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00:00Hmm.
00:04Yeah, this is the monster I know.
00:06This is who I grew up with.
00:11This is what he looked like, just a little bit shorter hair.
00:17And no life in his eyes.
00:22You can tell there's nothing behind his eyes.
00:25There's no soul.
00:29Not a care only for self.
00:31I dealt with mental, physical, psychological.
00:36Every abuse that an adult can put on a child,
00:40I dealt with from him, him alone.
00:44And it's almost like I can see the proudness, kind of.
00:51He's proud of what he did, almost.
00:53I can almost see that look in his eyes
00:57he used to get when he would come into my room.
01:04It's just disgusting.
01:06Just trash, garbage of the earth.
01:10What was your reaction when I reached out to you?
01:23My reaction when you reached out was, why didn't this happen sooner?
01:35You know, maybe three people would have been saved.
01:38I believe that everybody that came in contact with him knew that he was about control.
01:47He's just the evil person.
01:50He's the devil.
01:52He's the devil.
01:54He's the devil.
01:54He's the devil.
02:40I have so many mixed feelings about this picture. This was the building we lived in.
02:49My life before Robert, I would say, was a regular textbook family.
02:55All three of us, me and my mom and my sister, were always super close.
03:00I was old enough to understand that my dad, who was in the Air Force, was out of the country,
03:04and he had been gone for a while, and she was lonely.
03:10I'm sure she was lonely until Robert came in the picture, and things took a big, big turn.
03:17This is a picture of my mom and Robert soon after they started dating.
03:42My mom met him. She went out with one of our neighbors to the local officers club, the NCO club on base.
03:52When I found this picture, even my mom doesn't look happy in this picture.
04:04I feel during the time my dad was gone, my mom really didn't know what to do.
04:10This was her first time with two little kids on her own, and I think that she just thought it'd be easier if she had somebody else to help her with everything.
04:20The first time I met Robert, I was seven, getting ready to have my eighth birthday.
04:45It was kind of exciting at first.
04:55This was the Robert that we had in his off time, when he wasn't thinking he was playing G.I. Joe Rambo in the Air Force.
05:04He worked in the military police. He was a big guy. He always seemed so big to me, and he always had his camis on and his camouflage hat with a beer and a koozie.
05:17That was his outside-of-work uniform, always.
05:22We initially thought it was a cool idea if he would have really been that way, you know?
05:29I'd say that that wore off within the first six months.
05:37I would say their relationship moved rather quickly.
05:44He would just come on the weekends or, you know, a couple days.
05:48But when he started being there all the time, it just, it was so overwhelming for me, so overwhelming.
06:02He had set up a target in our basement, and he would shoot our Barbies that we no longer played with, or dolls we didn't play with anymore.
06:15Uh, he had a blast doing that, which I thought was very, very weird, in our basement.
06:27He had a seat on the couch that was just where he sat.
06:31We had a coffee table that all his guns and all his cleaning products, to clean them, were always right there.
06:38He didn't need to have guns.
06:41And I think that, that was his backbone.
06:45It was more of him showing the power behind them and what he had, honestly.
06:51I had never been around that, so it was kind of scary to me.
06:59One day, I come in, open the door, drop my stuff, and run to the bathroom.
07:14And right before I could pull my pants down, the shower curtain flies open.
07:19And he's standing there with a gas mask and a machete.
07:33He thought it was the funniest thing that I peed my pants.
07:36I felt like I was on eggshells all the time.
07:44I didn't know what was going to happen.
07:47He just kind of took over and my mom let him.
07:50Like, I guess the man's supposed to control the house.
07:53That's how she felt about it.
07:55I just wanted to not worry and not be anxious all the time and just be a kid.
08:02I just did not trust him.
08:21You know, I was always waiting for something to happen.
08:24And I guess now we really have to follow his rules.
08:27Whenever we asked for something, he would have us drop and do push-ups for whatever we wanted.
08:34You want to go roller skating? 30 push-ups.
08:38You know, it started being whatever we asked, we had to do push-ups.
08:44So, yeah, I quit asking for anything.
08:47I mean, because there would be any time he would just be like,
08:54give me 20 push-ups or, you know, just sitting there and he'd tell us to count them off.
09:04It was all him establishing dominance over me.
09:07He was taking control and seeing what he could get away with.
09:23Robert, along with many other things, implemented that I wash dishes now.
09:28I was eight years old, couldn't even reach in the sink yet.
09:34And there was a time where I had to do the dishes the night before.
09:40And Robert came and woke me up from bed.
09:44It wasn't time to get up for school yet.
09:46He pointed out a plate that still had crusty stuff on it and told me that I was to hold the plate to the wall with my nose until he told me I was done.
10:05He told me if I dropped that plate, I would pay for it.
10:07The whole time I'm just sitting there thinking like, what's next?
10:14And just try not to cry because there was nothing I could do about it.
10:22Absolutely nothing.
10:24I just, it was my life.
10:26I'm just thinking like, what is the point of this?
10:29You know, the anxiety and the fear and everything that I was already feeling, I felt was enough.
10:37Punishment.
10:41I must have been standing there 30, 45 minutes.
10:49And he finally said I could move.
10:52That's enough.
11:07This is a picture of my sister and I with my puppy Buster that I had received on my birthday.
11:16When I got Buster, he was mine and nobody could take him from me.
11:21Not even Robert.
11:23My mom gave him to me and he was mine, you know.
11:25But when Robert came home and found Buster, he was mad.
11:30He voices his anger and he wasn't going to do anything for him.
11:36It was me and my mom's job to take care of him.
11:39And, um, and we did.
11:55I was running all over the house looking for him.
11:58Buster.
12:00Like, where's Buster?
12:02Buster?
12:04I already had all these things in my mind.
12:07Like, did Robert do something to him?
12:11He didn't like him from the beginning.
12:13So what's stopping him from doing it?
12:15And Robert's just sitting on the couch.
12:20He just blatant, like, he was so proud of himself.
12:25Was like, if you really want to know what I did to Buster, I broke his neck and threw him in the garbage.
12:35And I just, I just ran up to my room.
12:38I just, I cried the whole night.
12:39I was so, so messed up at that time.
12:47I just didn't even know what to do.
12:49I didn't, I didn't know who to talk to.
12:52I'm like, this, this, just, this is not good.
12:56And that was always in my head.
12:58Always in my head.
13:00If somebody could kill a dog, they could definitely kill a person.
13:05And I, I didn't know if that was going to be me.
13:09I didn't know what to do.
13:19This was our baby Rocky.
13:23Right before he went and got Rocky is when he told me what he did to Buster.
13:28It was just like a couple months before that.
13:31And I thought, well maybe he's trying to make it right.
13:34He was such a good dog though.
13:35But just like everything else, Robert had to tear it away from us because he couldn't control him.
13:41I remember the day that he broke his four by four run.
13:52Robert ran over there and took him by his chain that he was dragging and flung him around like a helicopter in the air.
14:02It was terrifying to hear the noises coming out of Rocky and to see a human being doing that.
14:13And he had to shoot him five times because he just wouldn't die.
14:18I want to know why he ever kept getting dogs.
14:35You know you're just going to take them away from us.
14:38Why even do that?
14:39Why?
14:40Was that fulfilling your need of killing something?
14:48The day he did that, I just, I wouldn't even look at Robert.
14:52I just kept staring at my mom.
14:54Just like, are you going to open your mouth?
14:58Why is this okay?
15:00Hello, lady.
15:01You know, do you see what's happening here?
15:05And I just kept looking at her like, and just no response, nothing.
15:12She just, and I just think she was afraid if she would have said something.
15:21He controlled all of us.
15:22He did it because he wanted to, and he got a thrill from it.
15:31And after Rocky was killed, I definitely had the thought in my head that nobody's safe.
15:52He wore the belt to work every day.
16:01That seemed to be his go-to, you know?
16:05Well, you can always get the belt.
16:08You know?
16:10The one time I got the belt, that was the first time.
16:14I didn't make it home before the streetlights came on.
16:17I was actually like 30 minutes late.
16:22I had marks for days, thick, leather marks for days.
16:34And that was just for coming home late.
16:38He had no problem whooping me.
16:41And that's when the paddle, my cutting board, came into play.
16:52I was like so excited because I made her a cutting board.
16:59Because I cut it out myself, and I had sanded it for weeks, and put the finish on it.
17:05And I was so excited to give it to her.
17:07And I came home and handed it to her, and Robert grabbed it.
17:11And he said, you know, this would be perfect for a paddle.
17:17And, like, my heart dropped.
17:21I was so disappointed.
17:24Because I knew he was going to do what he was saying, you know?
17:30And he went and cut the sides off.
17:34I was crying.
17:37I was also crying because I seen what he made with it.
17:44And I knew that was not going to be anything nice.
17:49So it always became a choice between the paddle that he made out of my cutting board,
17:56or his military belt, which was, like, thick leather.
18:03And I had already felt that, so I thought maybe the paddle would be better.
18:09I always chose the paddle.
18:11I don't know why, but I did.
18:17It was a big deal to me, because then he took what I made and used it against me.
18:21And that's when he started the weapons.
18:24It was a part of the grooming.
18:34I believe he was trying to see what he could do.
18:38What he could just push the limit far enough.
18:42My mom won't say anything.
18:43He could get away with it.
18:45And it was just always just a little bit more each time.
18:54He would ask me to rub his back.
18:59So, you know, I'd have to go around on the couch and rub his back, which was fine, because my mom was right there, and we were on the couch.
19:06But then it started escalating to, um, he'd lay in the bed, and he would just have a towel over his butt.
19:19We'd get up to get ready for school, and he would just say, hey, I need my back massaged.
19:26And normally it would be after my mom already left for work.
19:28So she wouldn't really know until she got home, and she's like, why aren't you at school?
19:34But even then, I don't think she questioned him.
19:37I don't understand why my mom thinks this is normal, you know.
19:41But nobody wanted to anger the bear.
19:46Nobody wanted to see what would happen if they said no.
19:50When I was sleeping, all of a sudden I would just be woke up to hem up my shirt, or down my pants, and just the smell of beer.
20:13But he would come in there every, it was a lot.
20:20I would try to make myself smile.
20:22I started layering.
20:23I would wear, like, like, four tank tops, and then a shirt.
20:29You know what I'm, like, if he can't get through all the layers, he can't touch me, was my thinking then.
20:38But I'd also normally cry myself to sleep.
20:43Because I couldn't believe I was having to go through that.
20:47I finally was able to tell my mom about it.
20:49She said she talked to him.
20:51And it stopped for a minute.
20:52And I, you know, I'm like, wow, thanks for talking to him, Mom.
20:56But, um, then it started back up again.
21:01And there was one opportunity where I told her, well, he's doing it again.
21:08And she's like, what?
21:10And I said, what do you want me to do?
21:15Like, he, I would really like to just be a kid.
21:19And she's like, well, why don't we just pick up a lock?
21:22And we bought one of them slide chain locks.
21:36I couldn't wait to go to bed and lock the door because I was going to sleep that night.
21:41You know, I was excited.
21:44I want, I'm not going to be bothered.
21:46I get to sleep.
21:47My mom did something.
21:49And I woke up immediately as soon as I heard that doorknob.
22:01He tried it and he couldn't get in.
22:04And then I could hear him with my mom, like, what did you do?
22:12What did you do?
22:13I'm just laying there just thinking, like, is that the conversation we're having right now?
22:21I guess, you know, but I'm safe.
22:28He didn't get in here tonight.
22:30I believe at the time when my mom put the lock on the door, she was brave enough to, to finally tell him to get out.
22:46Was finally stepping up for herself.
22:49Sometimes I just wonder if she even had a clue what to do.
23:00One day I just noticed like a really, it was a big gash in her back.
23:12And then like a mark over it.
23:14And it was big, you know?
23:16And I'm like, what happened to your back?
23:18And she's like, oh, I fell into the, the, um, the bedside table.
23:25Even at that age, I was telling her there's no excuse for him to put his hands on you.
23:30You know, it's, it's bad enough, like the mind control and everything.
23:34And now he's, now he's touching, putting his hands on you.
23:38No.
23:42I feel it just, it goes back to the grooming, the predatory behavior.
23:48Seeking out people that you can manipulate and control.
23:54And I think that most narcissists, they go for people.
24:00They see people, they notice people that they can influence and engage in and control.
24:07They pick up on that so easily.
24:09And I think he probably picked up on that.
24:13My mom was so small and petite compared to him.
24:16And I think he took advantage of that.
24:19He knew that he can control her.
24:23I would ask her, why can't we just leave?
24:26Because she was always afraid of him.
24:29So I, well, if you can't make him leave, why can't we leave?
24:34I know that there had to be brainwashing and she was just, it was just fear.
24:40But then I did start thinking about what he might be doing to her.
24:44We were sitting watching TV one day after school and he was cleaning his guns like he normally did.
25:04My mom was cooking dinner, so she really was oblivious to anything that was happening.
25:10And he pulled the gun on me.
25:13He said, I could just shoot you right now.
25:17And what, what would you do?
25:22Hey.
25:24And I just kind of stared at him.
25:27I was stunned and I didn't really know how to respond.
25:31I just, I'm sure my face probably said it all.
25:35And I think that gave him the gratification he wanted.
25:38And he just start going back into cleaning it again, like nothing just happened.
25:51And that was the first time that it happened where he actually pointed the gun at me.
25:59We were at my cousin's house visiting.
26:13We were in Robert's parents like conversion van and my mom had to run up to the corner store.
26:20I'll be right back, okay?
26:21And then he turns around and started arguing with me with something that I don't remember what we were arguing about.
26:30But he was like, you know, I could just kill you.
26:39And just pulled his gun out from under the seat and just held it to my head.
26:44I always remember expression.
26:47I always remember his face.
26:49He was very straight faced and very serious.
26:53And I knew it.
26:55But I just didn't care anymore.
26:57And then, like, I see my mom in the rear view mirror walking up.
27:03And I thought I'd probably be better off if he just pulled it.
27:07Then I wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.
27:09None of the bull.
27:11None of it.
27:12Not worrying about what's going to happen to me, what he's going to do, or, you know.
27:19Then maybe he'll get in trouble.
27:21I was like, just do it.
27:24Just do it.
27:25You'll have a lot to explain to my mom.
27:31Just pull it.
27:37He intended to shoot me that day.
27:40Something just happened and I was done.
27:43And I wasn't going to let him do his dumb
27:46what he had been doing to me for all them years.
27:49And I was going to talk back and fight back.
27:57And he slid it back under the seat.
28:01And I think about that all the time.
28:04Like, what if he would have did it?
28:16What a cyclist charged in fatal I-270 crash.
28:31A Columbus man is charged with drunken driving after a passenger on his motorcycle died
28:36as a result of injuries he sustained in an accident.
28:38an accident the driver over the motorcycle robert cordell 32 was driving at a high rate of speed
28:44and lost control of the motorcycle both men had been drinking at the time and the investigation
28:51continues this was um an accident that my mom had actually been waiting to happen because he told her
29:03he had planned this their marriage was dissolving um so things started you know taking different turns
29:18meeting different people he wanted to bring around robert started having an affair with his
29:26friend's wife he would brag to my mom that he was going to take care of him get him out of the picture
29:33and did exactly like he told her he was going to get him as drunk as he could he was going to put him
29:39on the back of his bike and he was going to drive as fast as he could till he flew off and that's
29:44exactly what he did when we seen it on the news and in the paper she just her jaw dropped when we seen it
29:53and that he actually did it i don't know why she would ever think he wouldn't
29:58i mean he was pretty good with following through with threats it was heartbreaking that his family did
30:08not know how evil robert was and actually fought for him not to do jail time they won he did no jail
30:17time for this i believe that he murdered his best friend
30:25it's just the lowest of the low
30:27i'm sure there was fear and despair
30:40my mom just really couldn't handle it and she was over it and she i think she needed that she
30:50just was fed up and she she gained her footing
31:03and she made him go
31:16and she made him go
31:18at least when he wasn't there i i i could breathe i felt like i could breathe
31:28i could fully expand my lungs and i could breathe
31:33the day she went to court i told her come pick me up from school early and we went out and celebrated
31:38and she was scared but she was scared she was so scared then and i think she was afraid of um
31:49him stalking which he did
31:54robert kept calling over and over again and leaving messages on the answer machine that he
32:01was on his way over there to kill her and he was gonna do to her like he did to his friend and
32:08we all know how that turned out is what he said
32:13it was just constant he was calling back to back to back to back and just kept leaving messages
32:23i believe he was very capable of following through with every threat
32:26probably wouldn't have a second thought about killing me or my mom
32:30wouldn't even bothered him
32:49when he was gone
32:52i would still feel the anxiousness i think that
32:55i won't truly feel like calm in my heart until he's dead until i know he's he's gone
33:06around 2002
33:09we had just moved my mom was in a new place and you know we're settling and the phone rings and uh it's a
33:16lawyer and she asked what it's referring to and they said robert cordell
33:25and i'm like what are they what and i guess he was explaining to her what happened
33:34prosecutors say cordell shot and killed his neighbor former reading mayor frank carnavelli
33:39his ex-wife rita bushman and cordell's former sister-in-law kathy cordell yesterday afternoon
33:44police say he had blood on his boots and eventually admitted killing his neighbors and then told police
33:50his sister-in-law was also dead inside the home
33:55none of us were surprised i mean it it blew our mind that he did that
34:01but we weren't surprised he's a hundred percent a monster and a predator
34:09and a killer
34:14victim's family was also in court to face the man they say turned on friends
34:27just came over and killed my brother and his wife for no reason i don't know it still makes sense why
34:34why somebody would hurt somebody that that did so much for him
34:45i learned that he um strangled his sister-in-law
34:53and i can't believe he he was in the house with her for a day or two
34:57and went next door and confronted the neighbor about wanting his his vehicle back and um proceeded to
35:07shoot him 12 times and when his ex-wife came to check out what happened he shot her it wasn't
35:16unexpected we we 100 thought we'd we'd see something else sooner than this
35:22i just think about his sister-in-law
35:30he had to stare her in the eyes while he was doing this that's very personal to strangle somebody
35:41honestly i none of us would have been surprised if there was other victims
35:47i there's probably other victims people that he took advantage of didn't have people
35:57you know the grooming mentality of trying to be around people that didn't have
36:03anybody protect them look out for them
36:09and i i think about that a lot too because i i think you know
36:12any time he came in my room he could have just decided to get rid of me too i knew too much
36:21you know i could get him in trouble
36:26and then it just makes me think of the guns to my head and he could have killed me two times then
36:32he actually looks very small he looks like he he's defeated and i like that he needs to be defeated he
36:45need to be brought down to the level he belongs which is under my feet
36:50and that's the first like the first time he looks like that
37:13i believe he should have been given the death penalty
37:17and i would have loved to seen that day
37:25i i don't think the taxpayers should pay for him to breathe
37:31and to eat and to live
37:36he's a waste of space
37:41i would actually like when he dies can they send me a video of him being pushed into the oven
37:47i am so serious that would be the best closure for a lot of people
37:58my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer um in the summer of 2018 and um even though she she went
38:08through treatment and and was doing well um it still took her life in 2020 during covid
38:18if my mom was here for this i i believe that she would be very supportive
38:23and i think she'd probably be proud of me it's kind of like a a the end of the chapter closing the book
38:29i wish she would have had the strength to um to leave earlier i wish she would have known what to do i think just
38:43at her age and in the life she lived she really didn't know her options and then she didn't have
38:51anybody to talk to about that either and she just picked what she thought was
38:57the best route for her and as much as i paid for her being with him she paid
39:12i've closed my book on all the trauma i've worked through the trauma it's just made me the
39:23person i am today i don't deal with anybody's bull
39:25i'm always the one to stand up
39:31if i wouldn't have lived the life i lived with him i i probably would have been a different person
39:39my experiences have made me who i am today i'm not going to thank him for that
39:44he should die for that but i am the person i am everything has built me up to this
39:49what would you say to robert if you were sitting in the same room with him today
39:58i would say if i seen robert today
40:07you didn't get me i won
40:12i'm still here i'm walking this earth i'm breathing this air free
40:17and and i'm not only free to do it i'm free from you to do it and i'm good and i made a life
40:32and i didn't let anything you do take that from me anything you did i still did everything just made
40:40me do it better i could have went down his path and ended up crazy and let everything that
40:47affected me drive me crazy and do crazy things but it's my mind so i chose that i i was gonna heal
40:58from it and i i wasn't gonna let it break me like it did when i was that age i've done pretty good
41:17i make a comment he angers like that the next thing i know he's got his hands around me choking me
41:29it was real then that he was a murderer and i had been living with him
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