see how it goes nice, but no, it's thriving

right now, the perfect thank you. Yes, all of my children,

my plant children are.

Speaker 2: Doing real well.

Speaker 3: This is the perfect season for them, I think, just

especially in the last couple of days too, because it's

been warm enough to have.

Speaker 2: The windows open.

Speaker 3: So yeah, I've been getting like the fresh air from outside. Yeah,

I think all of my plants are like a lot

happier in the last two weeks.

Speaker 2: Catch flies to feed to it or do you just

water it or like what.

Speaker 3: So plant chat? Yeah, okay, so the it's kind of

a murdery plant.

Speaker 2: It is.

Speaker 3: Their primary method of getting food is through the soil.

So you don't have to actually feed the plant, okay,

like flies or bugs or anything. You don't have to.

The problem is you can, but you're not supposed to

do it's super super often.

Speaker 2: Because it'll get a taste for blood and kill you. Right, yeah,

that's what it is.

Speaker 3: You'll get too big like aundrey to and you know,

so you don't have to do that. The problem is

specifically with venus fly traps because of the way the

plant works that the hairs on the inside get stimulated. Yes,

so you actually if you are going to feed it bugs.

Speaker 2: They have to be live. They have to be alive

because they have to wiggle around and in order to

continue to stimulate the hairs because that's actually what produces

the enzyme for it to digest. So you can't use

like dead or like dead flies or whatever. Yeah, so

that's kind of problematic, Like.

Speaker 3: How do you I mean of these like crickets or something,

but like they have to be My plant is not

like a huge thing, like the buds on it are

not like huge, So like I can't use like crickets

and stuff because they'd be too big for it has

to be able to close around it compa.

Speaker 2: So I don't vegetarians. I keep that and the picture

plant that I have for the spring. In the fall,

when I have the windows open, I tend to keep

herb nice what do you call it a rail plant

or what. I will do that in the spring and summertime,

so like when I'm opening the screen door to water

the herb planter, like sometimes like flies and stuff will

get in. So that is why I have them. Right,

has it been super effective? I don't know, but it's

probably not. There is there?

Speaker 1: Uh?

Speaker 2: Yeah?

Speaker 3: And they've been doing really well they're in a really

sunny part of my sunny pictures.

Speaker 2: But the thing is you can't water them from the top.

You have to water them from the bottom.

Speaker 3: So because they don't like to be the venus fly

traps specifically does not like to be watered from the top,

like and stuff, they don't like to be wet.

Speaker 2: You have to water them from the bottom. And in

like standing World in the picture plant you leave and

standing water, but you you have to water it from

the top because the water or mist that like simulates

water or simulates rain, is what allows liquid to pool

in the pictures, which is what allows those to digest.

So interesting anyway, I love that. This is what I

did in my time.

Speaker 3: My dad and I have gotten very into like carnivorous plant,

very cute keepings. I love that anyway. All right, if

this is your first time listening to you, I promise

the show is not about plants.

Speaker 2: It is I just went on a big plant ramp.

It's going to be this the whole time. This is

what I do. I'm not allowed to have pets in

my apartment, so she has played so I have plants

except me occasionally. Yeah, and Tiffy Wanni sometimes I think

I'm the pet out of everybody. Yeah, everybody is my pet.

I need a while. We are gonna head over to

the newsroom. That God sucks.

Speaker 1: Food watching.

Speaker 2: Today we had fifty.

Speaker 3: So our news this week is more legal. Okay, I'm

gonna say so. It's from AP in.

Speaker 2: Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, the hospital that they own in Orlando, Florida.

Is they have a patient who is staying in room

three seventy three who is refusing to leave, and they

have now sued them to get them to leave. So

they're like squatting us squatters, writes Thisspit in the hospital.

That's insane. They say that the woman who was there,

she was into the hospital for medical treatment. She was

issued a formal discharge order on October sixth, it is

now march as Oh my god. They say they've made

multiple efforts to like coordinate her leaving, getting people to

come pick her up, places to go, whatever else, and

she is refusing to leave. Oh my god. So they there's.

Speaker 3: Not much about it because it's an active loss. They

have filed to force her to leave. That's crazy. We'll

get out of there.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so awkward, Like that's actually like I'm thinking,

I'm like, today crazy. Do they give her meals? Right?

Do they do they go in and like clean the room?

You know? Are they like? How are you feeling? You

need to tilan all? What's going on?

Speaker 1: Girl? What?

Speaker 2: Get out of there?

Speaker 1: Well?

Speaker 2: And I do find it interesting because most hospitals have security.

Now that's listen. I'm very like, let's resolve this peacefully.

But if she won't leave, pick her up and put

her outside like an insolent cat. You we do that outside.

I mean they do that with people who don't have insurance, right.

So I'm confused. Not that I'm necessarily advocating. I don't

know the situation whatever, but like, how come you guys

can kick other people out but not this lady? This

seems very strange to me. Right, that's weird, very weird.

Speaker 3: We're gonna move on to Netflix and kill This week

we're talking about an old one and this is from

twenty twenty two. Oh my god, watching it ancient the

real bling rang Hollywood?

Speaker 2: Heis this case is so? It is? It really is.

I used to watch the video from that where she

calls the reporter who wrote the article about her in

court yeah, and his like new son, I was wearing

six inch loumatized when I was wearing my little brown

Beamie shoes. Yeah, thirteen dollars. Every time you fucking yell,

I have to re record it. Oh yeah, amazing. Yeah

for the Lexus tyres.

Speaker 3: For those that don't know, the Bling Ring refers to

this group of friends from It was sevent teenagers and

adults who broke into the homes of celebrities and h

high profile people from two thousand and eight to two

thousand and nine, stealing lots of money and jewelry and clothes.

Speaker 2: And was it one of them, like Rihanna like crazy? Yeah.

This is not a news story. This is not a

new jacumentary. I just didn't get around to watching it

until recently. It's so funny.

Speaker 3: It's really interesting because they do have like the teens.

I mean, obviously now they're adults, but the teens that

committed these crimes are all interviewed for the most part

in this documentary. Bonus.

Speaker 2: The guy who is alleged to be the leader of

this group of the was also recently featured on one

of my new favorite series, The Curious Case of On

the episode with Don Delouise. Oh, that's because he's wrapped

up in the Domsteloise.

Speaker 3: Like alleged murder for higher situation. Of course, he's all

wrapped up in that. So he like reappears now in

twenty twenty six, this other documentary series about the Yeah,

that takes place after the all the bling Ering stuff,

and because he's like out on probation.

Speaker 2: I think we're all like so addicted to fame. Like

the thing I was just laughing about if you were like,

what the hell was Rachel just talking about one of

the girls from the Bling Ring, Like her and her

sister were both like part of this like thievery ring.

After when this was all going on, somehow they got

a reality show her and her sister because they had

this crazy It was a show called Pretty Wild. Yes,

I watched all of it. It was so bad, and

they're like clearly the most insane people, Yeah, that I've

ever seen. Like, yeah, what the thing I was talking

about was she had gone to trial, like very serious, Like, girl,

you could go to jail for a long time. You

cannot seal from Rihanna. She is too perfect from her

fine and she's no, no, no, you're good I'm interrupting you.

But she read there's like an article in like Vogue

or something about with the trial, and she's so excited

about this article being in Vogue. But I'm like, it's

about you stealing, Like this is not a good thing.

Speaker 1: Girl.

Speaker 2: But she's like, oh my god, I'm in Vogue magazine.

I'm famous. But when she reads the article, the lady

who wrote it had written not even like like that

she had written sealacious things about her, which she had

because she's character, but she said ron things about my outfit.

So she calls her and gets her voicemail and calls

her like eight hundred fucking times, screaming at her about

how like you got my shoes wrong, which also very

Anna Delby, very Anna Delby. I'm actually surprised they're not

like roommates or something, so I know.

Speaker 3: So they stole from people like Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom,

Lindsay Lohan, Brian Austin Green and his then girlfriend Megan Fox,

among many others.

Speaker 2: Crazy and they were not quiet about it. They were

all taking pictures with the stuff and might so about it. Yes,

selling the people's cars at the same time, Yeah, going

for joy rides.

Speaker 3: Yep, it's crazy, really crazy. Sorry, this is I think

one of the better accounts of it. And it's also

very interesting because this is like seven people who are

like pointing the fingers at each other.

Speaker 2: But it's like you, we're all in the pictures. I

saw you, not necessarily saying I didn't do it, but

like none roped into it. It was like my idea,

it was this person. So I just turned up there.

I was really drunk.

Speaker 3: So definitely I would say check it out if you

haven't already, I'm probably late to the game, you guys.

Speaker 2: And you should probably not check out the movie they

made with like Emma Watson. I heard it was not

doing the worst American. I love me some Memma Watson.

She cannot do an American accent. She just needs to

accept it. Same thing with Rupert Grint. Yes, sounds so weird.

As Daniel Radcliffe is great. Daniel Radcliffe has mastered it.

He's in that new series with No what is Here's

a show that he's in crazy No not for real?

He's married, No, no, no, I know, but I'm saying a

show he's in its currently that just started. I don't know,

the one with Tracy Morgan. I don't know, but like

she's in it, I think as just like a side character.

But it's really funny because it's like nerdy white Daniel

Red character and he's like, yeah, I'm banging like the

like the male lady and it's Megan the Stallion being

like the hottest post office worker ever and they like

bang in the back of her truck. It's so good.

Speaker 3: No, he's in this show with It might be the

same show, but it's a Tracy Morgan where he's like

a documentary.

Speaker 2: It did seem documentary, like like a mockumentary, yeah type

of thing.

Speaker 3: It looks really funny anyway, total aside, totalist. If you

want to see you should check this out.

Speaker 2: It's called The Real Bling Ring. It's a Clolleywood heist. Worth,

I mean worth. It's fun. It's so fun. Please watch it.

It's if you want to watch a bunch of really

stupid people committing crimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're in for

a ride.

Speaker 3: This is that part of the show where you say

content may not be appropriate for all listeners talking about.

Speaker 2: Some murder again. I'm gonna definitely talk about a little

bit of sexual assault, a little bit of like kidnappy

kind of stuff. What are you talking about this week, Rachel? Well,

first I'll say Aloha Aloha, and welcome to a very

tropical episode of Bad Taste, where this week we are

covering Hawaiian murders. Yes, so before we start, I want

to briefly send the island of a Laho are best

wishes as the island and her people are currently experiencing

horrific flooding. Oh have you seen that on the news

or anything at all? A little bit? It is vastly underreported. Yeah,

hugely under It's one of those things where like I'll

be on Instagram reels and I'm like, oh my god,

a car underwater? What the hell is that. I'm like,

oh my god, I haven't heard anything about that, and

people in the comments are like, I haven't heard anything.

Speaker 3: I do tend to hear stuff out of Hawaii a

little bit more because my cousin lived there for a

very long time and her husband and she still worked

for our company in Hawaiian so she's very connected to that.

And Okay, we have a mutual friend who is from Hawaii,

right right, right, we do.

Speaker 2: But yeah, so I do hear sometimes like okay, a

little bit, a little bit more. Yeah, there was a

terrible storm there in Oahu and it has led to

mass evacuations and so far this was like an article

from like two days ago about a billion in property damage.

No deaths have been reported yet, but I really wouldn't

be surprised. It's pretty horrific. The situation looks very scary.

So I'll put a link in the show notes if

you guys want to learn more about it. But if

anyone or their loved ones are from the area and

are affected, we love you and you're in our thoughts. Yes,

I hope everything dries up down there because it looks crazy. Yes,

so sorry to Yeah, love you. Have you ever been

to Hawaii? I have not, dude.

Speaker 3: Okay, So Rachel and I, this mutual friend of ours,

just had a big birthday and for her birth for

her birthday, this was so we went to see this

tiki bar and displains whose name I forget, Yeah, I forgot.

But it's basically a dinner and a show type of thing.

It completely themed out. Hey, they have a full like

hula show, yeah, of different dances from the different islands.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and there was like history too, yeah, it was cool. Okay.

So at the beginning of the show, we have the

way this place is set up is there's like it's

like a restaurant. So there's a spot that's kind of

fenced off in the middle, in a direct middle in

front of the stage that you can like rent out

for parties and stuff. That's where we were, and then

there's like the rest of the area with a regular tables.

So at the very start of the show, we're all

sitting there watching the show, and the guy goes, how

many of you have been to Hawaii? And like everyone

in our section raised their hands except for me, and

I look to my right and I looked over to

my left, and our friend Katie, who was there, went

oh VICKI and I was like, I was like, oh man,

we have a poor poor in our midst We sorry, guys,

we just go over and like take your layoff. It

was literally the only one who was like, nope, never

been there. When I was real bad man, Yeah that's

not a good feeling. I have gone. I went to Maui.

I was like sixteen, okay, and I am not wealthy

nor my family, but we have a wealthy uncle. He

worked in like finance. He did a lot of stuff

with like coins, and his boss was like a kajillionaire

and had a beach front Maui villa, and he was like, hey,

I don't go there like ever, so if you want to,

like bring your family and stuff, we'll just like pay

for everything. It was just like crazy. We were so poor.

Like me and my brother laugh about it all the

time because it's it was this insane I've been to

many a vacation villa legitimately got lost, Yeah, could not

find it was huge, huge mongus feather mattresses. Like the

most luxurious place I've ever been in my life. It

doesn't happen every day. Oh, it was crazy and like

we've never been to Hawaii. We've never been like outside

of the city. It was wild and you could see

the ocean like right from super beach front, Like we

just walked down a little path and you were there.

But when we had gotten there the first day, it

was like almost nighttime, so we were like, well, we

can't go to the beach now, but they had Me

and my brother were like, they have a pool. This

is great. They have a pool in the front yard.

So immediately we were like We're going in this in

this pool, swimming around the next day because this was

so fancy. They were like maids who came. We were like,

please don't clean things, we will clean it. We are

not rich. But they came and one of the people

told our parents like, that's just like a decorative. It's

just it's not for swimming at all. Oh, it's like

not for that. So all of these rich people around

were like, look at these fucking poor people playing swimming

out fountain. And you know what, we continued to swim

in it. Fair. It was so fun. It had a waterfall. Yeah,

why am I gonna not swim in it? Right? I

don't care how poor? That's you love that. But I

didn't get to go because I was rich. I got

to go because my uncle was rich. That was Sometimes

all you need is too Yep, you need connects, You

need those connections. Yes, that was really fun. The other night,

the tiki night was really really fun. Ye, drinks were

really good. Hangover, I felt so bad yesterday, I'm all

so bad. Yes, fall worse, terrible, But they were deliciously.

I was slucking them down, girl, bringing me extras that

hearing it for anyway, let's get it out.

Speaker 3: Let's get out of the show. We're very y happy today.

We're happy. No, not yeappy?

Speaker 2: Oh yeah, y happy with I am a happy thing.

We are happy, but we're yeah. So obviously I had

Hawaii on the brain. So I'm sure that even though

I didn't like think about it at the time, I'm

sure that's why I picked this topic. Like we were

in the parking lot and you were like, oh, Hawaii murders.

I'm like, oh, yeah, we silly. So of course, being

the weirdo that I am, I began to wonder about

the true crime aspect of the area, and in my

research I happened upon this very sadly still unsolved string

of murders that really captured my attention. Will be going

into the nitty gritty of these terrible and thoughtless crimes,

asking question who was the Honolulu strangler? Okay, I think

I know who he is, but you know, officially we

don't know. Okay, let's begin. The year was nineteen eighty five.

The scene the island of Oahu in the city of Waikiki,

which is a neighborhood in Honolulu. Now, Waikiki is a

major tourist destination. Right, if you're going to travel to

wh Wahu, you're probably going to Waikiki. There was like

crazy beaches, there's a lot of shopping, there's a palace,

there's a whole palace. There's Pearl Harbor. If you want

a little bit of history, which I always do. Sure,

but it was like a pretty touristy to this day

is still a pretty touristy place. So it's it was

definitely a place where like like I guess, like kind

of like a ritzier area. So it was surprising when

these crimes started happening. It's definitely one of those I'm

sure every documentary would be like, how could it happen here?

Where it's a girl? It happens everywhere, right, you know

what I mean, You're not special. I'm trying to think

of like like like an equivalent, like maybe like a

maybe a little nicer than like Venice Beach right where

it's like there's a serial killer. Yeah here for a

why But I don't know enough about Venice speech. So

we're gonna straight go right into the first victim. Okay,

so in Waikiki, this is the first victim. Her name

was Vicky oh No Vicky Purdy with an I R

O I I of course, uh huh, of course. She

was twenty five. She had been born what they say,

in Hawaii on the mainland, which is like the rest

of the United States, but had always dreamed of living

in Hawaii. Okay, so she moved out there, ended up

getting married. She started working at just a regular video store, Okay.

So she was kind of like adjusting to the lifestyle,

which they do say a lot of like Mainlanders have

trouble adjusting to Hawaii. Yeah. Both, the lifestyle is very different.

It's different living on an island. A lot of the

like shopping and stuff, they operate differently, and because not

it is a beautiful and fun place. But I think

a lot of like Mainland or Americans are like, there

is no crime there ever, and it is a lovely place.

I'm like, no, we brought the crime there. Yeah, there

is crime there. Yeah.

Speaker 3: And there's just I mean, they just have a different

attitude about how you go about day to day.

Speaker 2: Yeah, things, everything's on Hawaiian time. Yeah, and it's very

I mean there's also like a huge racial divide. That's

a big adjustment. I'm being very good this episode because

I feel very strongly about a lot of things politically

in Hawaii, and I'm being very quiet, Okay, I'm being

so we won't go there and well behaved. We have

talked about it on the show before. I actually did

an episode about command mayhaw Oh yeah, yeah, like kind

of the overthrow of the Hawaiian government and still hang

them and yeah, anyway, so we've talked about it on

the show before, So you don't. You don't have to

do it today. I'd like to, I know, but we won't.

We won't, we won't. So so on May twenty ninth,

nineteen eighty four, this woman, Vicki Purty, had been out

with her friends having a good time. She was last

seen that night at midnight by a taxi driver who

drove her back to her car. Okay, like they'd gone

out and partied, had dinner, drink and then he had

driven her back to her car, and that was the

last time that she was ever seen okay, And she

was supposed to be home at like nine, so her

husband was up obviously waiting for her. Oh and she

just never got home. So he went to he knew

where she had parked her car okay, because he's like,

the taxi's going to bring you back. This is the

eighty So of course no cell phones. But the plan

was we're gonna go out, I'm gonna park here, taxi

driver is gonna bring me back to my car. Yeah.

I think it was very cool and smart of her

to tell him this is where my car is. Yeah, definitely,

because when he went the car was still parked there,

so he killed the taxi driver had let her out

of her car, the car had never moved right and

when he was looking at the car because he was like,

maybe I can see like if she like dropped her

keys or clue, he found a big dent in the

side of it that had not been there before. Okay,

so they he reported her missing. Was obviously freaking out. Unfortunately,

later that day, the Honolulu Police Department received a phone

call reporting a body in one of the nearby lagoons,

the Kihi Lagoon, and it was confirmed as her as

Vicky Perty. She was in the same clothes and had

been viciously beaten. Oh gosh, So this was obviously super crazy.

Received a lot of press, but they were unable to

proceed from that point forward. They just kind of were

like we don't really know what to do, so the

case went pretty cold. This was in May nineteen eighty four.

January fourteenth, nineteen eighty six, we find the body of

the second victim. This is Regina Sacramono. Gina was only seventeen.

This is a really it's all sad. Yeah, this is

young women and this first detail is as soon as

I read it, I was like, oh, no, she went

missing after her last like confirmed by anyone was her boyfriend.

She had called her boyfriend and told him I overslept

and I'm going to be late for school. I missed

the bus, so I have to take the city bus.

They have a lot of bus trip right, so it's

like that's not super abnormal, but gosh it, I overslept.

I have to catch the bus. So she was seen

waiting at the bus stop, not seen getting onto the bus,

and then was never seen again. They alive, so they

thought that like she had gone to school. Her boyfriend

was like, yeah, of course I'm not going to hear

from her because she's in you know, arithmetic. But that night,

when she didn't come home, her parents reported her missing,

and then her body would be found in the same

lagoon that Vicki had been found.

Speaker 3: In oh like a revisiting revisiting.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Yes, so it was said to be like less than

a mile from where she had been found, but it

was in the scene, okay, and she had also been

viciously beaten. Yeah. At this point the police were like, Okay,

this is like too coincidental. We think that we might

be dealing with like a repeat offender. I don't think

at this point they were really using the words serial killer,

but they were kind of like, all right, like something's

going something's going on. Yeah, they're starting to see a pattern, right.

Two weeks later, they find the next victim is Denise Hughes.

She was twenty one Okay. She had lived pretty nearby

in a place called Pearl City, which I think is

so cute, with her husband and another common denominator. She

took the bus to work every day. Yeah. One day

there was kind of like a strange thing. This is like,

this case is so weird because they just don't really

know where she would kind of go at the same time, right,

go to the bus step at the same time that day,

it seemed like she was there a little early, which

was kind of abnormal for her. Yeah, she was seen

at the bus stop, but then never seen alive again.

It was so weird. Unfortunately, her body was found not

in the lagoon, but in a drainage canal for the

lagoon very nearby by teenagers, a group of teenagers. I

always feel so horrible for anybody that has to find

a body, but like, especially when they're young. Yeah, like

it's just a traumatizing shit, right, that's horrible. Yeah, like

a cute little canal. They're probably going surfing and they

find a body and not even just like a like

oh somebody just drowned, but somebody who's been viciously beaten

and left it. That's so so horrible, right, So at

this point when they find her, they're like, all right,

it is time to make a task force. Yeah, so

they I was surprised they wouldn't have like uped patrols

around this lagoon. That's surprising to me. Earlier you would

think so maybe maybe too not enough, who knows, I

don't know to not. I mean it's the eighties. Don't

want to raise suspicion, right because again this is a

big tourist area. Yeah, yeah, there is a thing. These

women were of different ethnic backgrounds too, Like a lot

of them didn't really look alike. Yeah, but they were

all like pretty much of the same age and from

the same area. But since this is a big touristy area,

I'm gonna take my suspicious mind and just kind of

assumed that they were like, we don't want hot girls

to not come here. Yeah, it's fine, we'll find him.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: But then they did it. So they called the FBI

and were like, help us make a task for uce

and they said, okay, So the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit

made a profile of the killer. At the time, they

believed that he was a thirties to forties white man

who was quote opportunity mystic, but organized killer. Because he

left very little evidence he most likely works or resides

in the area. Yeah, but again, this is why Kiki

a very populous area. Like it's kind of like, okay,

I understand the profile, but could you give us a

little bit fucking I mean, but what do they have

to go away? I know, but I'm like, all right, yeah,

I think what they had available that all sounds possible.

It's it's like, so it could be anyone. Seven weeks

after the third victim, Hughes's body was found. They unfortunately

found the body of twenty four year old Louise Maderos.

She had been three months pregnant. I know she had

been visiting family in Kauhai and was going to so

she had just come from the airport and she wanted

to go. She had just gone on this trip, this

vacation to another island. Yeah, and was like, okay, I'm

going to catch a bus to my boyfriend's apartment. Okay.

So she was last seen at the Honolulu Airport bus stop.

And when she didn't arrive home, I think it was

within the next like day or two. They may have

waited a day. I think I read that they waited

an extra day to report, but not like suspiciously, like

she had just come on this trip. It's the eighties,

so who knows if she was able to call and look,

she'd be coming, right, that's all like, right, I don't

think anything with the Famili's ever happened. Sure, So she

was found in a little bit of a different place.

This was still in Waikiki. But I think the killer

had been like, I better not leave my bodies in

that lagoon anymore. Yeah, getting suspicious. So she was found

by like construction workers under a freeway overpass near the

same area, again badly beaten. At this point, the police

were like panicking because they had exactly zero leads, literally

nothing to go on at this point. Now they were

saying women, be very careful at the bus stop. They

were starting to say like, maybe you know, go with

a buddy. Yeah, the buddy system be on high alert,

and they were within the next coming weeks. They were

kind of like, maybe don't take the bus a void

public transportation cry like, girl, how am I going to

get to I know, I know? Like what do you

want me to do? This leads very unhelpful. This is

like get your cruiser and drive me to work? What

do you want me to do? What do you want

me to do? One escort for every lady right, line

them up? Please, God damn it. So this brings us

to the fifth victim. Okay, she's a little bit older,

Linda Push. She was thirty six. She had moved from

the mainland to Hawaii. She had gotten married, had a daughter.

She ended up getting divorced, was raising her daughter as

like a badass single mom. All of the articles say

that she was like a tough cookie. Okay, like she

was kind of the girl who would always say that

will never happen to me, was like, I'm going to

like kick their asses. She was super tough. I feel

like we would have been pals. So she was raising

her daughter, she was living with like a female roommate,

like one of her friends, and she was the one

who would end up reporting her missing when she didn't

come home on April twenty ninth, nineteen eighty six. So

this is kind of like escalating, you know. They couldn't

figure out where she was. They couldn't find her for

like a number of days until the police found her

car on the side of a popular highway near waiki Ki,

which was the Nimitz Highway. Okay, it had been broken

down on the side of the road. So they were

like a very common thing this is the eighties, is

you pull over on the side of the road. And

she could have walked to guess where at the bus stop?

Oh no. There were witnesses at the time, because now

it's like, okay, this is a big highway, we can

gather information. And witnesses reported seeing quote a light colored

van nearby which was not her car, and a possibly

Caucasian man near her car. Okay, Well, I mean that's

like the first time that anybody, anybody's witnessed with right,

And it's like and even in that, it's like it

could have been somebody called a good Samaritan. She could

have already been gone, you know, pulling over and been

like oh man, or pulling over being like I wonder

if she has any money in this car? Right, you know,

It's like who knows. However, the police got a little

bit of luck when four days after Pesh disappeared, a

man matching the witness this description strolled into the Honolulu

Police Department and was like, hey, what's up? And they

were like what do you? Who are you? What do

you need? He's like, my name is Howard Gay, I'm

forty three and white. That's my thing. He's like, so,

you know, normal, normal reason why I'm in the police today.

I see a psychic, right, And and they were like okay,

And he was like, and the psychic told me where

this girl's body is, So I figured that I would

I would share it with you. Okay. They were like hello, So,

but he was like very like, I just I'm just a.

Speaker 3: Good Why would this psychic call them, right, is my

first thing. I mean, but my first question is why

would spoiler alert.

Speaker 2: I don't think they ever found a psychic? Yeah, probably not. No,

is this suspicious? Suspicious? Okay? So there's like a little

island nearby called sand Island, Pearl City, Sand Island, love

it Hysteria. So he was like, if they she said

the psychic said that her body is on sand Island,

It's this little tiny island. He's like, I'm a local.

I'll take you around there and we can we can look.

It seems like it's more of a sandbar than anything else.

I mean, like a small little So he's taking them

around and the police are like, why don't we go

over there and he was like, no, but we can

go over here. Let's go to the north of the islands,

the west of the island. They're like, very right, what

about this area And he's like, I don't know what

you would want to go there for. That's not part

of my murder tour. Oh I disagree, And guess what.

They went over there and that's where her body was. Okay,

beaten to death? Oh my gosh. Okay, right, so did

they arrest this person yep, okay. So on May ninth,

which was like right around then. I don't know if

they arrested him directly on the island or if they

let him come home and went back with a warrant,

but they did arrest him. They arrested him like right after,

and he was brought in for a pretty intense round

of questioning, like in the face whole deal, because this was,

and I mean, something I will never do putting myself

in the police's shoes. They had no leads at all,

and this was the first guy and he's being real

fucking suspicious. They haven't brought anybody in for questioning apart

from family members who they never suspected, right, because all

of it doesn't like, no, it really does. And all

these women were so different, you know, and there's a

way that like family murder is like, well, none of

these people were related, not at all, So none of

them knew each other really, and they didn't look alike.

They all had different jobs. The only real thing in

common is that they were all young women. They were

all pretty, and they all were at the bus stop

yeah and then they were nowhere. Yeah, you know, So

it was like, what link do these women have. Who's

to say, I think it's just the bus stop. Sure,

I think that was his counting ground. I agree. So

and the police were like, yeah, Rachel, sounds good. That's

what we think too. So they brought him in and

were questioning him and we're like, dude, what the hell

you're weird, where's the psychic tell us about this? Right?

The only thing that he would do because he was

just kind of like nah. They were like, yeah, huh,

you did do that. Tell us you did that, and

he was like I didn't. And then when they got

like direct with him and we're like, so you so

you have killed these women? It said he quote put

his head down and said he didn't do it. Okay.

So he was just kind of like and he never

gave any of the information for the psychic. No, okay,

so the quote unquote psychic. Right. Yeah, So they had

as they were like getting this guy they were talking to,

like the last people to see these women and everything else.

So the one of the women who was with one

of the women who was killed, had she said that

she had seen her with a white man before she

went to the bus stop. It was like, I did

see her talking to this like white guy. Yeah, like

kind of weird. And they were like, we have this

white guy down at the police station. Why don't you

come in and pick him out of a lineup? And

she was like, well, he'll be able to see me

and they were like yeah. She was like I'm not going.

I'm fucking scared. Oh my god, yeah, which is understandable.

She was like, how will you protect me? And they

were like we're not we won't bye, and she yh,

that's okay. Like this is a small island and everybody

talks to each other, right, I want to be known

as the one woman. And they did not protect her anymore. Oh,

They're like, well we just you know, it's fine, all

of them. It's all of the press around. This was

very like what are these police doing? Because really what

we're what the fuck? Were they doing? Nothing? Nothing? So

they're like, all right, let's look into this white man

we have in custody. Okay, let's look into him. He

seems like a pretty normal guy, had like a pretty

normal life and he had a girlfriends. They're like, great,

let's bring in the girlfriend and they were like, girlfriend,

what do you guys ever fight? Like, is you ever

like you know, hey, I'd love to beat you to

death and leave you in a lagoon. She was like, well,

so sometimes we do fight and then he'll leave the

house and like not come back until the morning. And

they were like, do you have the dates? And she

was like, mm hmm, guess what those dates were? No, yeah, okay,

all of them. Okay, it was gone, yeah on all

of those days. He's gone other days too, but he

was gone on all of those days, right, So they

were like, okay, So you would think the next chapter

of the story would be they put him in jail

five ever, but they didn't do anything. They did not

have enough evidence to convict, so they let him go.

I mean okay, And then yeah, went back to the mainland.

He left Hawaii, went back to the mainland. There was

something where he said, like there was like a sick

family member or someone who had passed away, so he

had to go to the mainland. But then he ended

up never coming back to Hawaii, which I fucking wouldn't

go either. And then he died in two thousand and three.

Oh yeah, really correct, Wow, arrested anyone else, They didn't

have any other leads. Nope, he died. That was in

the eighties. He died in two thousand and three, and

that's it. This is one where when I looked it up,

the amount of like angry articles and videos and things

from locals and from like the girls' families was insurmountable

and very very very understandable. I can't believe.

Speaker 3: I mean, even in the eighties, Like I can't believe

they wouldn't have tried to take some sort of physical DNA.

Speaker 2: Yeah, go searches a party, they do shit well.

Speaker 3: And off of all of these, I realize a lot

of them were in like lagoons and things, but like

there's no.

Speaker 2: Physical evidence of it. Yeah, Like that was the thing

is and this is the thing when you look at

true crime stuff, it's like it goes one way or

the other. A lot of the time. They'll say, and

I mentioned earlier that the police were like, whoever is

doing this is very clever because he's leaving no evidence.

It's like, is he clever or are you not looking

for it right? You know what I mean? Like which

way does this go? And to me, it kind of

seems like they were like, oh well, well it would

be a big bummer if pretty ladies stepped coming down

here and shopping and surfing. Yeah, everything like that. Oh,

if you guys tried not using the bus, Yeah, like

could you shut the fuck up? Like why don't you

put police at the bus stops right and like a

camera and stuff? What are you doing? So they didn't

do anything, and then he died in two thousand and three,

and there have been no leads and they've never arrested

anybody else, and the families of all of these wonderful,

beautiful girls continue to mourn them, and Hawaii continues to

get taken advantage of by America. That's my tiny political piece,

and that's this is your favorite kind of case when

that remains unsolved. I know, I love it when I

can't have the answer. I love it so much. I

don't love it. I'm so mad. This case pissed me off.

I literally cried reading the article because I was so mad.

I was like, you guys aren't doing anything very interesting,

very frustrating. So that's the very frustrating and unsolved quote

unquote unsolved case of the Honolulu stranglerer. We're gonna shift

gears just a little bit into neutral, well into something.

Hell yeah, mine is also a shorty. This week. Okay,

but I wanted to talk about the Xerox murders. Ooh,

so interesting vintage vintage? Do you have one at your work?

Not super vintage? I mean there's like a copier there,

is it a Xerox? I don't know.

Speaker 3: I've never used it. Interesting, I'm only in the office

one day a month. I forgot for like, I forgot

like five hours.

Speaker 2: I was just thinking, like it's still a common thing

to have in like offices or not. I've never worked

in an office. Interesting. I don't know if it's Xerox specifically.

I mean, Zerox is a very big company, but right

just seems like such a vintage thing for me. But

I'm like, it's probably not. No, it's not. They're just

more newfangled now better collating, you know. So.

Speaker 3: Our story starts with a man named Byron koji Usagi.

He was born in Honolulu in nineteen fifty nine, and

he grew up in New Uanu. During school, Byron was

a member of the Army JROTC chapter and the rifle

team at school. Okay, which I feel like, we know

we grew up with people like this who were also

like part of like boy scouts. They're just kind of quiet.

They're kind of you know.

Speaker 2: I'm in the woods playing with knives and it's like okay, yeah,

for your thing though, right, and they're like yeah. And

he was often described as like a quiet kid who

just like you know, stayed out of trouble. I even

think about this too, like we we went to to

like middle school and high school with people like this,

and I remember specifically in middle school that you know,

everything's quiet until somebody brings like a toy gun in

and puts in their locker, which is something that happened.

I'm like, you guys, come on, they found one in

somebody's car. In high school, the like dogs came and

they were like, I'm going hunting afterwards, It's like you

cannot bring that to school, dude. Total aside. I was

talking to my dad, who went to school in the eighties,

and he we were like kind of talking about that

kind of thing, like wow, it's really scary to go

to school now, and he was like, it's very different.

He's like my brother in Waukegan, Illinois, had to was

making like a case for his gun in like wood

shop and wanted to measure. So I just walked through

the halls with his giant shotgun. He's like so different.

It was not a big deal at all. I was

like to do that, which crazy? Yeah, that's isn't that crazy?

That's insane. So he was like this. He grew up

as this like quiet kid. Yeah, not a lout of trouble. Hey.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 3: But shortly after he graduated high school, something happens to

Byron that would change the course of events, I think

forever in my opinion, and a lot of.

Speaker 2: People do the better. This is not that kind of show, Rachel,

not that kind of show. According to Byron's brother Dennis,

in nineteen seventy seven, Byron had crashed his father's car

and hit his head on the windsh old head and

was like, never the same again. That happened. In nineteen

eighty four, Byron began working for the Xerox Company as

a technician. Okay. Amongst his hobbies, by this point he

was a He was breeding goldfish and koy okay and

would sell them to local pet stores. Okay, and this

is from the Honolulu Star Bulleton quote. He had about

a thousand different type of goldfish Jesus, and would clean

all the fish tanks before going to work each day.

End quote. This is just like a big hobby of his. Uh.

He was also a good collector.

Speaker 3: He had as many as twenty five guns registered in

his name guns and now it sounds to me they

were all legally owned ye and legally registered.

Speaker 2: Yeah. And you can also the goldfish were legally owned

and legally registered. Goldfish were counterfeits. They were bronze fish. Oh,

you're funny. He painted. Things started to become really strange

when in nineteen eighty eight Byron started complaining about a

poking sensation in his head. Oh no, and most of

the time it was in his head. Sometimes it would

traveled down to like the neck, the shoulders, the legs,

the arms, But most of the time it was this

he was talking about being poked in the head. Oh,

that's really sad.

Speaker 3: In the beginning, it was happening two to three times

a week for a few years. Byron that became convinced

that one of his co workers, Jason Balatigo, was mutilating

his fish. Oh boy, When his dad said he didn't

have any proof, Byron showed him small slits in the

fish and a broken padlock to the outdoor pond that

he had built.

Speaker 2: Uh huh. There were also shadows that started haunting him.

Oh Dear again from the Star millet end quote. It

appeared one night in nineteen ninety three at the foot

of his bed. His brother said it jumped up and

held him down by the ankle so he couldn't move.

His brother testified he had to mentally will it away.

End quote. So at this point I feel very sorry

for her.

Speaker 3: Things are progressing in a you know, this was not

like an overnight thing. No, you know, it's not like

he hit his head and then all of a sudden

he was seeing things. Right, This was like over a

number of years.

Speaker 2: He doesn't even sound like that that crazy at first,

but when it's all together, it's like, oh shit, dude,

once you got a ghost to tech and you you

gotta go to the dockorm and this is just at home.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Meanwhile, Oh Dear. At work, Byron was starting to

run into some issues.

Speaker 2: Uh huh.

Speaker 3: You probably would have guessed from this sort of delusion

that one of his coworkersh he's.

Speaker 2: Having paranoid fantasies. Yeah.

Speaker 3: Once he had been transferred to another work group, he

started accusing his coworkers of harassment and product tampering, which

some of that had no basis. Really, I think the

product hampering more than the harassments.

Speaker 2: Right, absolutely. Former co workers reported that his behavior caused

him to sort of become ostracized from the rest of

his coworkers, which made him isolated and withdrawn. There are

also there's like testimony and stuff that talks about how

he sort of becomes isolated from the group and everybody

else starts picking on him basically, right, and othering him

even more and like harassing him and pushing him even more.

I still feel sorry for him a little bit. I'm

sure I won't in a minute, but you know, I feel,

I feel he's got some real bad brain stuff going on. Yeah. Yeah.

Eventually Byron began making threats of harm to his coworkers. Okay,

don't do that.

Speaker 3: At home, his father and brother were like pleading with

him to go and see seek help from a psychiatrist. Yeah,

but he was refusing, saying that, like he was like,

I don't think they can help me. Yeah, basically yeah.

So again from the Star bulletin quote, he missed work

one day because of the sensations. His brother came home

that evening to find his brother pummeling his head with

his fists. I'm not crazy, Leave me alone, he told them.

When his father suggested again he see a psychiatrist, they

did eventually. Instead of going to see a psychiatrist, they

did eventually seek the help of the clergy in Reverend

Clarence Hega.

Speaker 2: Who instead of going to the doctor they did nothing,

who told them to dig for pukahs in each corner

of their new u new property and very rice poi

mullet and beer. Oh good, that'll fix it.

Speaker 3: Yes, now this is you're gonna be, like you said, reverend,

and you're talking about this sort of there is pockets

of spirituality in Hawaii that are very like I don't

know how you would describe it. They're very based in

like the land and there we.

Speaker 2: Were talking about this subject earlier. When you find witchy

traditions and then they're marred with modern spirituality, the answer

is colonialism. Yeah, and I.

Speaker 3: Don't and I will say to you just because he's

a reverend, they don't specify necessarily like what religion they were.

Speaker 2: But yeah, it's not it's not uncommon over there to

like kind of meld sort of ancient Hawaiian like folk

spirituality with like the modern Christianity and modern religions. Yeah,

that's very common. Absolutely again from the Starbotank quote, he

got told them that there were menehune pas located upstream,

and also mentioned an ancient battle in which the river once.

Speaker 3: Flowed red with blood. Before he left, the reverend told

them he would create a protective barrier in the Usegi

yard to keep the spirits out. When Dennis asked his.

Speaker 2: Brother how he was doing a few days later, Byron

related he had seen a shadow past their garage and

go down lyme Street at Lymei Road at night. Quote.

So they thought at.

Speaker 3: That point, like, okay, it's the money hoony, like it's

the many Honi, Like they he saw the spirit leave

the house and like go down the street, like things

are probably solved, and it would be solved, but it

was only for like a couple of days, and then

things would start coming back, so they would constantly have

people coming over to like bless the house, and then

things would get better for a couple of days and

then just return to Hi.

Speaker 2: I feel really sad because, like I'm sure the reverend

and like all of these like spiritual folks like I'm

a witchy right, who are blessing the house. They all

meant well, but it's like you take someone who likely

is paranoid schizophrenic and you're like, there are demons in

your house and rivers of blood and such. You're just

encouraging the delusion. And they didn't mean to, but I

mean too, I can see how this is just like

ramping up in his mind, like maybe you can forget

about it, and then it's like, oh, there's somebody waving

stage around. God damn it, I forgot about those monsters

that are here. Yeah, So you can see obviously, like

things at home and things at work are starting to

escalate in ways that are becoming really troublesome. I feel

really bad, not becoming really troublesome, are very very troublesome.

So then Xerox management decided that they were going to

start phasing out the type of photio cop photy photio

photo copier that Byron was specialized in servicing, and so

he was going to have to like train on the

new Okay products coming. It wasn't like they were going

to fire him, but he had to train on the

new product. He was not a fan of change, and

he completely resisted learning to service the replacement machines. He

was like, absolutely fucking not. Though they were just going

to fire him, that's that's great, but they were want

to train him on something else.

Speaker 3: So at this point he had been there. He started

working there in I think nineteen eighty four. This is

like nineteen ninety nine, so he's like a loyal employee. Yeah,

he's been there to lose this guy, right, he's been

there a long time, and yes, they've had here's the thing, right, like,

over the last couple of years of his employment there,

they have had issues, Like there was an issue where

he had kicked an elevator door and out of anger,

and he had gotten like suspended or something a little

bit that was like closer to all of these events

happening at the same time.

Speaker 2: You don't want to lose a good employee.

Speaker 3: Right, And there was a lot of it. They were

just like placating because he was a good employee and

did his job.

Speaker 2: Really well, right, And none of this is like I'm

hurting my coworkers type violence yet Yeah, not really yeah yeah,

not yet, yes, yeah yeah. So it's like, okay, maybe

a change of pace will be good for him, but

he's like resisting it.

Speaker 3: So resisting, oh, dear Byron in the company went back

and forth until his managers were finally like, okay, they

they literally they did put it off for a while

because they're like, okay, just to play Kate again. Yeah,

So they're kind of putting it, kicking it down the road,

kicking down the road. Well, it comes to November one,

nineteen ninety nine, and they're like, okay, you have to

start training on this tomorrow.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Period, Like that's it, We're done with the back

and forth. Tomorrow, you have to start training on this.

He refused again, and later he was like, I wanted

to give them a reason to fire me. Oh wow.

He was done.

Speaker 3: So the next day when he was supposed to start training,

he comes into work at eight am. Shortly after, Byron

opens fire inside of the building with a semi automatic pistol,

killing six coworkers and his supervisor, and an eighth person

escaping the building without injury.

Speaker 2: Oh my god.

Speaker 3: The victims were fifty four year old Ronald Kawame, fifty

eight year old Melvin Lee, fifty year old Ronald Katawaka,

thirty six year old John Sakamoto, forty one year old

Ford Kandahira, thirty three year old Christopher Balatico, and forty

six year old Mark Peter Mark.

Speaker 2: Oh, oh my gosh. That's horrifying.

Speaker 3: So the reason he was I think the reason he

was like I wanted to give them a reason to

fire me, was so that he could retaliate.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems like which is going to bite him

in the ass late, I mean minus the fact that

he killed a bunch of people, right, but like that

fact would bite him in the ass.

Speaker 3: Later, Geez Byron fled the Xerox building in a company

van to the Hawaii Nature Center in maki Ki, located

kind of above Honolulu. Okay, I get the impression that

it sort of looks down on hot yeahlu in a way.

At the same time as this is happening, there's a

group of thirty five school children who were attending the

Hawaii Nature Center.

Speaker 2: On like a field trip. Oh no, that are now

suddenly in the middle of this escape. It didn't sound

to me like they were taken hostage necessarily, but they

happened to be in this building where this guy has

taken up barricading himself. He killed any of them, and

he does not. Okay, kind of just this is what

I'm saying.

Speaker 3: I'm like, they weren't necessarily like hostage hostages, but they

were just kind of like there instead, those poor kids

were probably traumatized. Yeah, because he goes to the nature center.

Now this is all of a sudden standoff right now,

So police show up, They're like, do we still get

to see the birds.

Speaker 2: Another day? Yeah?

Speaker 3: Right, police show up, they are they begin negotiations almost immediately, Yeah,

and he is telling them he's contemplating suicide. And he

also told police that he knew he was going to

get fired that day. And at various points Byron was

like waving around the pistol that he had. He was

like reading a magazine and smoking cigarettes.

Speaker 2: And talking in the nature center. Yeah yeah.

Speaker 3: Meanwhile, the school kids that were there, they are basically

trapped in the nature center. They have no food or water.

And after five hours oh no, yeah, Byron finally surrenders

to police and is arrested. Few He was charged with

one count of murder, seven counts of second degree murder,

and one count of attempted murder in the second degree.

Speaker 2: Before the end of the trial, the second degree murder.

So there was like the first count was the first

degree murder.

Speaker 3: The seven counts of second degree, so two through seven

were I'm sorry, two through eight I think were combined

down into count one. Okay, so all of that he

basically had count one and count nine. Count one was

the first agree murder. Count nine was I'm sure.

Speaker 2: One, like the first shot was probably like a deliberate shot,

and the rest he was like spraying is like what

they will. That's why they had him split up just

for separate charges, but combined at the same time. Okay,

eight separate charges, but they combined those down into just

the into the top level charge. Okay, Rachel doesn't understand

little stuff. That's why I'm here. Uh so those are

kings down. Byron pleads guilty by reason of insanity, laying

relaying the stories of being like extracized at work and

seeing shadows and being poked by demons. They still go

to trial. He's trying to present an insanity defense. Defense

counsel brought in experts who testified that Byron was insane,

pointing to the delusions about his fish being tampered with

and the shadow figures and stuff. But of course prosecution

brings their own witnesses, who said that while he did

meet the criteria for schizophrenia, he did not meet the

criteria for insanity or extreme emotional or mental disturbance.

Speaker 1: Right.

Speaker 2: They also said that while yes, like they very much

were like, yes, he has schizophrenia, Like, it's very clearer

mind when he did this.

Speaker 3: The actions that he took during that day predicting his firing,

there were like attempts to conceal his crimes and stuff

showed premeditation, yes, and not just like a psychotic break.

Speaker 2: I find that I don't agree with it, but I

find that legal distinction very interesting. I always think that's interesting.

I know you don't agree with it, but I do

think it is important. I do too. I just think

that it needs to be.

Speaker 3: Refined, yeah, like better explained. Yes, yeah, yeah, I get yeah.

Speaker 2: But I think it is important because there are people

who commit crimes. So it's like, dude, they were in

like a fugue state. They had no idea what they

were doing. They wake up and they're like, WHOA, and

you can all you can also be mentally ill and

plan out a fucking murder, right, And it is it is.

I don't I don't agree all the time that, Like,

I think the part that I have trouble with is

that seems to be the line between are they going

to get help or are they going to go to jail.

I think a lot of the people who they're like no,

they can go to trial and like no, but they

still need help. Though they might feel a little more

culpable than the next person, but they still need help

instead of jail. Stepping down off my political soapbox.

Speaker 1: No, I.

Speaker 2: Agree with that, you know what I mean? Yes, Yes,

that's it seems like they give up at that point.

They're like, we'll have fun in jail. I'm like, no, no,

seeing ghosts, like please please get him some medicine.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 3: So, on June thirteenth, two thousand, the jury found by

Aron guilty of all charges and was sentenced to life

without parole for that first count of first re murder

and life with the possibility of parole for count nine

and those would be running consecutive.

Speaker 2: Got it jail forever? Yeah?

Speaker 1: So.

Speaker 3: He was also ordered to pay five hundred dollars in

restitution and wait and seventy thousand dollars to the Crime

Victim Compensation Fund. I know, I thought that was kind

of weird too, But I think it's because the seventy.

Speaker 2: It's like, wait a second, all that I did an

immediate offended hand flip, like only five hundred diars.

Speaker 3: It's because the majority of the restitution is going to

the crime victim Compensation Fund.

Speaker 2: That's why I understandable. Okay, okay, finish your sentence.

Speaker 3: Later, the Parole Board mandated a minimum of two hundred

and thirty five years in prison, the longest ever ordered

for a Hawaii inmate.

Speaker 2: Wow.

Speaker 3: There were some appeals, like, he did appeal to the

Supreme Court. He did consider appealing on an effective assistants accunsel.

But it doesn't seem like he did. In two thousand

and two, the State of Hawaii Supreme Court upheld his

conviction and he is still incarcerated at the Wow.

Speaker 2: Stili, Yes, this is only two thousand and two. Well,

I know, but he's not well. I didn't know if

he would have survived. Oh yeah, you know.

Speaker 3: He's still incarcerated at the Cerro Correctional Center in Arizona.

Speaker 1: Oh.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Speaker 3: Families of the victims settled a lawsuit, a civil lawsuit

against Xerox and the hospital that had examined by uh

Byron in two thousand and five, sayings they had failed

to take appropriate action in the face of clear evidence

of mental instability. I agree, which definitely on Xerox case,

because I think there were these workplace incidences being reported,

and so there was like a paper trailer him.

Speaker 2: Do an erratic yeah, like you're not Yeah, just a

this is an interesting little tidbit. I love the so

after the shooting. For almost immediately after the shooting, Xerox

decided to leave that building. They were like, they're fucking out. Yeah,

they like it's haunted. Yeah, well, I get the people

who still work there. Do you want to go to

back to work in a past six seven of your

coworkers were makes sense though, I always think that like

whenever they're like, yeah, we're gonna pave this down and

make like a park or like a memorial site or something,

We're just not gonna use this building anymore, I'm like

that's fair. Yeah, I wouldn't want to go back there either. Yeah.

Speaker 3: So they leave and it sat vacant until two thousand

and four, when the.

Speaker 2: Producers of a little TV show have you ever heard of?

The show called Lost what. Yeah, so the producers have

hit TV show Lost, bought and built a sound stage

to film scenes indoors. No in this way. Yeah, and

now they use it for like it's like a nature

I don't want to say nature tour or like a

nature museum, a nature exhibit. Okay, I guess where people

can come and what the heck that's what that's for.

I don't like that. It's very strange, but you wouldn't

want to go there. Well, I am thinking that.

Speaker 3: They're using it like that because of how they built

the sound stage, because it was probably built for.

Speaker 2: Some of the outdoor seams. And maybe they I don't know.

I don't I honestly like Google, you know. So they

lost the Lost people, but that's building. So yeah, the

the nineteen ninety nine in the island, they ask you,

the nineteen ninety.

Speaker 3: Nine Zerox murders is the worst workplace shooting in the

history of Hawaii. I think it is still the worst

like mass shooting in Hawaii as well.

Speaker 2: So sad. Yeah, all those poor guys, that's so sad. Yeah,

Sunshiny Hawaii. Yeah, visit. I don't have to tell you

things are bad.

Speaker 1: Everybody knows things are bad.

Speaker 2: It's a depression. Everybody not well. All right, friends? That

has been our episode. It sure has, Yes, it has, Rachel,

do you have any final thoughts before we finish out.

I just wish it was warm. I feel dumb that

we're talking about Hawaii and we're gonna walk out into

like forty degree weather. Well, it was warm yesterday. I

nobody wanted to be warm today.

Speaker 3: I it's out because we haven't talked about the weather

in a minute.

Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like now he had. Yeah, I know we've

had winter. They're on the edge of their seats. We

had uh false spring yep, the secret fifth season. Yeah,

then your frost well Tago, you know, Yes, we had

false spring, we had second winter yep. And now we're

I think in spring. I think I think we're in

the clear. So we're coming into some warm days. It's

still going to go between warm and cold, but I

don't think it's gonna snow again. My kid is my

five year old is learning about like the seasons in school,

and so he kept asking me every day, when's the

first day of spring, And finally I was like, it's on,

like the it was on like March twentieth. I think

I was jounced on the towy at that's the first

day of spring. I'll show you on my calendar. And

he was like, so after that, it will not snow anymore.

I was like, okay, wish, I wish that. So literally

the child so spring means no snow is spring is

when the flowers are here. I'm like, but we don't

live in a normal place, my sweet sweet naive summer

child literally. Oh man, But all right, Well, on that note,

I sounded thing. It's my tip woman.

Speaker 3: Our music is by Jason Zachschewski, The Enigma. This has

been the Bad Taste Crime podcast. We will see you

in two weeks.

Speaker 2: Hello along the Highway. I think if the way the

people washed over ter Hello and well held on.

Speaker 3: I don't know that it's actually wicca. I don't know

that it's specifically different than witchcraft.

Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, sorry, no, no, no, no, I'm not trying to

be like a dickhead. Is it's just different. Yeah, but

wicks from like the sixties and they pretend they're from

like the medieval times, but they're not. They're not