- 8 hours ago
The Rookie S8 EP 15
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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?
00:29That's a 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.
01:19It can't die.
01:20It'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 eyeline 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.
01:38Us?
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.
02:16Uh-huh. 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?
02:32I 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 that. 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...
03:15It was straight-up crazy.
03:18There's a body in there?
03:21And we have finally found it.
03:25Please don't kill us. We will join your cult.
03:28Oh, God.
03:29You arrived on scene as the sergeant's supervisor?
03:32Yes. I got there before the ambulance.
03:35Not that there was any aid they could have rendered.
03:37Is there a reason you didn't want us to interview you with Tim?
03:40What?
03:41No. We're just...
03:43I'm just shaking it out.
03:44Let's... Let's stay focused.
03:46Um, were you the first to recognize the victim?
03:48Uh, sort of.
03:50Um, I thought I knew his face, but it wasn't until we ran his prints that we 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.
04:01Mostly 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 going to be talking about proper cuffing technique.
04:22Excuse me, officer? I hurt my shoulder at the gym.
04:26Would 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.
04:43The life of the party, at least early in his career.
04:46Then, as the years went on, he became a little, uh, crazy.
04:52Crazy 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,
05:08but that caused quite a controversy with some of the older officers.
05:12They said we were being insensitive.
05:14Why would updating training videos be insensitive?
05:18Even three years on, a lot of his friends were still mourning his death
05:21and saw the videos as a way to keep his memory alive.
05:24I'm sorry.
05:24I 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
05:35after a sailing trip gone wrong.
05:38Koska responded to a distress call this morning from Raleigh's wife,
05:42who says the 55-year-old fell overboard after the sailboat he was captaining
05:46was struck by a rogue wave.
05:49Any time someone disappears from a boat and ship,
05:51it automatically sets off alarm bells.
05:53Why is that?
05:54It's just an ideal place to cover up crime,
05:56throw 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,
06:11his on-again, off-again girlfriend who he married five days prior.
06:15So you suspected foul play?
06:16No!
06:19Not necessarily, but we couldn't rule it out.
06:21Why 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 what lurking below.
06:40You stand to inherit Rich's entire police pension.
06:42That's quite a bit of money.
06:44How dare you?
06:45I 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 was over.
07:02Did 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.
07:10Until he turned up dead again.
07:12Needless 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, collecting Rich's pension and his life insurance,
07:22it's fraud.
07:23Not to mention the resources that were wasted trying to recover his body.
07:27He could be facing some serious charges.
07:30So, 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.
07:48He covered all his windows with newspapers.
07:51He 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.
08:06But he 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.
08:40You know, seems to manipulate him.
08:41All good storytelling is.
08:42Just tell us about finding the coffin.
08:46So, once I arrived and we secured the crime scene,
08:49we cleared the rest of the house and then we moved on to the garage.
08:57Oh, oh, you don't think there's...
09:00That there's a body in there?
09:01I absolutely do.
09:02Okay, are we going to open it?
09:04Because I don't want to open it.
09:06What do you think?
09:07I mean, it's clearly been dug up.
09:10Given the state of the coffin,
09:11it's clearly been underground for a few years.
09:13If there is a body in there, it's likely long dead.
09:17Unless...
09:18Unless what?
09:19Unless he put a fresh victim in an old coffin.
09:25Oh, okay.
09:26Got it.
09:27Oh.
09:29Oh, God.
09:34The body belonged to a 54-year-old truck driver named Marcus Ford,
09:39who was the victim of an unsolved homicide back in 2020.
09:42How was he killed?
09:43He was stabbed in the heart.
09:46Just like Rich.
09:48Wait.
09:49Rich murdered Marcus Ford.
09:51Did 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.
09:58Medical 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 looked back at the case file, there was a photo of it taken during the original autopsy.
10:31That's actually kind of sick.
10:32I 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.
10:46But we couldn't place it, so 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's why we always advise the public to wait 24 hours before reporting someone missing.
11:13While most missing person reports stem from a lapse in communication, every once in a while, you'll encounter a true,
11:19workable 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.
11:32So Rich hid 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.
11:42I can't believe I'm saying this, but Smitty was right.
11:45In 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.
11:56What if Rich put messages in other videos?
11:59What kind of messages?
12:00I'm not totally sure yet.
12:02I 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.
12:10The 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 in the videos become outdated because of new laws or protocols,
12:22the department has to make 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.
12:37Most 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.
13:01Well, I'm very ticklish, like the Pillsbury Doughboy.
13:05Same.
13:05I hear it's, um, 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.
13:17I 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.
13:28You 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?
13:33Because I'd love a referral.
13:34My guy is.
13:36Back on track.
13:37Uh, the hard drives you bought contain police training videos.
13:40Did you happen to watch any of them?
13:41Of course.
13:42Rich Rowley, right?
13:44We 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.
13:53Vic 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,
13:59because we wiped all of those hard drives
14:01to use as servers months ago.
14:03Sorry, I couldn't be of more help.
14:05You'll still feature this interview, right?
14:09Yeah, probably not.
14:10Wait, you said you and the Dropout crew
14:12watched the video like dozens of times, right?
14:15Yes, sometimes on an edible.
14:16Mostly sober.
14:17I have an idea.
14:18Okay, so then you'd be like,
14:19don'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,
14:23if you forget to check the closet,
14:25Freddie, Jason, and Chucky will rip off your scrum.
14:28Okay, I think there's less foot stuff.
14:30I feel like he's like,
14:31and then your crazy met the ex-girlfriend
14:33who's been hiding in the hallway closet
14:35will chainsaw your face when you get home
14:37because you forgot to clear the room.
14:40Clear the room!
14:41Check the room!
14:41I think he was so close to pulling out a gun.
14:44What are you guys doing?
14:45That's a great question.
14:46They're reenacting the police training video
14:47since you guys wiped them off your hard drive.
14:49Oh, the Rich Rowley ones.
14:50Those are so funny.
14:51I actually stole one of the hard drives
14:53so I can watch it when I'm in the tub.
14:54A little self-care, you know.
14:57Trying 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.
15:02No, I think this is actually working great.
15:05Okay.
15:05You can keep this up.
15:06The riffing.
15:07Clearing the room!
15:07Help us.
15:08Okay, I finally finished watching
15:10all of the Rich Training videos,
15:11and there is a lot.
15:13Take lesson 277.
15:19My Azaleas!
15:20A cold case where victim Azalea Robinson
15:23was found stabbed near a ski resort.
15:26You're kidding.
15:27No.
15:27And in Lesson 290,
15:29Rich is holding a folder with a post-it note on the back
15:32with a brown star drawn on it.
15:33I'm lost.
15:34Right.
15:35So I looked up the cold cases
15:36to see if there were any victims
15:37with names like Star or Stella,
15:40and there was one hit.
15:42Stella Brown.
15:43Also found stabbed in the chest.
15:45In all, Lucy found clues
15:47pointing to seven different cold cases.
15:50But why was Rich hiding the names
15:51of murder victims in police training videos?
15:53Based on what we could piece together,
15:55he believed he had stumbled upon a conspiracy,
15:57a series of connected murders
15:59committed by person or persons unknown.
16:01If that were the case,
16:02why not just report his suspicion?
16:04He was a cop for 30 years.
16:05Well, Rich had a bit of a reputation
16:08within 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,
16:19they were all stabbed in the chest.
16:20But more importantly,
16:22each victim was found with a penny
16:23either 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.
16:30Stella Brown lucked out.
16:32Hers was just clasped in her hand.
16:33And when we re-examined Marcus Ford's corpse,
16:36the Emmy found one inserted
16:38into 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
16:47that he had swallowed close to 50 pennies
16:49before he died.
16:50Gross.
16:51So at this point, was your theory...
16:53I actually have no idea
16:54what the theory would have been.
16:55Yeah, well, I would tell you,
16:57but we were way off the mark.
16:58Which we were about to discover
17:00when we got access to his cloud account.
17:03Okay.
17:05We may have finally found it.
17:08I am so close to getting some real answers.
17:13See that?
17:39For a guy pretending to be dead,
17:41breaking into a secure military facility
17:43doesn't seem like the best idea.
17:45No, he wasn't just breaking into
17:47any 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
18:02on the hunt for a massive conspiracy
18:04then stabbed himself in the chest?
18:05I mean, at that point,
18:06it's obvious what happened.
18:07Is it?
18:08Come on.
18:09Remember what Rich said
18:10right before he died?
18:11I can't die.
18:13It'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
18:28I 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,
18:39but always entertaining.
18:41Area 51 is theater.
18:44Do you believe,
18:45do you really believe
18:47the most secretive military installation in the world
18:50would let itself become a tourist attraction?
18:53No, no, no, no.
18:54Area 51 is the distraction.
18:57Area 67 is the real deal.
19:00You know why California has all those earthquakes?
19:03It's not San Andreas fault, my friends.
19:06It's the Sonic Resonance
19:07from Area 67's underground testing chambers.
19:11Did you believe in his theories?
19:12No, no.
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, I mean, it's a big universe.
19:37Anything could be out there.
19:38I don't know.
19:39People who claim to have seen aliens
19:40tend to be a little off.
19:42You were friends with a corpse, right?
19:43Well, yeah, we were more than friends,
19:45but fair enough, okay.
19:47Legally, is it necrophilia
19:49if 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
20:08and woke up in Wisconsin.
20:09Missing time.
20:11One of the hallmarks of alien abductions
20:14had been stricken.
20:15Point is, the government
20:17had little gray men
20:19in their secret labs
20:20for decades.
20:21What are they doing with them?
20:23They're implanting the aliens
20:24in unsuspecting hosts
20:26and taking over their bodies.
20:28You just never know
20:29who might be one of them.
20:32Some people in the station
20:34believed Rich dabbed himself
20:35to kill an alien parasite.
20:38But I wouldn't say
20:39that was a dominant theory.
20:41It wasn't long before we figured out
20:42Rich believed something darker
20:44and it was connected
20:46to the seven murders.
20:47Then why did Rich
20:48break 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
20:57and sent on his way.
20:58Do you have any idea
20:59what Rich was looking for?
21:00Uh, as it turns out
21:01he was looking for me.
21:03But not because of any
21:05alleged aliens.
21:06So why did he come?
21:09Uh, this part is, uh,
21:12is a little bit embarrassing.
21:13Um, before I found my calling
21:16in the military
21:17I thought that I wanted
21:18to be an actor
21:19and, uh, I was in a few
21:21DTV movies.
21:23What's DTV?
21:24You're so young.
21:25Uh, direct-to-video.
21:26They made all these
21:27super cheap movies
21:29back in the 80s and 90s.
21:30You make them as cheaply as possible
21:32and then hope that someone
21:33was drawn in enough
21:34by the cover art
21:35to rent them.
21:37A guy can't have a side gig?
21:39Totally.
21:39How did you get into acting?
21:40Some director scouted me
21:42when I pulled him over.
21:43He said I had a
21:45bitchin' bod.
21:46Well, he wasn't wrong.
21:48But I gave it up
21:49because the people
21:50of this city
21:50needed a savior.
21:52Yeah, you are the model
21:54of public service.
21:56Right?
21:56Anyway, Rich became
21:57interested in
21:58this terrible
21:59B-movie
22:00that I was in.
22:02I played a monk.
22:03It was called
22:04300 Days of Hell.
22:09Terrible B-movie?
22:10That's what he called it?
22:12300 Days of Hell
22:13is the scariest film
22:14of the 1990s.
22:15Really?
22:15The Ring, Screen,
22:16Blair Witch Project?
22:17Which one of us
22:18executive produced
22:19a horror movie?
22:20Trust me.
22:20T-H-D-O-H
22:22is true nightmare fuel.
22:24It's not that scary.
22:25She may be watching
22:26the beginning
22:27of our relationship.
22:28When he was still
22:29trying to impress me.
22:31You want to watch
22:32it again tonight?
22:34I would.
22:35Totally.
22:36I do have plans, though.
22:40Yeah, I'm not
22:40watching that crap.
22:41Even if it is for a case.
22:42I see enough horror
22:44on the job.
22:45That being said,
22:46300 Days of Hell
22:48was our first real window
22:49into the rabbit hole
22:50that Rich had gone down.
22:51A rabbit hole filled
22:52with demons.
22:53Or rather,
22:54A demon.
22:55So Rich believed
22:56a demon had killed
22:57all those people?
22:57No, the killers
22:58were definitely human.
22:59Killers, plural?
23:00Yeah, there was
23:01different trace DNA
23:02on all the bodies.
23:04All from different subjects
23:04and none of them
23:05were in the system.
23:07Meaning?
23:08The murders were committed
23:08by a group of people
23:09with shared beliefs.
23:11A murder cult.
23:12The cult believed
23:13a demon named Malephous
23:15had been possessing people
23:16all across the city,
23:17jumping from host to host.
23:18And it was up to them
23:20to stop it.
23:26The legend of Malephous
23:28is centuries old.
23:29The first mention
23:30we see of him
23:31is 1433's
23:33Lesser Grimoire of Solomon
23:34by Slovenian inquisitor
23:36Terencius Bruma.
23:38A reference text
23:40of demons
23:41and their attributes.
23:43Gnarly.
23:43Right?
23:44He's also known
23:46as the deceiver,
23:47the infester,
23:48and demon
23:48of 300 days.
23:50Why?
23:50Once summoned to earth,
23:51Malephous won't rest
23:52until he finds
23:53a human host.
23:54After possession begins,
23:56he incubates.
23:58300 days.
23:59What happens
24:00after 300 days?
24:01He reaches full strength
24:03and his power
24:04becomes uncontainable.
24:06Uh-oh.
24:09Um,
24:10if Malephous
24:10was summoned to earth,
24:11how would one stop him?
24:13Bruma suggests
24:14killing the host
24:15might slow Malephous down,
24:16forcing him to
24:17regenerate
24:18before he can find
24:19a new host,
24:20a process that
24:21also can be slowed
24:22by the use
24:23of copper.
24:25It was the pennies.
24:27The pennies.
24:27It all came back
24:28to the pennies.
24:29Before 1984,
24:31U.S. pennies
24:31were 95% copper.
24:33So the copper
24:33and the pennies
24:34was meant to
24:34bind the demon,
24:35but what about
24:36the 1930 part?
24:37Are you familiar
24:39with numerology?
24:41Some ancient peoples
24:43and Taylor Swift
24:44believed
24:45there was a mystical
24:46connection between
24:47letters and numbers.
24:49Using the Chaldean method,
24:51the name Malephous
24:52becomes a digit 1930.
24:54So you're saying...
24:55We had a theory.
24:56Whoever killed
24:57those people
24:58believed the victims
24:59were possessed
25:00by Malephous.
25:01They had to
25:02reach Malephous' host
25:04before he reached
25:05his true form.
25:06A 1930 penny
25:07was the perfect tool.
25:08Yeah.
25:09Rich's talk of
25:10it's inside me,
25:11it won't let me die,
25:12he thought he was
25:13infested by this demon too
25:14and that's why
25:15he killed himself.
25:17Wait,
25:17I thought Rich
25:18didn't believe in Malephous.
25:19Isn't that why
25:20he was trying
25:20to stop the cult?
25:21Yes,
25:22but I mean
25:22years of obsession
25:23and paranoia
25:23can do a number
25:24on a person's psyche.
25:25I mean,
25:26it seems as though
25:26in the end,
25:27Rich could no longer
25:28distinguish fantasy
25:29from reality.
25:30And you got this theory
25:31from Rich's files?
25:32Well,
25:32I mean,
25:32we actually got it
25:33from Opus.
25:34And they say
25:35watching old horror movies
25:37isn't a good use of time.
25:39I never said that.
25:48Are we safe,
25:49brother?
25:50Is Malephous banished?
25:52His sigil is drawn.
25:54The right is spoken.
25:56We have sealed
25:57his last human vessel
25:58with copper.
26:06heaven forgive us.
26:08Indeed.
26:10For hell will not.
26:13Midnight.
26:15The 300th day.
26:18Our task was done
26:20none too soon.
26:47Yeah,
26:49that was me.
26:52Do you guys
26:52want a glass?
26:53You got anything stronger?
26:56Fine,
26:57I'll just take a glass.
26:59Okay,
26:59I'll just,
27:00I'll have nothing,
27:00actually.
27:01No fun for me.
27:03Yeah,
27:03that was
27:04my first big movie role.
27:06Well,
27:07my only one,
27:08really.
27:10Rich was so excited
27:11when I told him
27:12I booked it.
27:13He helped me run lines.
27:14Did Rich buy into
27:15the Malephous mythology?
27:17No.
27:18Weirdly,
27:18given all the conspiracy
27:19that Rich believed in,
27:21he was a total atheist.
27:23But I wouldn't have blamed him
27:25after everything
27:25that happened on that shoot.
27:27Like what?
27:30Before production wrapped,
27:32the DP was paralyzed
27:33driving to set.
27:34A stunt person
27:35had his leg amputated.
27:37There were divorces,
27:38bankruptcies,
27:38careers ended.
27:39One of the actors
27:41even died in his hotel room.
27:43People say the production
27:44was cursed.
27:46What about you?
27:47What do you believe?
27:48I believe the real curse
27:50was the director.
27:52He was a reckless maniac
27:54that didn't know
27:54how to run a set.
27:55cuts, cuts, cuts!
27:58Arthur, Arthur!
28:00Your strangulation,
28:01it has to be real.
28:04I want to feel
28:05the life draining from him.
28:06You, you,
28:07you cannot move
28:09from your position,
28:10not even an inch.
28:12Guys,
28:12this ritual
28:14is extremely specific.
28:16Okay?
28:17Let's go again.
28:18Okay.
28:19I thought I was choking
28:20you pretty well.
28:20I'm sorry.
28:21Okay?
28:21I'm going to choke you
28:22a little harder.
28:22Ready?
28:23Douglas was real touchy
28:24about the religious stuff.
28:26I guess he had grown up
28:26in some sort of commune,
28:28and this was all based
28:29on stories he was told
28:30growing up.
28:31Okay, but what I heard
28:32is that they accidentally
28:33summoned Malifus for real.
28:35The director found
28:36some ancient tome
28:37and inserted the incantation
28:39and rituals verbatum.
28:41Ooh, I love that.
28:42And that's what got me thinking
28:43about the penny killings.
28:45We found the first
28:46victim just a little
28:47under 300 days
28:48after the summoning ritual
28:49was filmed.
28:50We knew Rich was aware
28:51of the Malifus legends.
28:52It was only natural
28:53to link them.
28:54So Rich thought
28:55that penny victims
28:56were killed by people
28:57trying to stop Malifus.
28:58Was he able to identify
28:59any of these killers?
29:00We know he tried.
29:03Hi.
29:03Hey, how are you?
29:04Jared.
29:05Hello.
29:06Wow.
29:08It's a pleasure
29:09to meet you, gentlemen.
29:10Pleasure to meet you, too.
29:11Why don't you tell us
29:12about yourselves?
29:12Yeah, we co-star
29:15on a TV show together
29:17for 15 seasons
29:19called Supernatural.
29:21Yeah, we played Sam
29:22and Dean Winchester,
29:24brothers that, you know,
29:26tracked and fought
29:27Supernatural beings.
29:29Like K-pop demon hunters?
29:31No.
29:31No, not like that.
29:32I mean, kind of like that.
29:35Okay.
29:36Can you tell us
29:37about your encounter
29:38with Rich Rowley?
29:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
29:40Rich Rowley.
29:40He came to a fan event
29:43we did last year
29:44at MonsterCon.
29:46Yeah, he had a little
29:47people show up
29:47and they just want
29:48the autograph
29:49for a photo.
29:51But Rich was
29:53a different beast
29:54altogether.
29:55Yeah, yeah.
29:56He was super fixated
29:58on this one particular episode
30:00where we fought a demon.
30:01Malifus.
30:02Yeah.
30:03That one.
30:04Anyway, he seemed to think
30:06we, like, knew more
30:08about it than we were saying.
30:10More about what?
30:11Demon hunting.
30:12He kept, like, asking
30:14these super pointed questions
30:16like he was, I don't know,
30:18testing us or something.
30:19Did you have an answer?
30:21No.
30:22I mean, we didn't come up
30:24with these stories.
30:24You know, we just did
30:25what the writers wrote.
30:26It's called acting.
30:27There's no actual
30:29demon hunters in real life.
30:30Exactly.
30:31Uh, that's not exactly true.
30:33There is at least one.
30:35And it actually connected
30:37to the movie.
30:39We heard the director
30:40brought a priest
30:41named Father Simon McCabe
30:42to bless the set
30:43every day before filming.
30:44Well, it was either that
30:45or the whole crew
30:46was going to walk.
30:47Does that name
30:48mean anything to you?
30:51About 15 years ago,
30:52Lopez and I had just
30:53finished our rookie years.
30:55We responded to a
30:55call at a house
30:56of a priest doing an exorcism
30:58with a 16-year-old girl.
30:59It had been going on
31:00for three days.
31:04Police!
31:06Help her!
31:08Please!
31:11Police!
31:16Get away from her!
31:19Father, forgive me.
31:27Did you feel like
31:28you'd seen the devil?
31:29The only thing in that room that belonged in hell was Father Simon.
31:32He kept saying he had to.
31:34The whole way to the station.
31:35I'm sorry I had to.
31:37I'm sorry I had to.
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.
31:48He 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, it seemed likely he was involved.
32:02Involved? Like he killed them?
32:04No, Simon was already in prison when 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 Rich was so afraid of.
32:15Which means he knew more than he had told us.
32:18So we had to go back.
32:20Officers.
32:21I 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.
32:31Demon saw to bat.
32:32Malifus.
32:34Do not say its name in my presence.
32:37Boy, are you afraid we may 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, Malifus is sealed inside his host with copper before he can be killed.
33:03Banished.
33:04Not killed.
33:05What's the difference?
33:07The demon is a parasite.
33:10It needs a host.
33:11Once you kill the body that inhabits it, find a new one.
33:16Becca 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 100 years.
33:32So 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, where people would gather and
33:45share.
33:46Well, yeah, yes, and some women, and 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?
34:06It 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?
34:13Then what was Father Simon talking about?
34:15Based 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.
34:35It seemed that way, and we were getting close to discovering who their ringleader was.
34:42I found him.
34:43Found who?
34:44Doug Roberts.
34:45I want to feel 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 out.
34:55One of the articles mentioned that Roberts was a client of Stuart Wynecliffe at the Golden Talent Agency.
35:00The guy hasn't made a movie in 26 years.
35:01I doubt they still read him.
35:03Not actively, no.
35:04But I called their offices, and I bribed her, like...
35:07I talked one of the assistants into giving me 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 collater?
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, well.
35:50Now, you do.
35:53Let's go.
35:56What floor is it on?
35:58Eight.
35:58But, uh, there'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
36:17neither a wise nor safe activity.
36:19You're asking a woman if she understands that it's inherently dangerous to go anywhere or do
36:24anything?
36:25When you put it that way, I sound like an ass.
36:32Maybe we should come back?
36:34Hey, hello, Douglas Roberts.
36:36We're here to question you about murders and demons.
36:40That should get his attention.
36:43Oh, I am just an intern.
36:48So, clearly we're not deceased, which means...
36:52We 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.
37:16All right, let him go.
37:17Get your hands up.
37:18Up against the jeep now.
37:20Let's go.
37:26Oh, my God.
37:27Hey, yeah.
37:28Thanks for trying to save me, even 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.
37:38I 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?
37:47In the 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?
37:55It was at least a year after that, he would call me late at night and talk about the demon
38:02and how scared he was for the world.
38:04And eventually it started to make sense.
38:07And he told you that someone was possessed.
38:28And he told you that someone was possessed.
38:37Correct.
38:37He was so pathetic.
38:42We'll need you to write up a detailed confession.
38:49I would like to make a deal.
38:54I would like to make a deal.
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.
39:24Okay.
39:25Me too.
39:26So, 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.
39:49You 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.
39:56Well...
39:57Exactly.
39:58I was the director.
40:00I think you'll find I never laid a finger on any of the victims.
40:04And I think you will find that Manson died in prison.
40:10All right.
40:11Uh, anything 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.
40:27Not true.
40:27I'm a documentarian, too.
40:28Of course.
40:29Yes.
40:29Oh, speaking of, how did this whole working together thing go?
40:34Is this the start of a beautiful friendship?
40:36I don't know.
40:37No.
40:37I mean, we have very different styles and instincts and, well, basically everything.
40:43But I'd be able to do another collaboration.
40:47Oh, um, it's just I, uh, 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 gonna 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.
41:47Oh.
41:48Yeah.
41:50Yeah.
41:53I know.
41:53Yeah.
41:54Yeah.
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