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Serialously with Annie Elise
Annie Elise & Audioboom Studios
Netflix Documentary and Closing Thoughts
From 401: Disney Cruise Busted, Missing Scientist & Makayla Settles’ Dad Pleads Guilty — May 21, 2026
401: Disney Cruise Busted, Missing Scientist & Makayla Settles’ Dad Pleads Guilty — May 21, 2026 — starts at 0:00
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We're gonna talk about things that are brand new cases happening this week cases where there are updates cases where There has been no fucking justice in my opinion, and I'm a little pissed off about it. And we have a lot to go over. One of the main things too that we are going to be dising disgsing, actually, that actually is the new word that I'm going to use. I meant to say disgusting, but one of the things we will be disgusting is the Disney Cruise Predator bust There is so much to unpack with this Disney Cruise situation and It's getting buried in the news. and I know that there's a lot of conspiracies out there being like, oh, that's the whole reason people brought up Hontav virus to bury the Disney Cruise scandal. But let me just tell you, we need to talk about it. So before we get into the cases and today's updates and all of the things I do w to make a quick announcement because I feel like Id like to keep you guys in the know and let you know all things going on with my life. You are my friends. I keep you updated. And today I am so thrilled to be joined by someone that I have looked up to my whole life and that feels like an older sister of sorts Welcome to the show Amy Koolahead Thanks, Moppy. Thanks Saroni. Do you think that I will ever not do a trickery intro. I think you've got people shocked. They have no idea who's going to be here. They're shook right now. Sobody just rearreed someone on the freeway because they' so shocked that you are the guest today. I know. Well, hello. Hello, welcome back. Thank you so much for having me. You're very welcome. Okay. We have a lot to talk about. I'm going to talk about the first actually all of these updates piss me the hell off, but I'm going to start with this one because I know I sent it to you, Amy last night or yesterday afternoon and you were kind of like, what the hell is this? What's going on? But there has been a major update in the Mikela Settles case. and people, myself included, are absolutely outraged over it. And unfortunately, I think that we saw that this was a possibility with what had gone on. Now, for those of you who maybe aren't familiar with the Mikala Settles case. Let me give you a brief rundown, but I did cover it a few weeks back so you can certainly find it. But Mila was a beautiful eighteen year old girl who graduated high school in North Carolina and then decided to move to California to pursue her college dreams. Her biological father also lived in California, so she had been connected with him throughout her life, but primarily lived with her mom in North Carolina. so She wanted to move to California to not only start over, kind not start over, but like start anew, go to college, live with her dad, connect with her dad, all of those things. And so she did that And within just couple of days of being there, she ended up calling her mom saying that her father, her biological father had violently sexually assaulted her, so much so that when Mikaella's mom and her uncle arrived, they had to carry her into the ER Now what makes this even worse is, well, as if it could get any worse, right? Once she was in the ER, She made a police report. She said that he had brutally assaulted her for over four hours. They found his DNA inside of her and she ended up going back to back to the Carolinas to live with her mother and to like try to Not only, I mean, come back from this, but try to like figure out what the hell happened to her, like how does she move forward from this? She was going through a very dark time, obviously. And unfortunately, in December, she ended up taking her own life over this. It was just too much for her to bear So now fast forward. And again, the other episode has way more detail. But now fast forward, and she did file that police report and they did find his DNA inside of her However, because she is not here to testify There was worry that he would be able to get out of this by saying that it was consensual, which he did say it was consensual. And of course, because she's not there to testify that it absolutely was not Even though this was incest through and through and he gave alcohol to a minor, he said, it was consensual, he gave her alcohol, got her drunk, and then they both chose to do this. So the family for months has been Of course, not only outraged because they lost little Michaella, and I know she was eighteen, but like she was a young woman. They lost Michaela and it looked as though this monster was not going to face any real accountability because There was fear of prosecuting him because they felt like they couldn't prove it without that there was assault beyond reasonable doubt due to the fact that Mikela would not be able to share her side of the story So this has been a concern for several weeks now. There was a hearing a few weeks back. He didn't show up, his lawyer showed up for him. and now we know that as of this week, he did plead guilty. whichich is great on paper, you would think But it's not because he pled guilty to yes, incest and also giving a minor alcohol. There was also it was felony incest, by the way. He also pled guilty to abusing a position of trust and how she was particularly vulnerable Hres He is still saying this was consensual, there's no assault charges, which means the maximum sentence that he will face, when he is sentenced, which is scheduled for june twenty third Get this will be three years That's it And we also know in California with overcrowding, with good behavior, with all that, he could be out in as little as a year or a year and a half, which is So appalling. He's an electrician also. so like he goes in and out of homes. I will say with whatever sentence is handed down, he will also be put on the registry for twenty years, which that will of course then dictate what his job is going to be and where he's allowed to go. But there is so much backlash because of this because He now may only serve a year in prison for what he did to his own daughter. So much so caused so much distress that she took her own life And where is the justice for Michaella and all of that It is. So sickening the whole thing and I understand that there are corners that you can cut and loopholes in the system and this is how these predators operate and it's like great for him But like what about Michaella's family What about Michaella's family who's now lost a daughter who They had these horrible details about this this assault And he's getting a slap on the wrist. I mean, the fact that it when I read possibly only a year, a year and a half, I was absolutely in shock. but Just for the assault alone. Right. hours. so much so she had to be carried into the emergency b. And that's what's so shocking about all of that is there's just irrefutable evidence and so many crimes that happened right that how could it only be reduced down to this? I know, because he's just saying, o no because he pleded were drunk. It was rough consensual sex. with my own daughter. so yeah, I will plead felony incest or to felony incest, but like It's so unnerving and disheartening when you think about it and think about what her poor family is going through now. it's enraging I think at this point, you just hope for justice in another way and that not only for Michaela, but for her family. I know. And she again, she only was there with him for a couple of days and this happened. I just think you know I think about her being so excited to reconnect with her dad and like just California and just I can just I really feel for her and like just exactly what that excitement, that new chapter, this new relationship, you're getting to meet your dad when you're kind of turning of age and you can maybe have some of those conversations to have resolution to maybe the time that you lost with them before and then to be so utterly betrayed And just her poor family having to say, you know, I obviously supported their daughter and going on that mission, which was her decision. and it just awful. I know. So we will find out what the sentencing will be on june twenty third But I mean, come on. I think we all are hopefully thinking the same thing that we know that Child predators do not fare well in the prison system. So even if he's only going to be there for three hundred and sixty five days, I hope that those three hundred and sixty five days are filled with torment and just fear personally. Now speaking of other scum human beings, let's take a quick little pivot. I wanted to give you the update with the Ci Richs sentencing. This obviously happened a little over a week ago, but haven't talked about it on here and I did cover the case extensively, so figured let's close the loop on all of this. She has officially been sentenced. And as a recap, if you're unfamiliar with this case, I'm sure you did see it on your TikTok feed or your Instagram feed. But Corei Richs is the woman from Utah who was convicted of murdering her husband, Eric by poisoning him with a fentanyol laced Moscow mule Now this took place back in twenty twenty two The motives and the alleged motives behind it were money related because hello, obviously, what a cliche right. But After Eric died, she actually had the audacity to write a children's grief book called Are You With Me, where it helps kids cope with losing a parent. She even went on like this mini local press tour peddalling this book. And I have seen a lot of people be like, she didn't even write it. She had a ghost writer fair but a lot of authors use ghostwriter or things like that, so I don't think it's like a huge, you know, bombshell, but We have talked about this case quite a bit in the past and just Cory as a human being. and Through all of this, through the trial, through when she was first arrested, she really tried to portray herself as the victim in all of this the martyr mother, the you know, selfless mother who just loves her kids, all these things, yet carefully behind the scenes, she was trying to orchestrate how the trial would go. She wrote this infamous letter to her family called It was a walk the Dog letter where she was basically trying to craft their testimony for them which is like, hi, that's witness tampering, you freak. But she just is one of those people who feels like She can do no wrong. And I'm again, not a medical licensed professional, but I would safely and confidently use the term narcissist here, one hundred percent. About two months after her trial ended, she now has officially been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The other alternative would have been life in prison with the possibility of parole after twenty five years, but I'm glad that that was taken off the table. Now one of the biggest things that came out of this sentencing wasn't even about the sentencing itself but it was about Corey once again becoming this narrator of her own story, giving her statement to the court and to the family in this very performative carefully crafted monologue. It was so cringey. There were moments where she was telling her boys like You know, I want you to stand up on the mountaints and think of this. it was just like so beyond Cinge, which before I even get in, I'm going to play you a couple clips of that. But before I get into that Her boys also, her boys shared their victim impact statements where all of them collectively said they were terrified of their mom, that they're scared that if she ever got released, that she would come after them. They would live in fear, that they miss their dad. All of these things, where it's like you would hope that as this mother, in that moment you would have a little moment of self awareness or self reflection and read the room and not make it about yourself, but maybe use that opportunity to apologize to your boys and hopefully give them some sort of peace or closure so that they could grow up and live regular normal lives as best as they could But that's not what she did Instead, she took this opportunity to Get up Grandstand, give this whole, you know, monologue of a performance, maintaining her innocence even though she had already been found guilty. Now during most of that time, she was talking directly to her sons, telling them that she has done things in her life that she's not proud of, that she does have regrets, but that she never abandoned them, that she was not put on this earth to be a killer, that she never would hurt anyone like that She talked about something about killing your spouse and their father and like then in an ass backwards way said, but I'm not abandoning you. But she didn't take accountability for killing Eric. Let me just make that clear. And what I thought was so great is that the sentencing, it took place on Eric's forty fourth birthday, what would have been his forty fourth birthday. And I want to just a little clip for you really quick. The one thing I need you for you to know But I did not man of you. I did not just walk out of your lves one day to never return. So never call N show up Regardless of what anyone tells you, I would never, ever leave you boys And I am so sorry if for even one second, you thought that I did. So then after this, as this shit show is continuing, there was a moment that made a lot of people pause because she started then pivoting and giving her son's advice saying, Be like your dad I sorry, You mean the dad that you have been now convicted of murdering? Like what are you even talking about? But go ahead, hear it for yourself. Don't ever set off for just good. o for grade. in school, in your career in hunting and fishing your relationships and your goals exxceed expectations Do you like your dad You generous Be charitable Stay humble G when you have too much Get more that you take help, but others are in need Serve your community Be like your dad Never stop learning through education, through people, through travel, culture, through business and friends From your success and achievements, from your mistakes and failures You like your dad love the outdoors Iind your peace. Your therapy Your heart and soul O the top of a mountain somewhere Where it's quiet. Whd it's calm. where you will be able to feel the spirits of those that you love and miss the most Be like your dath. So she's been sentenced to life, no parole. We know there's going to be an appeal coming down the line. She also, there's like some financial crimes going on and what is it? Eric's family is suing her for using his likeness in the book and you know, I think they're going after her for like one point six million dollars or something like that which I feel like is also kind of you, divine intervention because this whole thing was, in my opinion, financially motivated from the start. She wanted money, she was greedy, She wanted their business all to herself, all these things. And yet now she's not only convicted and going be locked up for the rest of her life, but she's also going to have to turn over any money that she does have. I don't know. I know the appealals come in. I can feel it in my bones, but this woman is just the most entitled piece of shit mother that I've ever seen. You literally stole the words out of my mouth. I was about to be another about to say another piece of shit parent. It's like a Laorie Vallo, different scale, but where it's like, you will never take responsibility and accountability and go out reaming you're the mur and you love your children and you would never heard. I never abandoned you. I just committed a crime that put me behind bars for the rest of my life. R and killed your other parents. Father to which you have been abandoned and don't have any biological parents looking after you now. but I didn't abandon you. But you did. But What are you telling yourself that you actually think that's true I don't know. I don't know what's going on in her brain. Don't even want to know. I'm just glad that this like wet sewer rat, if you ever saw her during the trial, like is gone and away and off my screen By abbandon me, Corey. Abandon me, honestly. abandoned me Speaking of audacity. I know. The audacity. Audacity All right, we have to talk about the Alex Murdogh case for a minute because last week He was granted a new trial and this whole thing is kind of crazy. And if you're not familiar with this case, Alex Murdagh was a well known South Carolina attorney who had allegedly been stealing money and committing financial fraud for years Prosecutors believe that he murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul back in twenty twenty one. During the time when his financial crimes were starting to really all catch up to him. And their argument was basically that everything in Alex's life was starting to fall apart behind the scenes and that the murder shifted the attention away from those financial crimes that were about to come out publicly. And as the case progressed, it became one of the biggest televised murder trials in the country and not only because of the actual murders, but also because it became more of a symbol of the old entrenched Good old boy structure in the south finally being exposed, which There was rumors to be generational situations where people were granted immunities and favoritism throughout the South. So again, this trial really just gained a lot of attention in the area And by the end of the trial in twenty twenty three, Alex was found guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime But now The South Carolina Supreme Court has officially overturned those convictions and ordered a brand new trial. all because of something the court clerk did during the first trial Becky Hill Mother Ethen Hill. Y Yep. this hussy honestly, honestly, life ruiner Becky Hill was the court clerk during Alex's first murder trial and she became I guess you could say popular during this whole thing She was doing interviews, appearing in documentaries, and even wrote a book about the case while working in court Then allegations started coming out that she may have crossed some major lines with the jury According to court documents, she made comments to jurors about Alex's credibility when he testified. told them to quote, pay attention to his behavior and body language and overall just became way too personally involved in the case itself So the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that her actions did influence the jury, which violated Alex's right to a fair trial Now Becky has since pleaded guilty to charges for misconduct, and that's what ultimately caused the Supreme Court to overturn Alex's convictions. Alex's legal team has also reportedly sued Becky as of Monday this week, accusing her of reckless or callous indifference to mr. Murdogh's federally protected right to trial before an impartial jury They say in the filing that her behavior was motivated by quote evil motive or intent, and they are hoping to hold her accountable and get paid compensatory damages and attorney's fees, which were over six hundred thousand dollars alone So again, this doesn't mean that he's all of the sudden free and clear. He's still sitting in prison for all of those financial crimes that he was originally found guilty of. But now prosecutors have to retry this entire murder case from the beginning. It's pretty wild to me because first of all, I actually saw something this morning that said They're looking into is there a possible way where taxpayers can somehow also sue Becky Hill or the court system because their taxpayer money is what paid for you know, part of the trial, his incarceration, all these things what I think I think that it's gonna be still a slam dunk conviction on the new trial, but I know that there is a lot of concern out there that maybe it won't be. because apparently and I have to do some more research on my end with this because I don't know what the truth really is. mayaybe somebody listening or watching does and let me know in the comments because I ha've been following this super closely But apparently, the financial crimes were brought into the murder trial in a very big way. They really harped on it to say this is the motive. And I don't think from what I'm hearing, they're allowed to bring the financial crimes in as much or at all into this new trial Also, adjacent to this whole thing, there is a big portion of the population that believes that Buster is the one who committed these murders, which is Alex's other son And that Alex was just taking the fall for him being his dad because there is to your point, this long history of influence and cover up. and it goes back generations and generations and not even that far back because Buster what there's a lot of things with this family. I think it was Paul if I'm wr on the boat in twenty nineteen, that fatal boat crash Paul was involved and those charges were all pending Okay. during the murders. Yeah. So I think there was some chatter there too is like was the murder part of like, because he was going to be found guilty maybe bank they'd have to bankroull it. There were already financial struggles. And was it Paul? I can't remember. Paul orr Buster who also had the issue with I want to say his name was Tyler. The gay young man on the highway who wasck right also. whichich I don't know where then Buster would have the motive or the reasoning. And again, you guys who have been following this closely, tell me in the comments why he would want to kill his mother and brother in all of this, it seems more likely that like Paul would want to kill his mom and buster. I don't know. Maybe there's something I'm forgetting or missing. It has been years and I need to brush up on this case But yeah, a lot of people out there seem to think that maybe it's not going to be a slam dunk at the retrial and that he could get off and have enough reasonable doubt to get out of these murder charges. Well, I like everyone probably saw the headline first and just jumped to all these conclusions in my own head and my first thing was of course. like after all these generational things and like people getting off, of course this guy would get a retrial. And then my next thought, which I haven't been able to verify anywhere yet was like was there some sort of technicality with that cell phone video that was found? becausecause that was such a big part of the evidence was that there were potentially three people in the dog kennel area when supposedly Alex was never there. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see if that ends up somehow also being changed And it's so crazy. Let's just Throw a hypothetical out for a moment here If he does in this new trial, if he is found not guilty How insane is it that this Fur Yeah damaged and tainted this case and investigation and trial and everything so much that two murdrers are going without any sort of accountability or justice for them and that because of her greedy motivations, wanting to write a book, wanting to make money, wanting to insert herself in it, sway the jury, her personal bias that she had that much power for that kind of outcome, which hopefully that's not the case. Hopefully he is found guilty, but I mean, come on. where's the justice then for Maggie and Paul? Well, and how are they going to find an unbiased jury now? Right Eespecially in that area. It seems like there's a lot of like historic issues there. So are they going to relocate maybe trial some' file for a change of venue, Wh knows? Maybe Tam Annie Elise needs to make the venue Orange County, California U yeah, that's wild parent O one thing that genuinely stresses me out is how hard it is to know what's actually good for our kids anymore. You know, run for the dino nuggets faster than anyone. But there are so many products out there that are marketed as healthy, but they're basically candy and then this vitamin label is just slapped on them. So you think you're getting them their nutrients and their vitamins and all that between, you know junk food here and there, but you're actually just getting them more junk But that is why I amm really excited that I was introduced to Haya. Now first of all, when they sent me my bottles for the kids to decorate, which was such a fun experience for them, they got to personalize it with stickers, they were fun colors, and then they sent me the vitamin packs. My kids were immediately obsessed, notot only because the vitamins actually tasted good, but like I said, they had so much fun just decorating their little bottles that come with the first order And I love that Hya took a completely different approach from a lot of kid vitamins out there. There's no gummy junk, no sugar overload, no weird additives, just clean nutrition designed specifically for kids Their chewable multiv vitamin is packed with essential vitamins and minerals, plus a blend of fruits and veggies, and it's formulated with pediatricians and nutrition scientists. Plus, it's non GMO, vegan, dairy free, allergy free, gelatin free, nut free, all the things that parents are looking for And they also just launched something brand new called Kids Daily Growth pllus Protein, which is huge if your kids are active and constantly growing. It's a clean protein powder with added minerals and healthy fats that you can just mix into smoothies, waters, anything, and help support muscle development and cognition And we've worked out a special deal with Haya. Receive fifty percent off your first order on any of their products. Now to claim this deal, you must go to hyahealth dot com slash aE. The deal is not available on their regular website. So go to H I Y a H E a l th d. com slash aE and get your kids the full body support that they deserve. Okay, if you're anything like me, you love finding a good deal, but you also weirdly like love the thrill of shopping or the treasure hunt of finding something good And let me put you on to whatnot? becausecause I kept seeing people talk about it, actually fun fact too, over Christmas. My husband's sister's husband, so brother in law, he was like on his phone on whatnot. And I was like, what the hell are you doing? And he was like showing me, and I downloaded the app right then. And I totally get the obsession. It's basically a live shopping app where you can shop everything from beauty products, handbags, jewelry, clothing, collectibles You name it, but the best part is it's all live. So think of like, you know, I don't want to throw any competitors out there, but like an auction website or something, but that's live. You're interacting with sellers in real time. You're seeing products up close. You can ask them like, hey, can you like zoom in on this piece for me? Can you open the lid for this? C you show me the tag of this and they do all of it right there live and you score deals that are honestly, they feel kind of insane. I was on there the other night and I found a pair of like these really cool leggings that I had been seeing it retail that I wanted to get, but they were brand new, tags attached. I also found this old lipstick that was discontinued from Mac that I personally have been looking for for years. and I ended up just staying on the app way longer than I planned because it feels engaging, it feels like a community, It's not like mindless scrolling. And again, it's people showing products live, answering questions and like dropping deals in real time And there are over ten thousand fashion, beauty and bag sellers on this app So there is always something new popping up Honestly, if you love the feeling of finding a steal, you will probably get addicted to this. Download the Whatnot app today and get free shipping on your first order. Just search WH AT NOT Whatnot in the A store and start scoring amazing deals So this next story, is one that has been blowing up online over the last couple of weeks because so many people are trying to figure out what exactly was happening behind the scenes and why this handful of cruise ships just docked in San Diego earlier this month. And let me tell ye, I really went down the dark hole with this. That's why it's taken me a while to talk about it because I wanted to just like figure out what it was, was it true what people were talking about? likeike what really happened? Now, this wasn't local police just showing up to arrest one person after some sort of incident on board that then required the ship to You know, I don't know what the technical term is pull over and talk But this was a coordinated federal operation involving multiple cruise lines, multiple ships, and twenty eight crew members who ended up being removed from those ships because they allegedly had CSAM material. Now, if you don't know that acronym, bless your heart. I'm so glad you don't, but it stands for child sexual abuse material Now, the reason that people are talking about this so much is because there are still so many unanswered questions. According to US customs and Border Protection, federal agents boarded eight different cruise ships that were docked in San Diego, and they boarded these between april twenty third and april twenty seventh And after interviewing crew members aboard, authorities detained twenty eight of the workers across eight ships. Customs and Border Patrol later said that twenty seven of those twenty eight individuals were confirmed to have been involved in, quote the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of CSAM material Now twenty six of the crew members were from the Philippines. One was from Portugal and one was from Indonesia And look, we know that this kind of activity happens behind closed doors everywhere in every country in every state and every county. but I will say I did a video on this kind of situation and CCM material particularly last month becausecause many of you know, I work closely with the Child Rescue Coalition. They actually have developed a technology that helps track these predators in real time. It also helps aid in the arrest. They partner with law enforcement on this And in that episode, I talk a lot about the statistics And it's disheartening, but one of the main areas where exchanging like that of that material and even live children happens is the Philippines Which so for twenty six of the twenty eight to be from the Philippines, that is obviously upsetting as well. Now one of the biggest parts that's being talked about is this passenger video that was taken during these arrests because a woman on board a Disney cruise ship said that she was getting off the ship and she was heading towards customs when federal agents just came in and started escorting these crew members off the ship and loading them into a white van. And then as all this chaos was happening She realized that one of the people who was being taken away was apparently her server from the Disney cruise ship Here's what she had to say about it. The cruise left here San Diego was like the Disney Magic crruise that departed on april nineteenth. During our trip, we were assigned a head server, a host, an assistant host. A dinner, we got to actually have conversations with them because we spent about two hours with them. As we were leaving, actually, we ran into our head server. His name was Joel. Fom the look on his face, you could tell he was like really stressed and distraught. I disembarked and was waiting in the customs line. That's when I witnessed officers and employees being walked off of the boat onto that back dock or pier back there. rand grabed car, I came back and I had to pull into this parking lot right here behind us to wait for my family to come with the luggage. Once we loaded the luggage, we noticed officers and different employees in restraints being brought into the parking lot. As we pulled up, we noticed that one of the employees was actually the host that I had just been speaking to, and there were several other employees with them being loaded onto that van Which imagine being on a vacation with your family on a Disney cruise of all places, which I know is like Amy's absolute nightmare because you're like imagineing yourself I'm like no thanking. No, I know. no cruise in general for you, but Disney cruise, I know, especially. But like, you're on a Disney cruise. which you pay so much money for? I've never been on one. I've looked into it, but I know a lot of families of my son's friends who have done it and they rave about it not anymore. but it costs so much money. You think that you're going to have this amazing family vacation that they're trained to be with kids to create this amazing environment, safety, then you suddenly see federal agents walking workers off this ship in handcuffs and you have no clue why. That would certainly be alarming and make you kind of be like, what the heck is really going on And I know that there have been rumors about Disney for years. I get it, but like This is pretty major. According to reports, ten of the detained workers came from Disney ships specifically, while the other eighteen came from cruise lines over the following days. Now public statements that have come forward from the cruise lines themselves have identified at least some of these ships that were involved as the Disney magic Disney Wonder and the Holland America ship Zadom, which is owned apparently by Carnival. And something else that is really important in all of this is that local police were reportedly not involved in all of this. It was entirely federal whichich means that this was all very specific, this was coordinated, this was pre planned, and authorities clearly knew who they were looking for before these ships even dock And then once they docked, they jumped aboard, M started you know, grabbing people, making arrests. and it was a very coordinated effort But here's where things get even more complicated. None of the twenty eight workers have publicly been criminally charged in the United States, at least not that we know of right now Instead, all twenty eight of them had their visas revoked, and they were then deported back to their home countries. Now what's interesting is that Customs and Border Patrol specifically said that twenty seven of the twenty eight workers were confirmed to have been involved with CSA material, right So people online obviously hear and hearing that, they're like, okay, well, what about the twenty eighth person? Where's that person? and what happened to them? What were they doing? What happened? Were they all connected somehow? Was this twenty eighth person maybe an accessory to a crime? I mean, what's going on with this person? But the authorities haven't really explained that part. Authorities also have not publicly said which specific ships were involved besides the few that I just listed that we know of They haven't said how the workers were identified, whether these workers knew each other and were connected somehow and like working in some weird Uground cruise ship ring, which is like so crazy to think about. It sounds like a lifetime movie, but like, hello, we've seemed crazier. And another huge point that people are focusing on in all of this is the fact that officials also haven't given many details about what digital evidence led to these arrests onlyn that it was C sand material Which honestly, I will say it's not that unusual in an investigation like this, especially if it's federal. We know that things usually remain pretty tight liipped and not even just because it's federal, but because it's miners who are involved But as you can imagine, because Disney cruises are so heavily centered around families, around children, around what's it like the kids zone where you literally can go down a slide on the ship and just be like spout off into like the kids club area. Because of that, speculation online has absolutely exploded. And apparently, this also was not the first situation like this involving cruise ship workers. There were similar incidents back in twenty twenty five involving carnival cruise employees in both Virginia and Baltimore In this particular incident or these incidents, I should say, crew members were also detained or deported over allegations involving CSAM So now people online are connecting this case not only to those incidents, but also to previous Disney Cruise line employee arrests from twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two, which involved similar crimes And because this latest operation involved multiple ships and multiple cruise lines all within just a few days Some people are also wondering whether there could be something bigger going on here. Now to be clear, there is no public evidence currently that this was any sort of trafficking ring, that it's you know, a trafficking ring connected to Disney crruises or in between cruise lines, anything like that. There's no public evidence that any passengers onbard were harmed in any sort of way either But as we know, cases like this, I mean, it's usually tied to a much bigger investigation or an online investigation that's happening behind the scenes And sometimes authorities are tracking digital evidence across multiple countries, state lines, all sorts of, you know, knows no borders. What is it Doctors without borders? Disney Cruise lines without borders, apparently, where they're tracking things for months or even years before anybody realizes it So right now, people are looking at this lack of information as frustrating, of course, and trying to piece things together and see what makes sense But also they're frustrated with the fact that there haven't been any charges filed publicly and the fact that almost no details have come out since this happened So it just feels like there are a lot of missing pieces here And there's way more questions than answers at this point, unfortunately, but I know If I went on a Disney cruise with my family, I would be freaking the heck out right now, having conversations with my kids, just trying to be like How was kids cl? I don't even know. like it's so unnerving to think about Well, number one, I smell a huge lawsuit. huge lawsuit enormous la Yeah. Number two, I was actually picturing you spring brereak in Orlando just a few weeks ago and imagine at the prrincess Bakfast with little Lou and all of a sudden your server is being taken out in Aerial taken out in handcuff. But let's Aerol. in all seriousness. Yeah. and I mean, I know this is going to sound more dramatic than I mean it, but would it make you question continuing that vacation if you're like all of a sudden, all these cast members and people around us are being h one hundred percent. likeike I'm packing my bags, We're coming home. What is this operation? Now I'm questioning everything like every time you're in kids club, every time you're on Ride I've always been freaked out and I shouldn't be, but probably because of what you do the characters that are like hugging kids all day. And so it's just your mind is spiraling. So I probably would freak out because I'm obviously like hyperparanoid, a little bit of a helicopter parent, but my mind immediately would go to This is such a busy park or cruise ship. I don't know who's taking photos. When they're in the pool, I don't know who's taking photos. If we know people walk around with the cameras for cast photos. We know people in general are just walking around with like video cameras and things like that or their phone. like I would be concerned enough to to think like If this many people are being arrested right now for CSAM material don't even know what it is the I don't know what it is. I don't trust my children being exposed publicly at all right now in this environment. We're going in the hotel room. We're staying together as a family. just because Well at that point, you don't even know it has anything to do with children. You just know it's a crime. So ye, I guess I mean, but still to me that would freak me out because I would think Disney vets their employees more than anybody. So if something's happening on a bigger scale, which I know I wonder how that works though on Disney cruises. Is it Disney who vets them or Is it a third party cruise company that that's them because they need to be trained to like be on board a cruise. I do know Disney in general, like for their parks, I had friends who work there did work there back in the day and like they do that you, there's very strict rules and regulations Sorry, I'm gonna throw my friend under the bus who got fired from there because she showed up drunk at the park and she got thrown in Disney Jail, which is a real thing. But yeah, this is certainly unnerving I wonder, I don't think there's probably any public information available, but I wonder going into summertime now. Bookings have been canceled if it's dipped because this would be the time the virus also affected that. I mean, God, I just don't take a cruise. takeake a robo. Don't invest in a cruise company No, honestly, but like I wonder what this is doing to their bookings right now. But like I said, it's been buried. Even the other day when I was talking to Ben, a guy who works with us on our team foollow me on social media. You know Ben. But I was talking to Ben and I was like, have you heard about this Disney Cruise thing? likeike I want we're going to cover it in headline highlights, d dah,.'s What Disney Cu I't heard of it. I know he's like, I did a simple Google search and it doesn't even pop up. It's buried. And so I don't know if that's some like coordinated effort because from Disney who's working with Google Adwords and all these things and trying to bury it or like What is going on, but it's a I think it's a pretty big deal. That is a huge deal. Yeah And like CSand material scares the hell out of me because it's not limited to just not that it's not just, but like it's not just exchanging child imag like images, it's some of the most horrific material out there involving children and being exchanged in very dark places. Yeah. So it's like who's to say once they do a bigger investigation what else will be uncovered. I know people. I know Okay, well this next case actually came from our dental hygienist, which also speaks to the fact that once again, we're on the same schedule because we had our cleanings the same week. We didt intentionally. I know. But I want to talk about this really bizarre missing personss case out of New Mexico that's basically turned into this giant rabbit hole on the internet over the last year but especially in the last couple of weeks. Because at first glance, it sounds like a pretty straightforward disappearance But then you start looking at the timeline and connecting the dots to some of the cases of scientists who have gone missing or been found dead recently, and suddenly, people are split on what really happened here. They're saying this could be anything from a voluntary disappearance to espionage to some giant government conspiracy. And the woman at the center of all of this is fifty three year old Melissa Cassius Melissa disappeared on Thursday, june twenty sixth, twenty twenty five from the Taos area of New Mexico And according to investigators and her family that morning started out completely normal Melissa lived in house with her husband Mark, and early that morning she drove him to work at the Los Almos National Laboratory, where she also worked as an administrative assistant. Her family confirmed that Melissa was not a scientist herself But because she worked at the lab, she held a special security clearance And this next detail becomes really important later According to Mark, Melissa dropped him off sometime around six AM, saying that she was then going to go complete her work in another area of the lab And that's when he reminded her that he needed the car back around eleven AM, as he normally did, which she, of course, then agreed to. However, her daughter, Sierra said that she remembers hearing her mom come home about fifteen minutes after she woke up at seven thirty. And when she asked her mom why she was home, Melissa said that she had realized she had forgotten her security badge. which is a pretty big deal if you work in a lab like Los Almos and need that special security clearance. So instead of doing her work in the lab, she decided she would just work from home that day. And then later that morning, Melissa left the house to bring lunch to Sera, who worked at a shopping center nearby in Taos According to the timeline later pieced together by investigators, Melissa arrived around lunchime, sometime close to noon, and by all accounts, nothing seemed unusual. Sierra said that Melissa appeared completely normal. She didn't seem emotional, panicked, or act like anything was wrong at all. And then at around one thirty three PM, Sierra got a text from Melissa, telling her that she needed to tell Mark father to find another ride home And about thirty minutes after that, Mark himself got a call from Los Almos Lab saying that Melissa actually never clocked into work that day. Then at two eighteen PM, a surveillance camera along state Road five hundred eighteen outside Talpa, New Mexico captured what would become the last confirmed sighting of Melissa Cassius alive. In the footage, Melissa was seen walking eastbound along the road near Pot She appeared to be alone, wearing dark clothing and carrying a backpack No visible signs of distress at all, no one following her, no immediate signs of danger. But according to her family, the situation itself was extremely unusual. It was reportedly a very hot day outside that day, with temperatures reaching into the high eighties and low nineties, and Melissa was seen walking quickly along the roadway, wearing very dark clothing Family members later say that Melissa wasn't somebody who normally just wandered around highways or went walking alone So this was pretty alarming. And then after that footage She just vanished. Around three thirty PM, Melissa's daughter, Sierra went back home and she realized that Melissa wasn't there. But what immediately stood out was that Melissa's car was there, along with all of her personal belongings, her purse, wallet, keys, ID, medication, and both of her cell phones had all been left behind And according to reports in Melissa's familyamily, those two phones had apparently been both factory reset, whichich honestly, that detail alone is one that completely changed how a lot of people viewed this case. becausecause a factory reset doesn't just accidentally happen. Somebody has to intentionally wipe the device And immediately, people started asking, did Melissa do all of that before disappearing? Was she trying to hide something on that phone? orr did somebody do it afterwards? And depending on who you ask, that single detail points this case in completely different directions. Some people believe Melissa intentionally disappeared and started over somewhere else They say that the phone resets, the surveillance footage showing her alone and the lack of obvious signs of violence mean that this couldn't be anything more than just her deciding to leave her old life behind. There have also been rumors online that Melissa may have been under a significant amount of stress leading up to her disappearance, although a lot of those details have never fully been confirmed publicly other people say that the fact that she left behind her medication, money, personal belongings, both phones It all seems just very odd and that she just would not do that. Then there's the whole other side of this, the side that became completely fixated on the Los Almos connection. Be once people realized that Melissa worked at Los Almos National Laboratory, the Reddit threads started running with conspiracy theories People started connecting Melissa's disappearance to several other deaths and disappearances involving government officials, military, aerospace, nuclear, and defense workers. And as of now, people are convinced that there is some sort of a larger pattern happening here with all of this And honestly, the theories have been spiraling very fast People started talking about espionage secret intelligence, secret missions, and even UFO related cover upps, which all of that sounds completely crazy to say out loud. But if you go into Reddit and go into those discussions, they are everywhere related to this case. suuper interesting. if you take the deep dive in. But what seems to get people talking about this recently are some new details that have come out. One of the strangest details that came out recently involved a woman who allegedly contacted Sierra months after Melissa's disappearance According to reports, the woman showed up at Sierra's work gave her fifty dollars cash as a graduation gift made odd comments involving Melissa and acted like she knew something else about the case She also insisted that she take a picture with Sierra and told her not to tell Mark anything about them meeting But later, when investigators figured out exactly who this woman was, She said that she didn't know Sierra or Mark and had never even gone to the cafe. Meanwhile, Mark said that he had actually known her for years, which is really strange So who knows what really went on there But then in April of this year, almost ten months after Melissa disappeared, investigators reportedly recovered a pair of shoes in Carson National Forest that may have matched the shoes Melissa was seen wearing the day she vanished. And at the time those reports came out, DNA testing was reportedly still pending and investigators have still not publicly confirmed whether those shoes did in fact belong to her or not And really, that's kind of where this whole case sits right now There are all these strange little pieces that feel like they should fit together somehow, but none of them fully point to a clear direction Because depending on how you look at the evidence, you can almost build an entirely different theory every single time. And meanwhile, nearly a year later, Melissa Cassius is still missing No confirmed sightings, no body and no real answers about what actually happened to her on that afternoon of june twenty sixth, twenty twenty five. I mean, to me, it's definitely mysterious, but it seems like She absolutely intentionally planned to leave for whatever reason that is to start a new life because somebody was threatening her, who knows? But the fact that she like made it a mission to drop her husband off, then say she left her key card, which I think when I read in when I looked into this, she had her key card. So it was an excuse saying that she left it at home, But she purposefully like needed an excuse to get back home And then the weird thing that doesn't really Match with that would be if she left her medication behind. I could see leaving behind the phones, the purse, all of that, but you're always going to need medication if you have an illness. I mean, it doesn't matter if you're creating a new identity or not. But it seems like it was intentional, but I' I don't know if it's to start a new life. I would say it's like There might be something deeper than L more out of fear. Yeah, like trying to get away and protect her family or something I don't know. Maybe we should do a deep dive on this guys. Let me know. I was curious to know too, like what exactly her role was as administrative assistant? L did she have access a lot of confidential files because Mbe she had more knowledge than her husband did. That's why she was the one maybe being targeted if this is a bigger thing. It's definitely weird and spooky. I don't know I'm interested in the scientist thing. I know. That's like a whole God, I don't know if I have the bandwidth to down that rout. Do Mbe, may maybe, maybe. Speaking of rabbit holes though, if you guys watched the Cash on Netflix with Mackenzie Sharilla, my Ach Nmesis, I like can't stand this girl. We did put out an episode two episodes actually this week O on Monday with a full deep dive into the case, so much stuff that Netflix didn't include jail calls, footage interviews, the whole nine, but then also in watching the crash. There was so much that obviously I knew Netflix left out and it was included in our deep dive from Monday, but there were five main things that I felt like I needed to put Netflix on Blast for for not putting in there. So I released a bonus episode yesterday. It's in the feed. but basically One thing being that her dad early on, while she was still in the hospital, in the police report, because I have five hundred and eighteen pages worth of material I've gone through told the sergeant that she did this intentionally and that she killed the two boys And so I talk about why that wasn't entered in and like what that means that allegations that Mackenzie was involved in sex work and not really allegations. There is proof, which I go into because it's all again laid out in the police report. The dry run that she apparently did a couple days before where she did that same route, her parents trying to silence the friends at the hospital telling them not to cooperate with the police. There's so much I did this bonus episode yesterday. It's out now. you can go listen to it on this feed. It's right above and it's like, I wanted to just talk about the biggest bombshells that like I thought are very relevant to the case and I don't know why Netflix left it out. Actually, I do know why Netflix left it out is because they were able to secure an interview with her parents and with MackKenzie and any other documentary who has covered this case, the parents have not gone on it and McKenzie has not gone on it because it paints her as the villain. Whereas this one It leaves that door open for interpretation. so they're safeguarded. So I believe that that's the reason why Net that makes sense. That's I believe that that's why they left so many of these like black and white hit you over the head with the fact that this was intentional. They left that out, especially because Since MackKenzie is going to continue appealing, I'm sure her parents had under the condition we have is that you know, you don't not like you paint you only share the story we want to share, but something to the effect of like, we have final se say or you can't do anything that could jeopardize her appeal or things like that. leave the audience wondering if there is some sort of a like create the doubt. Yeah. because As soon as I finished it, I texted C you. I said, I have so many questions because I did not have a ton of prior knowledge on the details and There were so many holes that didn't make sense to where had a feeling there was more to the. Also in this bonus episode from yesterday, I talk about how the blood sample that was taken at the ER the night or the morning of the crash The physician ordder that it be thrown away. so it was never tested. Although the documentary makes it seem like she was tested. She CHC was in the blood. She was tested. The blood was drawn on august third Days later Which I've seen conflicting reports that some drugs, obviously, we know stay in your system for like thirty days, sixty days, whatever, hair tests are obviously the bulletproof ones. But that I have seen reports too that acid and trrooms doesn't stay in your system for that long. I personally don't know. I'm not a doctor, and I don't know if there's different types that last longer or linger longer She also was reportedly, according to friends, drinking heavily that night. We know that a blood sample three days later would not show her blood alcohol level. And I even say in the episode, that's why people when they get pulled over for a suspected DUI demand a blood test because by the time they get to the station, their blood alcohol level has reduced, you know for the draw. so And like so many friends have spoken out saying that they were terrified to get in the car with McKenzie. She had snapchat videos of her driving the car over ninety miles per hour and like bragging about it. So like yeah, Monday is the deep dive. It gives you the footage, more jail calls, all of that, more context for the case. My episode yesterday is Here are the major things that they left out that in my opinion show this girl is trash, guilty, no remorse and an entitled little bee. For sure entitled. Absolutely. So go listen to those right now
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