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00:167 Matter 15, we're code 6 at the 9-1-1 call location.
00:20Any further contact from the distressed individual?
00:22Negative. Do you want me to start an additional unit?
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?
00:54Uh, something evil's in here.
00:56It sure smells like it.
01:06I can't die.
01:08Inside of me, it won't let me die.
01:12It won't let me die.
01:14Elise, show yourself.
01:19I 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, uh, thanks again for sitting down with me.
01:37Us?
01:38What? Oh, right, us. Uh, 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.
02:16Seat.
02:19Perhaps the most shocking case of murder and mayhem we've ever seen.
02:23Would you say that's a fair assessment?
02:25Um.
02:26No, no. Stay back. Stay back. Stay back. You don't understand.
02:28Okay, relax here, okay? We're trying to help you.
02:30Who stabbed you?
02:32I stabbed myself.
02:34It's inside of me. I've tried everything else. I can't kill it.
02:38I can't die. See?
02:40No, don't pull that. Don't pull it out.
02:41Oh, God.
02:45Oh, he died instantly.
02:47I mean, the wound was fatal.
02:49You can't stab yourself in the heart and survive.
02:51But the way the knife was lodged, he wasn't bleeding.
02:57Once 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, straight-up crazy.
03:45You don't think that there's a body in there?
03:46Um, were you the first to recognize the victim?
03:48Uh, sort of.
03:49Um, I-I thought I knew his face, but it wasn't until we ran his prints that we got a
03:54name.
03:54Rich Rowley was retired LAPD.
03:56He had been with the department for 30 years and was a little bit of a legend, mostly because he
04:02made a series of training videos from the mid-90s till his retirement in 2015, which, by modern standards, are
04:09a 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. He, uh, had a real thing for cults and cabals.
04:58To be fair, Los Angeles does have a pretty dark history, but 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.
05:23I'm sorry. I thought Rich died six months ago.
05:26Yeah. He did. I'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 Rowley's wife, who says the 55-year-old fell overboard after
05:44the sailboat he was captaining was struck by a rogue wave.
05:49Any time 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
06:12girlfriend, who he married five days prior.
06:15So you suspected foul play?
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 God knows 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 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, 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.
07:29So, 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...
07:43He was always a little intense.
07:45But it started to get scary.
07:47He 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.
08:06He 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 and asked me to help him fake his death
08:19in return for his pension.
08:23I needed the money.
08:24So, we got married and we did the deed.
08:27And 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.
08:39Yeah, seems manipulative.
08:41All good storytelling is.
08:42Just tell us about finding the coffin.
08:45Uh, so, once I arrived and we secured the crime scene, we cleared the rest of the house and then
08:50we moved on to the garage.
08:57Oh, oh, you 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?
09:07I 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, okay.
09:26Got it.
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?
09:43Uh, he was stabbed in the heart.
09:46Just like Rich.
09:48Wait.
09:49Rich murdered Marcus Ford.
09:50Did I just solve the case?
09:51Uh, no.
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, uh, 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, and 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. A half a decade of
10:23decomp 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.
10:30That's actually kind of sick. I wonder if there's a way to track down the artist.
10:34I've been meaning to start the sleeve on my other arm. Like, uh.
10:37To my collaborator's point, lots of people have tattoos. What 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, so we started asking around,
10:50and 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 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.
11:41I 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,
12:12I can't be sure that I'm not missing a vital 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,
12:22the department has to make new ones.
12:24And obviously, videos are supposed to be digitized and archived for historical record.
12:29But Rich is... were just gone.
12:32Gone 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,
12:57and I actually know the person who purchased the studio's old hard drives.
13:01Careful, I'm very ticklish.
13:03Like the Pillsbury Doughboy.
13:04Same.
13:05I hear it's, um, a sign of intelligence.
13:07Is 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.
13:21We 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.
13:31Do 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 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.
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, like,
14:23if you forget to check the closet,
14:25Freddy, 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.
14:39Clear the room.
14:41Check the room.
14:41I think he was so close to pulling out of the gun.
14:44What are you guys doing?
14:45That's a great question.
14:45They're reenacting the police training videos
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.
14:54You're talking about your touch, man.
14:55A little self-care, you know.
14:57Trying to relax a little more.
14:58It's not working.
14:59Can 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.
15:05I can keep this up.
15:06The riffing.
15:06I'm clearing the room.
15:07Help us.
15:08Okay.
15:08I finally finished watching
15:10all of the Rich training videos
15:11and there is a lot.
15:13Um, take lesson 277.
15:16Ah!
15:17Ah!
15:17Ah!
15:18Ah!
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
15:30with 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,
15:46Lucy found clues
15:47pointing to seven different cold cases.
15:50But why was Rich hiding the names
15:51of murder victims
15:52in 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
15:59or persons unknown.
16:00If that were the case,
16:02why not just report his suspicion?
16:04He was a cop for 30 years.
16:06Well, Rich had a bit of a reputation
16:08within the department
16:09for, shall we say,
16:11magical thinking.
16:12So, unfortunately,
16:14his theory was dismissed out of hand.
16:16But why did he think
16:17the murders were connected?
16:18Well, for starters,
16:19they were all stabbed in the chest.
16:20But more importantly,
16:22each victim was found
16:23with a penny either in
16:24or 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
16:35Marcus Ford's corpse,
16:36the Emmy found one inserted
16:38into the heel of his left foot.
16:40Why?
16:41Did we mention that
16:42they were all minted in 1930?
16:44Okay.
16:44Well, I just got goosebumps.
16:46Rich's autopsy also revealed
16:47that he had swallowed
16:48close to 50 pennies
16:49before he died.
16:50Gross.
16:51So, at this point,
16:52was your theory...
16:53I actually have no idea
16:54what the theory would have been.
16:55Yeah, well, I would tell you,
16:56but we were way off the mark.
16:58Which we were about to discover
17:00when we got access
17:01to his cloud account.
17:03Okay.
17:05I may have finally found it.
17:08I'm so close
17:09to getting some real answers.
17:13See that?
17:38for 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
17:46into any military facility.
17:49It was Area 67.
17:50What does that mean?
17:52That's where the government
17:53keeps the aliens.
18:00So, Rich broke into
18:01a secret government base
18:02on the hunt
18:02for a massive conspiracy
18:04then stabbed himself
18:05in 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!
18:12It's inside of me!
18:14It won't let me die!
18:15Yeah, I'm not following.
18:17Rich was exposed
18:18to an alien parasite.
18:20It was inside him.
18:22Were you familiar
18:23with Area 67?
18:25I'd heard of it.
18:26Yeah.
18:26There's this AM radio station
18:28I used to listen to
18:29back in Foxburg.
18:30Kept me awake
18:31when I was working late.
18:32The host was obsessed
18:34with 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
18:48military installation
18:49in the world
18:50would let itself
18:51become 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
19:01has all those earthquakes?
19:02It's not San Andreas Balth,
19:04my friends.
19:05It's the sonic resonance
19:07from Area 67
19:08underground testing chambers.
19:11Did you believe
19:12in his theories?
19:12No.
19:13No.
19:14Uh, like I said,
19:15just entertainment.
19:16Let's hear from a caller.
19:17Hi, name's John.
19:18Long-time listener,
19:19fourth-time caller.
19:20Hey, John from Foxburg.
19:21Welcome back.
19:22What have you got
19:23for us tonight?
19:23I swear to God,
19:24I just saw a UFO.
19:28John is such a common name.
19:31I'm open to the possibility
19:32of extraterrestrial life.
19:34You are?
19:35Yeah.
19:35It's a big universe.
19:37Anything could be out there.
19:38I don't know.
19:39People who claim
19:39to have seen aliens
19:40tend to be a little off.
19:42You were friends
19:43with a corpse, right?
19:43Well, yeah,
19:44we were more than friends,
19:45but fair enough.
19:46Okay.
19:47Legally,
19:48is it necrophilia
19:49if she only did
19:49over-the-clothes stuff?
19:50That's a great question.
19:51Oh, I definitely believe.
19:53In fact,
19:55I've been abducted
19:56by aliens.
19:57Really?
19:57Multiple times.
19:59Apparently.
20:01I'm a fascinating subject.
20:03I remember the last time
20:04Smitty was abducted.
20:06Turns out he partied
20:07too hard in Vegas
20:08and woke up in Wisconsin.
20:09Missing time.
20:11One of the hallmarks
20:12of alien abductions.
20:14Had been stricken.
20:15Point is,
20:16the 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
20:24the aliens
20:24in unsuspecting hosts
20:26and taking over their bodies.
20:27You 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
20:42we figured out
20:42Rich believed
20:43something darker
20:44and it was connected
20:45to the seven murders.
20:47Then why did Rich
20:48break into the army base?
20:49Yes, I remember
20:51the incident.
20:52Rich Rowley
20:52cut through a fence.
20:53He trespassed
20:54on 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
21:05any alleged aliens.
21:06So why did he come?
21:09Uh, this part is, uh,
21:12is a little bit embarrassing.
21:13Um, before I found
21:16my calling in the military
21:16I thought that I wanted
21:18to be an actor
21:19and, uh,
21:20I was in a few DTV movies.
21:23What's DTV?
21:23You'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
21:31as cheaply as possible
21:32and then hope
21:32that someone was drawn in
21:34enough by the cover art
21:35to rent them.
21:37A guy can't have a side gig?
21:38Totally.
21:39How did you get into acting?
21:40Some director
21:41scouted me
21:42when I pulled him over.
21:43He said I had a
21:45bitchin' bod.
21:46Well, he wasn't wrong,
21:47but I gave it up
21:49because the people
21:49of this city
21:50needed a savior.
21:52Yeah, you are
21:53the model of public service.
21:55Right?
21:56Anyway, Rich became
21:57interested in
21:58this terrible B-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.
22:14Really?
22:15The Ring, Scream,
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 made me watch
22:26at the 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.
22:39Yeah, I'm not
22:40watching that crap,
22:41even if it is
22:42for a case.
22:42I see enough
22:44horror on the job.
22:45That being said,
22:46300 Days of Hell
22:47was our first
22:48real window
22:49into the rabbit hole
22:50that Rich had gone down.
22:51A rabbit hole
22:52filled with 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,
23:03all from different subjects,
23:04and none of them
23:05were in the system.
23:07Meaning?
23:07The 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 Malifus
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 Malifus
23:28is centuries old.
23:29The first mention
23:30we see of him
23:31is 1433's
23:32lesser grimoire of Solomon
23:34by Slovenian inquisitor
23:36Terencius Bruma.
23:38A reference text
23:40of demons
23:41and their attributes.
23:42Gnarly.
23:43Right?
23:44He's also known
23:45as the deceiver,
23:47the infestor,
23:48and demon
23:48of 300 days.
23:50Why?
23:50Once summoned to Earth,
23:51Malifus 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, if Malifus
24:10was summoned to Earth,
24:11how would one stop him?
24:13Bruma suggests
24:13killing the host
24:15might slow Malifus down,
24:16forcing him to
24:17regenerate
24:18before he can find
24:19a new host,
24:19a process that
24:21also can be slowed
24:22by the use of 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 bind
24:35the demon,
24:35but what about
24:36the 1930 part?
24:37Are you familiar
24:39with numerology?
24:41Some ancient peoples
24:42and Taylor Swift
24:44believed there was
24:46a mystical connection
24:47between letters
24:48and numbers.
24:50Using the Chaldean method,
24:51the name Malifus
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 Malifus.
25:01They had to reach
25:03Malifus' 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
25:09it'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.
25:16Wait, I thought
25:18Rich didn't believe
25:19in Malifus.
25:19Isn't that why
25:20he was trying
25:20to stop the cult?
25:21Well, yes,
25:21but years of obsession
25:23and paranoia
25:23can do a number
25:24on a person's psyche.
25:26I 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, I mean,
25:32we actually got it
25:33from Lopez.
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, brother?
25:50Is Malifus banished?
25:52His sigil is drawn.
25:54The right is spoken.
25:56We have sealed
25:56his last human vessel
25:58with copper.
26:06Heaven forgive us.
26:08Indeed.
26:10For hell will not.
26:14Midnight.
26:15The 300th day.
26:18Our task was done
26:19none too soon.
26:47Yeah, that was me.
26:51Do you guys want a glass?
26:53You got anything stronger?
26:56Fine, I'll just
26:57take a glass.
26:59Okay, I'll just
26:59I'll have nothing, actually.
27:01No fun for me.
27:03Yeah, that was
27:04my first big movie role.
27:06Well, my only one, really.
27:10Rich was so excited
27:11when I told him I booked it.
27:13He helped me run lines.
27:14Did Rich buy into
27:15the Malifus mythology?
27:17No.
27:18Weirdly, given all the
27:19conspiracies that Rich
27:20believed in,
27:21he was a total atheist.
27:23But I wouldn't have
27:24blamed him after everything
27:25that happened on that shoot.
27:27Like what?
27:30Before production wrapped,
27:31the DP was paralyzed
27:33driving to set.
27:34A stunt person
27:35had his leg amputated.
27:36There were divorces,
27:38bankruptcies,
27:38careers ended.
27:40One of the actors
27:40even died
27:42in his hotel room.
27:44People say
27:44the production was 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.
27:56Cuts! Cuts!
27:58Arthur! Arthur!
28:00Your strangulation,
28:01it has to be real.
28:04You want to feel
28:04a life draining from him.
28:06And you, you,
28:07you cannot move
28:09from your position,
28:10not even an inch.
28:11Guys, this ritual
28:13is extremely specific.
28:16Okay?
28:17Let's go again.
28:18Okay.
28:18I 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.
28:25I 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 verbatim.
28:41Ooh, I love that.
28:42And that's what got me
28:43thinking about
28:44the penny killings.
28:45We found the first victim
28:46just a little under
28:47300 days after
28:48the 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
28:55the 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.
29:09Pleasure to meet you, too.
29:11Why don't you tell us
29:11about yourselves?
29:12Yeah, we co-starred
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?
29:30No.
29:31No, not like that.
29:32I mean, kind of like that.
29:35Okay.
29:36Can you tell us
29:37about your encounter
29:37with Rich Rowley?
29:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
29:40Rich Rowley.
29:40He came to a fan event
29:42we did last year
29:45at MonsterCon.
29:46Yeah, you know,
29:46most people show up
29:47and they just want
29:48the autograph
29:49for a photo.
29:51But Rich was
29:53a little of a different
29:54beast altogether.
29:55Yeah, yeah.
29:56He was super fixated
29:58on this one particular episode
29:59where we fought a demon.
30:01Malifus.
30:02Yeah, uh, that one.
30:04Anyway, he seemed to think
30:05we, like, knew more about it
30:09than 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?
30:20No.
30:22No, I mean, we didn't.
30:23We didn't come up
30:24with these stories, you know.
30:25We just did what
30:25the writers wrote.
30:26It's called acting.
30:27There's no actual
30:28demon hunters in real life.
30:30Exactly.
30:30Uh, that's not
30:32exactly true.
30:33There is at least one.
30:35And it actually
30:37connected to 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.
30:54We responded to a
30:55call it a house
30:56of a priest
30:57doing an exorcism
30:58with a 16-year-old girl.
30:59It had been going on
31:00for three days.
31:00Father, no!
31:02Please!
31:06Help her!
31:08Please!
31:15Get away from her!
31:19Father, forgive me!
31:27did you feel like you'd seen the devil the only thing in that room that belonged in hell was
31:31father simon he kept saying he had to the whole way to the station i'm sorry i had to i'm
31:37sorry
31:37i had to because he believed she was possessed she had a brain tumor that's what they found
31:43after the autopsy she needed a doctor not an exorcism and he wasn't a man of god he was a
31:48killer the courts agreed so father simon was convicted of first-degree murder when we
31:53processed him we found a penny in his pocket nothing else just a penny didn't mean anything
31:58at the time but after rich connected those seven murders it seemed likely he was involved
32:02involved like he killed them no simon was already in prison when five of the murders took place and
32:08his dna didn't match any that was found on the corpses but he could have been part of whatever
32:13group rich was so afraid of which means he knew more than he had told us so we had to
32:19go back
32:21officers i remember you you you were the ones who tried to stop the ritual i wish we would have
32:25gotten here sooner becca scott might still be alive oh she was long gone before you arrived
32:30demon saw to that malifus do not say its name in my presence boy are you afraid we may accidentally
32:38summon it you may scorn me and my beliefs but i have fought this evil i know enough to fear
32:45its
32:45power what's more evil than murdering a child i took no pleasure in the act i'm grateful i had the
32:52courage to do what was necessary courage tell 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 not killed what's the difference the demon is a parasite it needs a host once you kill
33:12the body that inhabits it find a new one becca scott was just a single battle in a larger war
33:18if you're in here who's doing the fighting now the knights of avila los angeles has a long history of
33:28spiritualism esoteric religions that go back over 100 years so think alistair crowley jack parsons
33:34l ron hubbard he freaking loves this stuff i do anyway a lot of these groups started out as fraternal
33:41orders similar to the freemasons where people would gather and and share well yeah yes and and some women
33:48and they would share new ideas explore philosophies they also liked partying doing drugs and performing
33:55weird sex rituals sign me up for the intellectual exchanging of ideas obviously so the nice of
34:04avila is one of these groups it was like a lot of the similar organizations at the time it fell
34:09apart
34:09when the founder died it hasn't been active in 60 years then what was father simon talking about based
34:15on tim and lopez's conversation with father simon we began to believe that the group or at least the name
34:22had been revived sometime in the late 90s to the early 2000s and rebranded as some kind of demon
34:29hunting cult so rich was actually right there was a murderous cabal after him it seemed that way and
34:36we were getting close to discovering who their ringleader was
34:40i found him found who doug roberts i want to throw a life training from him oh you mean the
34:48director of
34:48the sad little demon porn where i was going through some old industry trades from around the time thdoh
34:53was slated to come out one of the articles mentioned that roberts was a client of stuart
34:58winecliffe at the golden talent agency the guy hasn't made a movie in 26 years i doubt they still read
35:02him
35:02not actively no but i called their offices and i bribed or like i talked one of the assistants
35:08into giving me the address where his residual checks are sent it's downtown let's go uh hold on you just
35:14want to go doorstep the guy if that means go knock on a door while also filming then yes yeah
35:18i'm not in
35:18the business of gotcha journalism what about the business of making that paper the guap money guy come
35:27on the doc business is oversaturated these days we need footage that p.o.p's and what pops more than
35:32blindsiding a potential cult later come on what's the worst that could happen this is it okay um uh
35:43here here's your camera um i don't operate oh well okay now you do let's go
35:56what floor is it on eight but uh there's an elevator don't worry
36:06are you sure it's that way yep nope you know at the risk of being called a scaredy cat you
36:15do
36:15understand that this is inherently neither a wise nor safe activity you're asking a woman if she
36:21understands that it's inherently dangerous to go anywhere or do anything when you put it that way
36:27i sound like an ass
36:32maybe we should come back hey 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 so clearly we're not deceased which means we saved you from certain
36:53deaths i'm not sure how certain it was oh it felt pretty certain to me please don't kill us we
36:58will
36:58join your cult is there a membership fee or a secret handshake i love a secret handshake ignore her she's
37:03not right in the head in fact she has short-term memory issues so if you let her go now
37:06she won't
37:06remember any of those just shut up no one's going anywhere i mean technically we're all going somewhere
37:15all right let him go get your hands up up against jeep now let's go
37:26oh my god yeah thanks for trying to save me even though i'm the one who put us in danger
37:32no problem i was about to do the same thing but you just uh beat me to it i can
37:38be noble too no
37:40doubt yeah um i get very claustrophobic can i just point out how claustrophobic i get please
37:44so when did you and douglas meet in the movie he was you know so commanding and driven and everything
37:52i wasn't when did he start talking about killing the demon it was uh at least a year after that
37:58he would
37:59call me late at night and talk about the demon and how scared he was for the world and eventually
38:05it
38:05started to make sense and he told you that someone was possessed correct her name was cynthia um
38:14she cried when i tied her up and she kept saying that she was not a demon she begged me
38:20to believe her and
38:25at that point he was very deep in my head and then tonight you know all the lies he was
38:31spewing at the end
38:33it was like somebody turned on the light switch i could just see him for who he was so 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 you 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 so all of the people that you had targeted
39:10they had to die for the greater good yes and my heart breaks for each of them but i will
39:19not let
39:19innocence fall to perdition okay have you had your fill of bs god yes okay me too so uh first
39:27victim
39:29cynthia green you dated for two years before she cheated on you marcus ford he worked as a teamster
39:34on your movie then later sued you for non-payment pamela jones wrote a scathing review of your movie
39:42really i i had no idea all seven victims were people who wronged you in some way you don't even
39:49believe in the demon you just used it as a tool to get people with weak minds to do your
39:53dirty work for you
39:58exactly i was the director i think you'll find i never laid a finger on any of the victims and
40:04i
40:05think you will find that manson died in prison
40:10all right uh anything else no i think we got everything okay that was a crazy one huh tell me
40:19about it and look thanks so much for all of your time and for saving our lives anything from my
40:24favorite documentarian actually the only documentarian i know not true i'm a documentarian too of course
40:29yes oh speaking of how did this whole uh working together thing go is this the start of a beautiful
40:36friendship i don't know i mean we have very different styles and instincts and well basically
40:42everything but i'd be able to do another collaboration oh um it's just i uh i kind of signed an
40:51exclusive
40:52three film deal with hulu what yeah i um i sent them a sizzle reel of this project just the
40:57me parts
40:58and uh they freaked said i'm gonna be the new face of true crime their words wow i mean you'd
41:04probably
41:04be able to bring him along though right oh totally totally i gotta go but uh thanks again hello no
41:15i said
41:16toronto and then camp she'll probably call you
41:58damn it
42:00and then camp she'll be the new face of true crime
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