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00:167-Matter-15, we're code 6 at the 911 call location.
00:20Any further contact from the distressed individual?
00:22Negative. Do you want me to start additional units?
00:24Uh, no. Give us a minute to scope it out first.
00:27You ready?
00:28Do I have a choice?
00:29Yes. That's the spirit.
00:39LAPD, we've received a distress call from this location. We are making entry.
00:46Oh, do you feel that?
00:53Feel what?
00:54Something evil's in here.
00:56It sure smells like it.
01:06I can't die.
01:08It's inside of me.
01:10It won't let me die.
01:12It won't let me die.
01:14Elise, show yourself.
01:19I can't die. It's inside of me. It won't let me die.
01:23Don't touch that, all right? Just call this in. Call it in.
01:25I need an RA to my location for a stabbing victim.
01:28So I usually sit right next to the camera to keep the eye line tight.
01:30Then I'll just sit on the other side.
01:32No, because then you'll split his look.
01:34Oh, hey, hi. Thanks again for sitting down with me.
01:37Us?
01:38What? Oh, right. Us. Why are you filming?
01:42Oh, I just wanted to document the new partnership. Abigail was very excited.
01:45It's not a partnership.
01:46It's totally a partnership. The judge was very clear.
01:48The judge?
01:49My name is Abigail Tierney. I'm currently trapped inside a secret lab at Westview Psychiatric.
01:54All attempts at escape have proven fruitless.
01:57I may have inadvertently used some of Abigail's footage in my last documentary without gaining the proper permissions.
02:02Translation, he stole my intellectual property. I sued, and the judge gave him a choice.
02:07Pay me 200,000 damages or give me equal partnership in his next project.
02:11He never said equal, but you know what? Never mind. Let's focus on the story that we're here to tell.
02:16Oh, seat. Perhaps the most shocking case of murder and mayhem we've ever seen.
02:23Would you say that's a fair assessment?
02:25Um. No, no. Stay back. Stay back. Stay back. You don't understand.
02:28Okay, relax here, okay? We're trying to help you. Who stabbed you?
02:31I stabbed myself. It's inside of me. I've tried everything else. I can't kill it. I can't die. See?
02:40No, don't pull it out. Don't pull it out.
02:42Oh, God.
02:45Oh, he died instantly. I mean, the wound was fatal. You can't stab yourself in the heart and survive.
02:52But the way the knife was lodged, he wasn't bleeding. Once he pulled it out...
02:58It was Blood Fountain City.
03:00Not exactly, but...
03:01As shocking as that was, it was far from the most shocking thing you found.
03:04Oh, we should get him to say that to set up the opening credits?
03:07That's not... We don't put words in people's mouths. It's a documentary.
03:13Yeah, it was, uh... It was straight-up crazy.
03:18There's a body in there.
03:21Can we have my meat?
03:22I'm gonna do it.
03:25Please don't kill us. We will join your cult.
03:27Yeah.
03:28Oh, God.
03:29You arrived on scene as the sergeant's supervisor?
03:31Yes. I got there before the ambulance. Not that there was any aid they could have rendered.
03:37Is there a reason you didn't want us to interview you with Tim?
03:41What? No. But we're just... I'm just shaking it up.
03:44Let's... Let's stay focused.
03:46Um, were you the first to recognize the victim?
03:48Uh, sort of. Um, I... I thought I knew his face, but it wasn't until we ran his prints that
03:53we got a name.
03:54Rich Rowley was retired LAPD.
03:57He had been with the department for 30 years and was a little bit of a legend.
04:00Mostly because he made a series of training videos from the mid-90s till his retirement in 2015.
04:07Which, by modern standards, are a little cringe.
04:11Hey, everybody. Rich Rowley here with another installment of...
04:17Now, today, we're gonna be talking about proper cuffing technique.
04:22Excuse me, officer? I hurt my shoulder at the gym. Would you mind cuffing me in front?
04:29Pretty lady like you...
04:32What's the worst that could happen?
04:37You're welcome.
04:41Rich was a trip. The life of the party, at least early in his career.
04:46Then, as the years went on, he became a little, uh, crazy.
04:51Crazy how?
04:52He was deep into conspiracy theories.
04:55He, uh, had a real thing for cults and cabals.
04:58To be fair, Los Angeles does have a pretty dark history.
05:01But Rich took it to the next level.
05:03And his training videos got more and more intense because of it.
05:06We finally got around to updating the videos this last year, but that caused quite a controversy with some of
05:11the older officers.
05:12I mean, they said we were being insensitive.
05:15Why would updating training videos be insensitive?
05:17Even three years on, a lot of his friends were still mourning his death and saw the videos as a
05:22way to keep his memory alive.
05:24I-I'm sorry, I thought Rich died six months ago.
05:26Yeah.
05:27He did.
05:28I'm talking about the first time.
05:30Divers are searching for any signs of retired Los Angeles police officer, Richard Rowley, after a sailing trip gone wrong.
05:38Koska responded to a distress call this morning from Raleigh's wife, who says the 55-year-old fell overboard after
05:45the sailboat he was captaining was struck by a rogue wave.
05:49Anytime someone disappears from a boating trip, it automatically sets off alarm bells.
05:53Why is that?
05:54It's just an ideal place to cover up crime, throw a body overboard, weigh it down.
05:58The likelihood of us recovering it before it becomes fish food is low.
06:02And the circumstances were suspicious.
06:05By all accounts, Rich was a skilled sailor.
06:07It was a calm day, and the only witness to his demise was Darla Phillips, his on-again, off-again
06:13girlfriend who he married five days prior.
06:15So you suspected foul play?
06:19Not necessarily, but we couldn't rule it out.
06:21Well, why wasn't Rich wearing a light vest?
06:23He never did.
06:24He was a strong swimmer.
06:26He must have hit his head when he fell.
06:29Why didn't you jump in after him?
06:30I'm scared of dark water.
06:32Dark water?
06:33Water you can't see the bottom of.
06:36Just blackness.
06:37With condoms lurking below.
06:39You stand to inherit Rich's entire police pension.
06:42That's quite a bit of money.
06:44How dare you?
06:46I just watched the love of my life die in front of me.
06:50We don't know that for sure yet.
06:52They haven't found his body.
06:54Unless you know more that you're not telling us.
06:59Go to hell!
07:00This interview is over.
07:01Did it ever occur to you that Rich might still be alive?
07:04As we said, we couldn't rule anything out.
07:06But there was no evidence that he'd faked his death.
07:09Until he turned up dead again.
07:11Needless to say, we had a few more questions for Darla.
07:14Helping someone fake their death isn't a crime.
07:16I checked.
07:17You're right, but profiting off of that death,
07:19collecting Rich's pension and his life insurance, it's fraud.
07:23Not to mention the resources that were wasted trying to recover his body.
07:27He could be facing some serious charges.
07:29So, tell us.
07:31Why did Rich want to fake his death?
07:35After Rich retired, he kind of fell apart.
07:39His drinking got worse.
07:41And his paranoia, he was always a little intense.
07:45But it started to get scary.
07:47He covered all his windows with newspapers.
07:50He started writing down the license plates of passing cars.
07:55What was he so afraid of?
07:56He said there was this group.
07:59Like a secret society of dangerous and powerful people.
08:04He'd been onto them for years.
08:06He said that they found out about him.
08:08That he was in danger because of it.
08:10It was too much for me.
08:12So I broke up with him.
08:14And then a year later, he showed up on my doorstep.
08:17And asked me to help him fake his death.
08:21In return for his pension.
08:23I needed the money.
08:24So, we got married.
08:26And we did the deed.
08:28And I never saw him again.
08:29So you have no idea why there was a coffin in his garage.
08:33We'll probably hold this piece of the puzzle until the end of the first act.
08:37You know, hit the audience with a twist when it's dramatically expedient.
08:40Seems manipulative.
08:41All good storytelling is.
08:42Just tell us about finding the coffin.
08:46So, once I arrived and we secured the crime scene, we cleared the rest of the house and then we
08:51moved on to the garage.
08:56Oh.
08:57Oh.
08:58You don't think there's...
08:59That there's a body in there?
09:00I absolutely do.
09:02Okay, are we gonna open it?
09:04Because I don't want to open it.
09:06What do you think?
09:06I mean, it's clearly been dug up.
09:10Given the state of the coffin, it's clearly been underground for a few years.
09:13If there is a body in there, it's likely long dead.
09:17Unless...
09:17Unless what?
09:19Unless he put a fresh victim in an old coffin.
09:25Oh.
09:26Okay.
09:26Got it.
09:27Yeah.
09:27Oh.
09:29Oh, God.
09:34The body belonged to a 54-year-old truck driver named Marcus Ford, who was the victim of an unsolved
09:41homicide back in 2020.
09:42How was he killed?
09:43He was stabbed in the heart.
09:46Just like Rich.
09:47Wait.
09:49Rich murdered Marcus Ford.
09:50Did I just solve the case?
09:52No.
09:52We were able to alibi Rich out.
09:56He was hospitalized with double pneumonia the day Marcus died.
09:59Medical records say he was so weak that he could barely get out of bed.
10:02Or that's what he wanted you to think.
10:04Moving on.
10:05Digging up a body is no easy task.
10:07Why would Rich go to all that trouble?
10:08Initially, we thought it was simply the demented act of a clearly disturbed mind.
10:14And in some ways, it was.
10:16But then we found the tattoo.
10:18At first, it was a little bit difficult to make out exactly what it was.
10:22A half a decade of decomp does a number on the skin.
10:25But when we look back at the case file, there was a photo of it taken during the original autopsy.
10:30That's actually kind of sick.
10:31I wonder if there's a way to track down the artist.
10:34I've been meaning to start the sleeve on my other arm.
10:36Like, uh.
10:37To my collaborator's point, lots of people have tattoos.
10:41What was it about this one that jumped out at you?
10:43Well, something about it was familiar to both of us, but we couldn't place it.
10:48So we started asking around, and the answer couldn't come from a more unlikely place.
10:54I watched the Rich Rally training videos more than any person alive, so I recognized the symbol immediately.
11:02Sometimes citizens panic when they can't get in touch with their friends or loved ones.
11:07That is why we always advise the public to wait 24 hours before reporting someone missing.
11:12Well, most missing person reports stem from a lapse in communication.
11:16Every once in a while, you'll encounter a true, workable case.
11:21Officer, help! My sister is missing!
11:24When's the last time you saw her?
11:25Last night at the bar? Her boyfriend said she never made it home.
11:29You always want to take a report like this one? Seriously.
11:33So Rich has the same symbol in his training videos that was tattooed on the body of a murder victim.
11:38What did you think that meant?
11:40Uh, I don't know.
11:41I can't believe I'm saying this, but Smitty was right.
11:44In lesson 187, the tattoo symbol was hidden in the background.
11:48Although, the instructions to wait 24 hours before reporting a missing person are wildly outdated.
11:54Anyways, it got me thinking. What if Rich put messages in other videos?
11:59What kind of messages?
12:00I'm not totally sure yet. I binged every single Rich training video I could get my hands on.
12:05Yeah, it's been a fun few nights.
12:06And I did find a few other possible leads, but there's a problem.
12:09The department's archive is incomplete, and without all of the videos, I can't be sure that I'm not missing a
12:14vital piece of information.
12:15So what happened to the missing videos?
12:17So when the training topics and the videos become outdated because of new laws or protocols, the department has to
12:23make new ones.
12:24And the obsolete videos are supposed to be digitized and archived for historical record.
12:29But Rich is, we're just gone.
12:33Gone is then destroyed?
12:34Like a cover-up?
12:35No one's saying that. Most likely it was a human error.
12:38You know, someone got lazy, didn't archive them.
12:41I tried reaching out to the production company that made the videos to see if they had any copies left.
12:46Bad news is, they went out of business a few years back and auctioned off all their equipment.
12:52What's the good news?
12:53Well, I managed to track down the auction logs, and I actually know the person who purchased the studio's old
13:00hard drives.
13:01Careful, I'm very ticklish. Like the Pillsbury Doughboy.
13:04Same. I hear it's a sign of intelligence.
13:08Is that a fact?
13:09Then I am smart as the dickens.
13:11So, you purchased hard drives from Speak Now Studios?
13:15Yeah, Dropout was still in its infancy. I was building the company from the ground up.
13:19We had to be smart about how we were spending our money.
13:22We bought a huge amount of equipment secondhand.
13:24Hard drives, cameras, wigs.
13:26Wait, wait. You bought secondhand wigs?
13:29Give them a little shake before we put them on.
13:31That's awesome.
13:32Do you still have that wig connect? Because I'd love a referral my guy is.
13:36Back on track.
13:37The hard drives you bought contain police training videos.
13:40Did you happen to watch any of them?
13:41Of course. Rich Rowley, right? We were obsessed with those videos.
13:46We probably watched them like a dozen times.
13:48I'm Rich Rowley, and this is Survive the Streets.
13:52That's great.
13:52Vic can do the best impression.
13:54Do you think you'd be able to make copies for us?
13:57I totally would, but I can't because we wiped all of those hard drives to use as servers months ago.
14:03Sorry, I couldn't be more help.
14:05You'll still feature this interview, right?
14:08Yeah, probably not.
14:10Wait, you said you and the dropout crew watched the video like dozens of times, right?
14:15Yes, sometimes on an edible, mostly sober.
14:17I have an idea.
14:18Okay, so then you'd be like, don't forget to check the closet, you'll die.
14:21So, I don't know.
14:22I think it's a little bit more like, like, if you forget to check the closet, Freddie, Jason, then Chucky
14:27will rip off your scrud.
14:28Okay, I think there's less foot stuff.
14:30I feel like he's like, and then your crazy met the ex-girlfriend who's been hiding in the hallway closet
14:35will chainsaw your face when you get home because you forgot to clear the room!
14:39Clear the room!
14:41Check the room!
14:41Check the room!
14:55A little self-care, you know, trying to relax a little more.
14:58It's not working.
15:00Can we have it?
15:00If you want to borrow it, I could, you know, please.
15:02No, I think this is actually working great.
15:04Okay.
15:05We'll keep this up.
15:06We're riffing.
15:07Clearing the room!
15:07Help us.
15:08Okay, I finally finished watching all of the Rich training videos and there is a lot.
15:13Um, take lesson 277.
15:19My Azaleas!
15:20A cold case where victim Azalea Robinson was found stabbed near a ski resort.
15:26You're kidding.
15:27No.
15:27And in lesson 290, Rich is holding a folder with a post-it note on the back with a brown
15:32star drawn on it.
15:33I'm lost.
15:34Right.
15:35So, I looked up the cold cases to see if there were any victims with names like Star or Stella,
15:40and there was one hit, Stella Brown, also found stabbed in the chest.
15:45In all, Lucy found clues pointing to seven different cold cases.
15:50But why was Rich hiding the names of murder victims in police training videos?
15:53Based on what we could piece together, he believed he had stumbled upon a conspiracy,
15:57a series of connected murders committed by person or persons unknown.
16:01If that were the case, why not just report his suspicion?
16:03He was a cop for 30 years.
16:06Well, Rich had a bit of a reputation within the department for, shall we say, magical thinking.
16:12So, unfortunately, his theory was dismissed out of hand.
16:16But why did he think the murders were connected?
16:18Well, for starters, they were all stabbed in the chest.
16:21But more importantly, each victim was found with a penny either in or on their person.
16:25What do you mean in?
16:26One had a penny in her stomach.
16:28Another had one shoved up his nose.
16:31Stella Brown looked out.
16:32Hers was just clasped in her hand.
16:33And when we reexamined Marcus Ford's corpse, the Emmy found one inserted into the heel of his left foot.
16:40Why?
16:41Did we mention that they were all minted in 1930?
16:44Okay.
16:44Well, I just got goosebumps.
16:46Rich's autopsy also revealed that he had swallowed close to 50 pennies before he died.
16:50Gross.
16:51So, at this point, was your theory...
16:53I actually have no idea what the theory would have been.
16:55Yeah, well, I would tell you, but we were way off the mark.
16:58Which we were about to discover when we got access to his cloud account.
17:03Okay.
17:05We may have finally found it.
17:08I'm so close to getting some real answers.
17:13See that?
17:25Oh, my God.
17:31Oh, my God.
17:35No!
17:36No!
17:37No!
17:37No!
17:38No!
17:38No!
17:38No!
17:39For a guy pretending to be dead, breaking into a secure military facility doesn't seem like
17:44the best idea.
17:45No, he wasn't just breaking into any military facility.
17:49It was Area 67.
17:51What does that mean?
17:52That's where the government keeps the aliens.
18:00So, Rich broke into a secret government base on the hunt for a massive conspiracy, then
18:04stabbed himself in the chest?
18:05I mean, at that point, it's obvious what happened.
18:07Is it?
18:08Come on.
18:09Remember what Rich said right before he died?
18:11I can't die!
18:12It's inside of me!
18:14It won't let me die!
18:15Yeah, I'm not following.
18:17Rich was exposed to an alien parasite.
18:20It was inside him.
18:22Were you familiar with Area 67?
18:25I'd heard of it.
18:26Yeah.
18:27There's this AM radio station I used to listen to back in Foxburg.
18:30Kept me awake when I was working late.
18:32The host was obsessed with UFOs.
18:35Val's Velvet Bunker?
18:36That's the one.
18:37He was a little bit out there, but always entertaining.
18:41Area 51 is theater.
18:44Do you believe, do you really believe, the most secretive military installation of the world
18:50would let itself become a tourist attraction?
18:53No, no, no, no.
18:55Area 51 is the distraction.
18:57Area 67 is the real deal.
19:00You know why California has all those earthquakes?
19:02It's not San Andreas Fault, my friends.
19:05It's the sonic resonance from Area 67's underground testing chambers.
19:11Did you believe in his theories?
19:12No.
19:13No.
19:14Like I said, just entertainment.
19:16Let's hear from a caller.
19:17Hi, name's John.
19:18Long time listener, fourth time caller.
19:20Hey, John from Foxburg.
19:21Welcome back.
19:22What have you got for us tonight?
19:23I swear to God, I just saw a UFO.
19:29John is such a common name.
19:31I'm open to the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
19:34You are?
19:35Yeah.
19:36It's a big universe.
19:37Anything could be out there.
19:38I don't know.
19:39People who claim to have seen aliens tend to be a little off.
19:42You were friends with a corpse, right?
19:43Well, yeah, we were more than friends, but fair enough, okay.
19:47Legally, is it necrophilia if she only did over the clothes stuff?
19:50That's a great question.
19:51Oh, I definitely believe.
19:53In fact, I've been abducted by aliens.
19:57Really?
19:58Multiple times.
19:59Apparently, I'm a fascinating subject.
20:03I remember the last time Smitty was abducted.
20:06Turns out he partied too hard in Vegas and woke up in Wisconsin.
20:09Missing time.
20:11One of the hallmarks of alien abductions.
20:14Had been stricken.
20:15Point is, the government had little gray men in their secret labs for decades.
20:21What are they doing with them?
20:23They're implanting the aliens in unsuspecting hosts and taking over their bodies.
20:27You just never know who might be one of them.
20:32Some people in the station believed Rich stabbed himself to kill an alien parasite.
20:37But I wouldn't say that was a dominant theory.
20:41It wasn't long before we figured out Rich believed something darker.
20:44And it was connected to the seven murders.
20:47Then why did Rich break into the army base?
20:49Yes, I remember the incident.
20:52Rich Rowley cut through a fence.
20:53He trespassed on government property.
20:55He was promptly apprehended and sent on his way.
20:58Do you have any idea what Rich was looking for?
21:00As it turns out, he was looking for me.
21:03But not because of any alleged aliens.
21:06So why did he come?
21:10This part is a little bit embarrassing.
21:15Before I found my calling in the military, I thought that I wanted to be an actor.
21:20And I was in a few DTV movies.
21:23What's DTV?
21:23You're so young.
21:25Direct-to-video.
21:26They made all these super cheap movies back in the 80s and 90s.
21:30You make them as cheaply as possible and then hope that someone was drawn in enough by the cover art
21:35to rent them.
21:37A guy can't have a side gig?
21:38Totally. How did you get into acting?
21:40Some director scouted me when I pulled him over.
21:43He said I had a bitchin' bod.
21:46But it wasn't wrong.
21:47But I gave it up because the people of this city needed a savior.
21:52Yeah, you are the model of public service.
21:55Right?
21:56Anyway, Rich became interested in this terrible B-movie that I was in.
22:02I played a monk.
22:03It was called 300 Days of Hell.
22:09Terrible B-movie? That's what he called it?
22:12300 Days of Hell is the scariest film of the 1990s.
22:15Really? The Ring, Scream, Blair Witch Project?
22:17Which one of us executive produced a horror movie?
22:19Trust me. T-H-D-O-H is true nightmare fuel.
22:24It's not that scary.
22:25She may be watching the beginning of our relationship.
22:28When he was still trying to impress me.
22:31You wanna watch it again tonight?
22:33I would.
22:35Totally.
22:36I do have plans, though.
22:39Yeah, I'm not watching that crap.
22:41Even if it is for a case.
22:42I see enough horror on the job.
22:45That being said, 300 Days of Hell was our first real window into the rabbit hole that Rich had gone
22:51down.
22:51A rabbit hole filled with demons.
22:53Or rather, a demon.
22:55So Rich believed a demon had killed all those people?
22:57No, the killers were definitely human.
22:59Killers?
23:00Plural?
23:00Yeah, there was different trace DNA on all the bodies.
23:03All from different subjects.
23:05And none of them were in the system.
23:07Meaning?
23:07The murders were committed by a group of people with shared beliefs.
23:11A murder cult.
23:12The cult believed a demon named Malifus had been possessing people all across the city.
23:17Jumping from host to host.
23:18And it was up to them to stop it.
23:26The legend of Malifus is centuries old.
23:29The first mention we see of him is 1433's Lesser Grimoire of Solomon by Slovenian Inquisitor Terentius Bruma.
23:38A reference text of demons and their attributes.
23:42Gnarly.
23:43Right?
23:44He's also known as the deceiver, the infestor, and demon of 300 days.
23:50Why?
23:50Once summoned to Earth, Malifus won't rest until he finds a human host.
23:54After possession begins, he incubates.
23:58300 days.
23:59What happens after 300 days?
24:01He reaches full strength and his power becomes uncontainable.
24:06Uh-oh.
24:08Um, if Malifus was summoned to Earth, how would one stop him?
24:12Bruma suggests killing the host might slow Malifus down, forcing him to regenerate before he can find a new host.
24:20A process that also can be slowed by the use of copper.
24:25It was the pennies.
24:27The pennies.
24:27It all came back to the pennies.
24:29Before 1984, U.S. pennies were 95% copper.
24:33So the copper in the pennies was meant to bind the demon, but what about the 1930 part?
24:37Are you familiar with numerology?
24:40Well, some ancient peoples, and Taylor Swift, believed there was a mystical connection between letters and numbers.
24:49Using the Chaldean method, the name Malifus becomes a digit 1930.
24:54So you're saying...
24:55We had a theory.
24:56Whoever killed those people believed the victims were possessed by Malifus.
25:01They had to reach Malifus's host before he reached his true form.
25:06A 1930 penny was the perfect tool.
25:08Yeah.
25:09Rich's talk of, it's inside me, it won't let me die.
25:12He thought he was infested by this demon too, and that's why he killed himself.
25:16Wait.
25:17I thought Rich didn't believe in Malifus.
25:19Isn't that why he was trying to stop the cult?
25:21Well, yes, but I mean, years of obsession and paranoia can do a number on a person's psyche.
25:25I mean, it seems as though in the end, Rich could no longer distinguish fantasy from reality.
25:30And you got this theory from Rich's files?
25:32Well, I mean, we actually got it from Malifus.
25:34And they say watching old horror movies isn't a good use of time.
25:38I never said that.
25:48Are we safe, brother?
25:50Is Malifus banished?
25:52His sigil is drawn.
25:54The right is spoken.
25:56We have sealed his last human vessel with copper.
26:06Heaven forgive us.
26:08Indeed.
26:10For hell will not.
26:13Midnight.
26:16The 300th day.
26:18Our task was done none too soon.
26:48Yeah, that was me.
26:52Do you guys want a glass?
26:53You got anything stronger?
26:56Fine, I'll just take a glass.
26:59Okay, I'll just, I'll have nothing actually.
27:01No fun for me.
27:02Yeah, that was my first big movie role.
27:06Well, my only one, really.
27:10Rich was so excited when I told him I booked it.
27:13He helped me run lines.
27:14Did Rich buy into the Malifus mythology?
27:17No.
27:18Weirdly, given all the conspiracies that Rich believed in.
27:21He was a total atheist.
27:23But I wouldn't have blamed him after everything that happened on that shoot.
27:27Like what?
27:30What?
27:30Before production wrapped, the DP was paralyzed driving to set.
27:34A stunt person had his leg amputated.
27:36There were divorces, bankruptcies, careers ended.
27:39One of the actors even died in his hotel room.
27:43People say the production was cursed.
27:46What about you?
27:47What do you believe?
27:48I believe the real curse was the director.
27:52He was a reckless maniac that didn't know how to run a set.
27:56Cuts!
27:56Cuts!
27:58Arthur!
27:59Arthur!
28:00Your strangulation, it has to be real.
28:04I want to feel a life draining from him.
28:06And you, you, you cannot move from your position.
28:10Not even an inch.
28:12Guys, this ritual is extremely specific.
28:16Okay?
28:17Let's go again.
28:18Okay.
28:18I thought I was choking you pretty well.
28:20I'm sorry.
28:21Okay?
28:21I'm going to choke you a little hard.
28:22Ready?
28:23Douglas was real touchy about the religious stuff.
28:26I guess he had grown up in some sort of commune.
28:28And this was all based on stories he was told growing up.
28:31Okay, but what I heard is that they accidentally summoned Malifus for real.
28:35The director found some ancient tome and inserted the incantation and rituals verbatim.
28:41Ooh, I love that.
28:42And that's what got me thinking about the penny killings.
28:45We found the first victim just a little under 300 days after the summoning ritual was filmed.
28:50We knew Rich was aware of the Malifus legends.
28:52It was only natural to link them.
28:54So Rich thought that penny victims were killed by people trying to stop Malifus.
28:58Was he able to identify any of these killers?
29:00We know he tried.
29:03Hi.
29:03Hey.
29:04How are you?
29:04Jared.
29:05Hello.
29:06Wow.
29:07It's a pleasure to meet you gentlemen.
29:10Pleasure to meet you too.
29:11Why don't you tell us about yourselves?
29:12Yeah.
29:13We co-starred on a TV show together for 15 seasons called Supernatural.
29:21Yeah, we played Sam and Dean Winchester, brothers that tracked and fought supernatural beings.
29:28Like K-pop demon hunters?
29:31No.
29:31No.
29:31Not like that.
29:32I mean, kind of like that.
29:35No.
29:35Okay.
29:36Can you tell us about your encounter with Rich Rowley?
29:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
29:40Rich Rowley.
29:40He came to a fan event we did last year at MonsterCon.
29:45Yeah, you know, those people show up and they just walked the autograph for a photo.
29:51But Rich was a different beast altogether.
29:55Yeah, yeah.
29:56He was super fixated on this one particular episode where we fought a demon.
30:01Malifus.
30:02Yeah.
30:03Uh, that one.
30:04Anyway, he seemed to think we, like, knew more about it than we were saying.
30:10More about what?
30:11Demon hunting.
30:12He kept, like, asking these super pointed questions like he was, I don't know, testing us or something.
30:19Did you have an answer?
30:21No.
30:22No.
30:22I mean, we didn't, we didn't come up with these stories.
30:24You know, we just did what the writers wrote.
30:26It's called acting.
30:28There's no actual demon hunters in real life.
30:30Exactly.
30:31Uh, that's not exactly true.
30:33There is at least one.
30:35And it actually connected to the movie.
30:39We heard the director brought a priest named Father Simon McCabe to bless the set every day before filming.
30:44Well, it was either that or the whole crew was going to walk.
30:47Does that name mean anything to you?
30:51About 15 years ago, Lopez and I had just finished our rookie years.
30:55We responded to, uh, call it a house of a priest doing an exorcism with a 16-year-old girl.
30:59It had been going on for three days.
31:04Police!
31:07Help her!
31:08Please!
31:09Please!
31:10Please!
31:12Please!
31:13Please!
31:15Please!
31:16Please!
31:16Please!
31:17Please!
31:17Please!
31:19Please!
31:21Please!
31:22Please!
31:23Please!
31:24Please!
31:27Please!
31:28Please!
31:29Please!
31:30Please!
31:38Please!
31:38because he believed she was possessed.
31:40She had a brain tumor.
31:42That's what they found after the autopsy.
31:44She needed a doctor, not an exorcism,
31:46and he wasn't a man of God, he was a killer.
31:48The courts agreed.
31:50So Father Simon was convicted of first-degree murder.
31:53When we processed him, we found a penny in his pocket.
31:56Nothing else, just a penny.
31:57Didn't mean anything at the time,
31:58but after Rich connected those seven murders,
32:01it seemed likely he was involved.
32:02Involved, like he killed them?
32:04No, Simon was already in prison
32:06when five of the murders took place,
32:08and his DNA didn't match any that was found on the corpses.
32:11But he could have been part of whatever group
32:14Rich was so afraid of.
32:15Which means he knew more than he had told us,
32:18so we had to go back.
32:20Officers, I remember you.
32:23You were the ones who tried to stop the ritual.
32:25I just wish we would have gotten here sooner.
32:26Becca Scott might still be alive.
32:28Oh, she was long gone before you arrived.
32:30The demon saw to that.
32:32Malifas?
32:33Shh.
32:34Do not say its name in my presence.
32:36Boy, are you afraid we might accidentally summon it?
32:39You may scorn me and my beliefs, but I have fought this evil.
32:44I know enough to fear its power.
32:46What's more evil than murdering a child?
32:49I took no pleasure in the act.
32:51I'm grateful I had the courage to do what was necessary.
32:54Courage?
32:54Tell us about the penny that was in your pocket.
32:57In the movie, 300 Days of Hell, Malifas is sealed inside his host with copper before he can be killed.
33:03Uh, banished, not killed.
33:05What's the difference?
33:06The demon is a parasite and he's a host.
33:11Once you kill the body that inhabits it, find a new one.
33:15Becca Scott was just a single battle in a larger war.
33:19If you're in here, who's doing the fighting now?
33:23The Knights of Avila.
33:26Los Angeles has a long history of spiritualism, esoteric religions that go back over a hundred years.
33:31So think Aleister Crowley, Jack Parsons, L. Ron Hubbard.
33:35He freaking loves this stuff.
33:37I do.
33:38Anyway, a lot of these groups started out as fraternal orders, similar to the Freemasons,
33:43where people would gather and share.
33:46Well, yeah, yes, and some women.
33:48And they would share new ideas, explore philosophies.
33:52They also liked partying, doing drugs, and performing weird sex rituals.
33:57Sign me up.
34:00For the intellectual exchanging of ideas, obviously.
34:03So the Knights of Avila is one of these groups?
34:05It was.
34:06Like a lot of the similar organizations at the time, it fell apart when the founder died.
34:10It hasn't been active in 60 years?
34:12Then what was Father Simon talking about?
34:14Based on Tim and Lopez's conversation with Father Simon, we began to believe that the group,
34:19or at least the name, had been revived sometime in the late 90s to the early 2000s and rebranded
34:27as some kind of demon-hunting cult.
34:30So Rich was actually right.
34:33There was a murderous cabal after him.
34:34It seemed that way.
34:36And we were getting close to discovering who their ringleader was.
34:42I found him.
34:43You found who?
34:44Doug Roberts.
34:45I want to fill a live training for him.
34:47Oh, you mean the director of the sad little demon porn?
34:50Where?
34:50I was going through some old industry trades from around the time THDOH was slated to come
34:54out.
34:55One of the articles mentioned that Roberts was a client of Stuart Wynecliffe at the Golden
34:59Talent Agency.
34:59If the guy hasn't made a movie in 26 years, I doubt they still read him.
35:03Not actively, no.
35:04But I called their offices and I bribed her, like, I talked one of the assistants into giving
35:09me the address where his residual checks are sent.
35:11It's downtown.
35:11Let's go.
35:12Uh, hold on.
35:13You just want to go doorstep the guy?
35:15If that means go knock on a door while also filming, then yes.
35:18Yeah, I'm not in the business of gotcha journalism.
35:20What about the business of making that paper?
35:24The guap?
35:25Money, guy.
35:27Come on.
35:27The doc business is oversaturated these days.
35:29We need footage that P.O.P.'s.
35:31And what pops more than blindsiding a potential co-leader?
35:35Come on.
35:36What's the worst that could happen?
35:39This is it.
35:41Okay.
35:42Um, uh, here.
35:43Here's your camera.
35:44Um, I don't operate.
35:46Oh.
35:50No, you do.
35:53Let's go.
35:56What floor is it on?
35:57Eight.
35:58What's up?
35:58There's an elevator.
35:59Don't worry.
36:06Are you sure it's that way?
36:08Yep.
36:10Nope.
36:11You know, at the risk of being called a scaredy cat, you do understand that this is inherently
36:16neither a wise nor safe activity.
36:19You're asking a woman if she understands that it's inherently dangerous to go anywhere or do anything?
36:25When you put it that way, I sound like an ass.
36:28I heard it.
36:30I heard it.
36:30Well, that's a new one.
36:31Do you tell me?
36:32Maybe we should come back?
36:34I heard it.
36:35Hey, hello, Douglas Roberts, we're here to question you about murders and demons.
36:39That should get his attention.
36:43Oh, I am just an intern.
36:47So, clearly we're not deceased, which means...
36:51We saved you from certain deaths?
36:53I'm not sure how certain it was, right?
36:55Oh, it felt pretty certain to me.
36:57Please don't kill us.
36:58We will join your cult.
36:59Is there a membership fee or a secret handshake?
37:01I love a secret handshake.
37:02Ignore her.
37:03She's not right in the head.
37:04In fact, she has short-term memory issues, so if you let her go now, she won't remember
37:07any of this.
37:07Just shut up.
37:08No one's going anywhere.
37:09I mean, technically, we're all going somewhere.
37:16Alright, let him go.
37:17Get your hands up.
37:18Up against the jeep now.
37:20Let's go.
37:27Hey.
37:28Thanks for trying to save me.
37:30Even though I'm the one who put us in danger.
37:32No problem.
37:34I was about to do the same thing, but you just beat me to it.
37:37I can be noble, too.
37:39No doubt.
37:40Yeah.
37:41I get very claustrophobic.
37:42Can I just point out how claustrophobic I get, please?
37:44So, when did you and Douglas meet?
37:47The movie.
37:48He was, you know, so commanding and driven and everything I wasn't.
37:53When did he start talking about killing the demon?
37:56It was at least a year after that.
37:58He would call me late at night and talk about the demon and how scared he was for the world,
38:04and eventually it started to make sense.
38:07And he told you that someone was possessed?
38:10Correct.
38:11Her name was Cynthia.
38:14She cried when I tied her up, and she kept saying that she was not a demon.
38:19She begged me to believe her, and at that point he was very deep in my head.
38:29And then tonight, you know, all the lies he was spewing at the end.
38:33It was like somebody turned on the light switch.
38:35I could just see him for who he was.
38:38So pathetic.
38:42We'll need you to write up a detailed confession.
38:49I would like to make a deal.
38:53We have already located your co-conspirators.
38:55You don't really have anything to offer.
38:59You don't want to know what an alien spaceship looks like?
39:03I am all that stands between the world and damnation.
39:09So all of the people that you had targeted, they had to die for the greater good?
39:14Yes.
39:15And my heart breaks for each of them.
39:18But I will not let innocence fall to perdition.
39:21Okay.
39:22Have you had your fill of BS?
39:24God, yes.
39:25Okay, me too.
39:25So, uh, first victim.
39:29Cynthia Green.
39:30You dated for two years before she cheated on you.
39:32Marcus Ford.
39:33He worked as a teamster on your movie, then later sued you for non-payment.
39:38Pamela Jones wrote a scathing review of your movie.
39:42Really?
39:43I had no idea.
39:45All seven victims were people who wronged you in some way.
39:48You don't even believe in the demon.
39:50You just used it as a tool to get people with weak minds to do your dirty work for you.
39:57Exactly.
39:58I was the director.
39:59I think you'll find I never laid a finger on any of the victims.
40:04And I think he will find that Manson died in prison.
40:10All right.
40:12Anything else?
40:13No, I think we got everything.
40:15Okay.
40:17That was a crazy one, huh?
40:18Tell me about it.
40:19And look, thanks so much for all of your time and for saving our lives.
40:23Anything from my favorite documentarian?
40:25Actually, the only documentarian I know.
40:26Not true.
40:27I'm a documentarian, too.
40:28Of course.
40:29Yes.
40:29Oh, speaking of, how did this whole working together thing,
40:34go?
40:34Is this the start of a beautiful friendship?
40:36I don't know.
40:38I mean, we have very different styles and instincts and, well, basically everything,
40:42but I'd be able to do another collaboration.
40:48Oh, it's just I kind of signed an exclusive three-film deal with Hulu.
40:54What?
40:54Yeah.
40:55I, um, I sent them a sizzle reel of this project.
40:57Just the me parts.
40:58And, uh, they freaked.
40:59Said I'm going to be the new face of true crime.
41:02Their words.
41:03Wow.
41:03I mean, you'd probably be able to bring him along, though, right?
41:07Oh, totally.
41:09Totally.
41:11I gotta go.
41:12But, uh, thanks again.
41:14Hello?
41:15No, I said Toronto and then camp.
41:19She'll probably call you.
41:21Yeah.
41:25You're right.
41:26Yeah.
41:41All right?
41:43I'm going to go.
41:43And I think, no, I'm going to, you know, this time.
41:43I know.
41:43But, uh, we're going to go.
41:43So, you know, this time, I'm going to go to the next podcast.
41:46This time.
41:47I don't know.
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