- 1 day ago
A cryptic distress call leads LAPD into a chilling scene where a man claims an evil entity is possessing him and forcing him to stab himself. As the investigation unfolds, it becomes entangled with a bitter legal dispute over intellectual property, revealing a forced partnership between a documentary filmmaker and a disgruntled former associate.
The case takes a shocking turn when the victim is identified as Rich Rowley, a legendary but increasingly erratic retired LAPD officer known for his intense training videos and obsession with cults. His mysterious death echoes a previous disappearance at sea, raising suspicions of foul play and a hidden dark history.
Delve into the unsettling connection between a supposed possession, a high-stakes lawsuit, and the peculiar demise of a decorated officer. Uncover the truth behind the "evil" lurking within and the secrets that led to not one, but two suspicious deaths.
#TrueCrime#Documentary#PoliceScandal#Cults
The case takes a shocking turn when the victim is identified as Rich Rowley, a legendary but increasingly erratic retired LAPD officer known for his intense training videos and obsession with cults. His mysterious death echoes a previous disappearance at sea, raising suspicions of foul play and a hidden dark history.
Delve into the unsettling connection between a supposed possession, a high-stakes lawsuit, and the peculiar demise of a decorated officer. Uncover the truth behind the "evil" lurking within and the secrets that led to not one, but two suspicious deaths.
#TrueCrime#Documentary#PoliceScandal#Cults
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Any further contact from the distressed individual?
00:02Negative. Do you want me to start additional units?
00:04Uh, no. Give us a minute to scope it out first.
00:07You ready?
00:08Do I have a choice?
00:09That's a spirit.
00:18LAPD, we've received a distress call from this location. We are making entry.
00:30Oh, do you feel that?
00:32Feel what?
00:32Uh, something evil's in here.
00:34Well, it sure smells like it.
00:44I can't die.
00:46It's inside of me.
00:48It won't let me die.
00:50It won't let me die.
00:52Elise, show yourself.
00:56I can't die.
00:57It's inside of me.
00:58It won't let me die.
01:00Don't touch that, all right?
01:00Just call this in.
01:01Call it in.
01:02I need an RA to my location for a stabbing victim.
01:04So I usually sit right next to the camera to keep the eyeline tight?
01:07Then I'll just sit on the other side.
01:08No, because then you'll split his look.
01:10Oh, hey, hi.
01:12Thanks, uh, thanks again for sitting down with me.
01:14Us?
01:15What?
01:15Oh, right, us.
01:16Uh, why are you filming?
01:18Oh, I just wanted to document the new partnership.
01:20Abigail was very excited.
01:21It's not a partnership.
01:22It's totally a partnership.
01:23The judge was very clear.
01:24The judge?
01:25My name is Abigail Tierney.
01:26I am currently trapped inside a secret lab at Westview Psychiatric.
01:30All attempts at escape have proven fruitless.
01:32I may have inadvertently used some of Abigail's footage in my last documentary without gaining
01:36the proper permissions.
01:37Translation.
01:38He stole my intellectual property.
01:40I sued, and the judge gave him a choice.
01:42Pay me 200,000 damages or give me equal partnership in his next project.
01:46He never said equal, but you know what?
01:48Never mind.
01:48Let's focus on the story that we're here to tell.
01:51Seat.
01:54Perhaps the most shocking case of murder and mayhem we've ever seen.
01:57Would you say that's a fair assessment?
01:59Um.
02:00No, no.
02:01Stay back.
02:01Stay back.
02:01Stay back.
02:02You don't understand.
02:02Okay, relax here.
02:03Okay, we're trying to help you.
02:04Who stabbed you?
02:05I stabbed myself.
02:07It's inside of me.
02:08I've tried everything else.
02:10I can't kill it.
02:11I can't die.
02:13See?
02:13No, don't pull that.
02:14Don't pull it out.
02:15Oh, God.
02:18Oh, he died instantly.
02:20I mean, the wound was fatal.
02:22You can't stab yourself in the heart and survive.
02:25But the way the knife was lodged, he wasn't bleeding.
02:29Once he pulled it out.
02:30It was Blood Fountain City.
02:32Not exactly, but...
02:33As shocking as that was, it was far from the most shocking thing you found.
02:37We should get him to say that to set up the opening credits.
02:39That's not...
02:40We don't put words in people's mouths.
02:41It's a documentary.
02:45Yeah, it was, uh...
02:46It was straight-up crazy.
02:50There's a body in there?
02:52Let me have my lead, but let's see.
02:56Please don't kill us.
02:57We will join your cult.
02:59Okay.
03:00You arrived on scene as the sergeant's supervisor?
03:03Yes.
03:03I got there before the ambulance.
03:06Not that there was any aid they could have rendered.
03:08Is there a reason you didn't want us to interview you with Tim?
03:11What?
03:12No.
03:12But we're just shaking it up.
03:15Let's stay focused.
03:16Were you the first to recognize the victim?
03:18Uh, sort of.
03:19Um, I thought I knew his face, but it wasn't until we ran his prints that we got a name.
03:24Rich Rowley was retired LAPD.
03:27He had been with the department for 30 years and was a little bit of a legend.
03:30Mostly because he made a series of training videos from the mid-90s till his retirement in 2015.
03:36Which, by modern standards, are a little cringe.
03:40Hey everybody, Rich Rowley here with another installment of...
03:46Now today, we're going to be talking about proper cuffing technique.
03:51Excuse me, officer?
03:52I hurt my shoulder at the gym.
03:54Would you mind cuffing me in front?
03:57Pretty lady like you, what's the worst that could happen?
04:05You're welcome.
04:09Rich was a trip.
04:10The life of the party, at least early in his career.
04:13Then as the years went on, he became a little, uh, crazy.
04:18Crazy how?
04:19He was deep into conspiracy theories.
04:22He, uh, had a real thing for cults and cabals.
04:25To be fair, Los Angeles does have a pretty dark history.
04:27But Rich took it to the next level.
04:30And his training videos got more and more intense because of it.
04:32We finally got around to updating the videos this last year,
04:35but that caused quite a controversy with some of the older officers.
04:38They said we were being insensitive.
04:41Why would updating training videos be insensitive?
04:43Even three years on, a lot of his friends were still mourning his death
04:46and saw the videos as a way to keep his memory alive.
04:49I'm sorry, I thought Rich died six months ago?
04:51Yeah, he did.
04:53I'm talking about the first time.
04:55Divers are searching for any signs of retired Los Angeles police officer Richard Rowley
05:00after a sailing trip gone wrong.
05:03Coast Guard responded to a distress call this morning from Rowley's wife,
05:06who says the 55-year-old fell overboard after the sailboat he was captaining
05:11was struck by a rogue wave.
05:13Anytime someone disappears from a boat and trip,
05:15it automatically sets off alarm bells.
05:17Why is that?
05:18It's just an ideal place to cover up crime,
05:20throw a body overboard, weigh it down.
05:22The likelihood of us recovering it before it becomes fish food is low.
05:26And the circumstances were suspicious.
05:28By all accounts, Rich was a skilled sailor.
05:30It was a calm day, and the only witness to his demise was Darla Phillips,
05:35his on-again, off-again girlfriend who he married five days prior.
05:38So you suspected foul play?
05:42Not necessarily, but we couldn't rule it out.
05:44Well, why wasn't Rich wearing a light vest?
05:46He never did.
05:47He was a strong swimmer.
05:49He must have hit his head when he fell.
05:51Why didn't you jump in after him?
05:53I'm scared of dark water.
05:54Dark water?
05:55Water you can't see the bottom of.
05:58Just blackness.
05:59With condoms what lurking below.
06:02You stand to inherit Rich's entire police pension.
06:04That's quite a bit of money.
06:06How dare you?
06:07I just watched the love of my life die in front of me.
06:12We don't know that for sure yet.
06:14They haven't found his body.
06:16Unless you know more that you're not telling us.
06:20Go to hell!
06:21This interview is over.
06:22Did it ever occur to you that Rich might still be alive?
06:25As we said, we couldn't rule anything out, but there was no evidence that he'd faked his death.
06:30Until he turned up dead again.
06:32Needless to say, we had a few more questions for Darla.
06:34Helping someone fake their death isn't a crime.
06:36I checked.
06:37You're right, but profiting off of that death, collecting Rich's pension and his life insurance, that's fraud.
06:43Not to mention the resources that were wasted trying to recover his body.
06:46He could be facing some serious charges.
06:49So, tell us.
06:51Why did Rich want to fake his death?
06:54After Rich retired, he kind of fell apart.
06:58His drinking got worse.
07:00And his paranoia, he was always a little intense.
07:04But it started to get scary.
07:06He covered all his windows with newspapers.
07:09It started writing down the license plates of passing cars.
07:13What was he so afraid of?
07:15He said there was this group.
07:17Like a secret society of dangerous and powerful people.
07:22He'd been onto them for years.
07:24He said that they found out about him.
07:26That he was in danger because of it.
07:28It was too much for me.
07:29So I broke up with him.
07:31And then a year later, he showed up on my doorstep.
07:35And asked me to help him fake his death.
07:38In return for his pension.
07:40I needed the money.
07:41So, we got married.
07:43And we did the deed.
07:44And I never saw him again.
07:46So you have no idea why there was a coffin in his garage.
07:50We'll probably hold this piece of the puzzle until the end of the first act.
07:53You know, hit the audience with a twist when it's dramatically expedient.
07:56But, you know, seems to manipulate him.
07:57All good storytelling is.
07:58Just tell us about finding the coffin.
08:01Uh, so once I arrived and we secured the crime scene, we cleared the rest of the house and then
08:06we moved on to the garage.
08:11Oh.
08:12Oh.
08:13You don't think there's...
08:14That there's a body in there?
08:16I absolutely do.
08:17Okay, are we going to open it?
08:19Because I don't want to open it.
08:21What do you think?
08:21I mean, it's clearly been dug up.
08:24Given the state of the coffin, it's clearly been underground for a few years.
08:28If there is a body in there, it's likely long dead.
08:31Unless...
08:32Unless what?
08:33Unless he put a fresh victim in an old coffin.
08:39Oh, okay.
08:40Got it.
08:41Oh.
08:43Oh, God.
08:48The body belonged to a 54-year-old truck driver named Marcus Ford, who was the victim of an unsolved
08:54homicide back in 2020.
08:56How was he killed?
08:57Uh, he was stabbed in the heart.
08:59Just like Rich.
09:01Wait.
09:02Rich murdered Marcus Ford.
09:03Did I just solve the case?
09:04Uh, no.
09:05We were able to alibi Rich out.
09:08He was hospitalized with double pneumonia the day Marcus died.
09:11Like medical records say, he was so weak that, uh, he could barely go out of bed.
09:15Or, that's what he wanted you to think.
09:16Moving on.
09:17Digging up a body is no easy task.
09:19Why would Rich go to all that trouble?
09:20Initially, we thought it was simply the demented act of a clearly disturbed mind.
09:26And in some ways, it was.
09:28But then, we found the tattoo.
09:30At first, it was a little bit difficult to make out exactly what it was.
09:33A half a decade of decomp does a number on the skin.
09:36But, when we looked back at the case file, there was a photo of it taken during the original autopsy.
09:41That's actually kind of sick.
09:43I wonder if there's a way to track down the artist.
09:45I've been meaning to start the sleeve on my other arm.
09:47Like, uh.
09:48To my collaborator's point, lots of people have tattoos.
09:51What was it about this one that jumped out at you?
09:53Well, something about it was familiar to both of us.
09:57But we couldn't place it.
09:58So, we started asking around, and the answer couldn't come from a more unlikely place.
10:04I watched the Rich Rally training videos more than any person alive.
10:08So, I recognized the symbol immediately.
10:12Sometimes, citizens panic when they can't get in touch with their friends or loved ones.
10:16That is why we always advise the public to wait 24 hours before reporting someone missing.
10:22While most missing person reports stem from a lapse in communication,
10:25every once in a while, you'll encounter a true, workable case.
10:29Officer, help!
10:30My sister is missing!
10:32When's the last time you saw her?
10:33Last night at the bar, her boyfriend said she never made it home.
10:37You always want to take a report like this one?
10:40Seriously.
10:41So, Rich hid the same symbol in his training videos
10:43that was tattooed on the body of a murder victim.
10:46What did you think that meant?
10:48Uh, I don't know.
10:49I can't believe I'm saying this, but Smitty was right.
10:52In Lesson 187, the tattoo symbol was hidden in the background.
10:56Although, the instructions to wait 24 hours before reporting a missing person are wildly outdated.
11:01Anyways, it got me thinking.
11:02What if Rich put messages in other videos?
11:06What kind of messages?
11:07I'm not totally sure yet.
11:08I binged every single Rich training video I could get my hands on.
11:11Yeah, it's been a fun few nights.
11:12And I did find a few other possible leads.
11:15But there's a problem.
11:16The department's archive is incomplete.
11:17And without all of the videos, I can't be sure that I'm not missing a vital piece of information.
11:21So, what happened to the missing videos?
11:23So, when the training topics and the videos become outdated because of the laws or protocols,
11:28the department has to make new ones.
11:30And obviously, videos are supposed to be digitized and archived for historical record.
11:35But Rich is...
11:37We're just gone.
11:38Gone and destroyed?
11:39Like a cover-up?
11:40No one's saying that.
11:42Most likely, it was a human error.
11:44You know, someone got lazy, didn't archive them.
11:46I tried reaching out to the production company that made the videos to see if they had any copies left.
11:51Bad news is, they went out of business a few years back and auctioned off all their equipment.
11:56What's the good news?
11:57Well, I managed to track down the auction logs, and I actually know the person who purchased these studios' old
12:04hard drives.
12:05Careful, I'm very ticklish.
12:07Like the Pillsbury Doughboy.
12:08Same.
12:09I hear it's a sign of intelligence.
12:11Is that a fact?
12:12Then I am smart as the dickens.
12:15So, you purchased hard drives from Speak Now Studios?
12:18Yeah, Dropout was still in its infancy.
12:20I was building the company from the ground up.
12:22We had to be smart about how we were spending our money.
12:24We bought a huge amount of equipment secondhand.
12:27Hard drives, cameras, wigs.
12:29But wait, you bought secondhand wigs?
12:31Give them a little shake before we put them on.
12:33That's awesome.
12:34Do you still have that wig connect?
12:35Because I'd love a referral.
12:36My guy is...
12:38Back on track.
12:39The hard drives you bought contain police training videos.
12:42Did you happen to watch any of them?
12:43Of course.
12:44Rich Rowley, right?
12:45We were obsessed with those videos.
12:47We probably watched them like a dozen times.
12:50I'm Rich Rowley, and this is Survive the Streets.
12:53That's great.
12:54Vic could do the best impression.
12:55Do you think you'd be able to make copies for us?
12:58I totally would, but I can't because we wiped all of those hard drives to use as servers months ago.
13:04Sorry, I couldn't be of more help.
13:06You'll still feature this interview, right?
13:09Yeah, probably not.
13:10Wait, you said you and the Dropout crew watched the video like dozens of times, right?
13:15Yes, sometimes on an edible, mostly sober.
13:17I have an idea.
13:18Okay, so then you'd be like, don't forget to check the closet, you'll die.
13:21So, I don't know.
13:22I think it's a little bit more like, like, if you forget to check the closet, Freddie, Jason, and Chucky
13:26will rip off your scrud.
13:27Okay, I think there's less foot stuff.
13:29I feel like he's like, and then your crazy met the ex-girlfriend who's been hiding in the hallway closet
13:35will chainsaw your face when you get home because you forgot to clear the room.
13:39Clear the room!
13:40Check the room!
13:42What are you guys doing?
13:43That's a great question.
13:44They're reenacting the police training videos since you guys wiped them off your hard drive.
13:47Oh, the Rich Rally ones!
13:48Those are so funny.
13:50I actually stole one of the hard drives so I can watch it when I'm in the tub.
13:53A little self-care, you know, trying to relax a little more.
13:57It's not working.
13:58Can we have it?
13:58If you want to borrow it, I could, you know.
14:00No, I think this is actually working great.
14:02Okay.
14:03You can keep this up.
14:04We're riffing.
14:04Clearing the room!
14:05Help us.
14:06Okay, I finally finished watching all of the Rich training videos, and there is a lot.
14:11Take Lesson 277.
14:16My Azaleas!
14:17A cold case where victim Azalea Robinson was found stabbed near a ski resort.
14:23You're kidding.
14:24No.
14:24And in Lesson 290, Rich is holding a folder with a post-it note on the back with a brown
14:29star drawn on it.
14:30I'm lost.
14:31Right.
14:31So I looked up the cold cases to see if there were any victims with names like Star or Stella,
14:36and there was one hit, Stella Brown, also found stabbed in the chest.
14:41In all, Lucy found clues pointing to seven different cold cases.
14:46But why was Rich hiding the names of murder victims in police training videos?
14:49Based on what we could piece together, he believed he had stumbled upon a conspiracy,
14:53a series of connected murders committed by person or persons unknown.
14:56If that were the case, why not just report his suspicion?
14:59He was a cop for 30 years.
15:01Well, Rich had a bit of a reputation within the department for, shall we say, magical thinking.
15:07So, unfortunately, his theory was dismissed out of hand.
15:11But why did he think the murders were connected?
15:12Well, for starters, they were all stabbed in the chest.
15:15But more importantly, each victim was found with a penny either in or on their person.
15:19What do you mean in?
15:20One had a penny in her stomach.
15:22Another had one shoved up his nose.
15:24Stella Brown looked out.
15:25Hers was just clasped in her hand.
15:27And when we re-examined Marcus Ford's corpse,
15:30the Emmy found one inserted into the heel of his left foot.
15:34Why?
15:34Did we mention that they were all minted in 1930?
15:37Okay.
15:37Well, I just got goosebumps.
15:38Rich's autopsy also revealed that he had swallowed close to 50 pennies before he died.
15:43Gross.
15:44So, at this point, was your theory...
15:46I actually have no idea what that theory would have been.
15:48Yeah, well, I would tell you, but we were way off the mark.
15:50Which we were about to discover when we got access to his cloud account.
15:55Okay.
15:57I may have finally found it.
16:00I'm so close to getting some real answers.
16:05See that?
16:17Oh, my God.
16:21Oh, my God.
16:23All right, let's go!
16:25Oh, my God, no!
16:26No!
16:27No!
16:29A guy pretending to be dead,
16:32breaking into a secure military facility doesn't seem like the best idea.
16:35No, he wasn't just breaking into any military facility.
16:39It was Area 67.
16:41What does that mean?
16:42That's where the government keeps the aliens.
16:49So, Rich broke into a secret government base on the hunt for a massive conspiracy,
16:53then stabbed himself in the chest?
16:55I mean, at that point, it's obvious what happened.
16:56Is it?
16:57Come on.
16:58Remember what Rich said right before he died?
17:00I can't die!
17:01It's inside of me!
17:03It won't let me die!
17:04Yeah, I'm not following.
17:05Rich was exposed to an alien parasite.
17:09It was inside him.
17:10Were you familiar with Area 67?
17:13I'd heard of it, yeah.
17:15There's this AM radio station I used to listen to back in Foxburg.
17:18Kept me awake when I was working late.
17:20The host was obsessed with UFOs.
17:23Val's Velvet Bunker?
17:24That's the one.
17:25Yeah, he was a little bit out there, but always entertaining.
17:28Area 51 is theater.
17:31Do you believe, do you really believe, the most secretive military installation in the world
17:37would let itself become a tourist attraction?
17:40No, no, no, no.
17:41Area 51 is the distraction.
17:44Area 67 is the real deal.
17:46You know why California has all those earthquakes?
17:49It's not San Andreas Fault, my friends.
17:52It's the sonic resonance from Area 67's underground testing chamber.
17:57Did you believe in his theories?
17:58No, no.
18:00Like I said, just entertainment.
18:02Let's hear from a caller.
18:03Hi, name's John.
18:04Long-time listener, fourth-time caller.
18:05Hey, John from Foxburg.
18:07Welcome back.
18:08What have you got for us tonight?
18:09I swear to God, I just saw a UFO.
18:14John is such a common name.
18:16I'm open to the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
18:19You are?
18:20Yeah.
18:20I mean, it's a big universe.
18:22Anything could be out there.
18:23I don't know.
18:24People who claim to have seen aliens tend to be a little off.
18:27You were friends with the corpse, right?
18:28Well, yeah, we were more than friends, but fair enough, okay.
18:31Legally, is it necrophilia if she only did over-the-clothes stuff?
18:35That's a great question.
18:36Oh, I definitely believe.
18:37In fact, I've been abducted by aliens.
18:41Really?
18:42Multiple times.
18:43Apparently, I'm a fascinating subject.
18:46I remember the last time Smitty was abducted.
18:49Turns out he partied too hard in Vegas and woke up in Wisconsin.
18:53Missing time.
18:54One of the hallmarks of alien abductions.
18:57Hadn't been stricken.
18:58Point is, the government had little gray men in their secret labs for decades.
19:04What are they doing with them?
19:06They're implanting the aliens in unsuspecting hosts and taking over their bodies.
19:10You just never know who might be one of them.
19:14Some people in the station believed Rich stabbed himself to kill an alien parasite.
19:19But I wouldn't say that was a dominant theory.
19:23It wasn't long before we figured out Rich believed something darker.
19:26And it was connected to the seven murders.
19:28Then why did Rich break into the army base?
19:31Yes, I remember the incident.
19:33Rich Rowley cut through a fence.
19:35He trespassed on government property.
19:36He was promptly apprehended and sent on his way.
19:39Do you have any idea what Rich was looking for?
19:41As it turns out, he was looking for me.
19:44But not because of any alleged aliens.
19:47So why did he come?
19:49Uh, this part is, uh, is a little bit embarrassing.
19:54Um, before I found my calling in the military, I thought that I wanted to be an actor.
20:00And, uh, I was in a few DTV movies.
20:03What's DTV?
20:03You're so young.
20:05Uh, direct-to-video.
20:06They made all these super cheap movies back in the 80s and 90s.
20:10You make them as cheaply as possible and then hope that someone was drawn in enough by the cover art
20:14to rent them.
20:16A guy can't have a side gig?
20:18Totally.
20:18How did you get into acting?
20:19Some director scouted me when I pulled him over.
20:22He said I had a bitchin' bod.
20:25Well, he wasn't wrong.
20:26But I gave it up because the people of this city needed a savior.
20:31Yeah, you are the model of public service.
20:34Right.
20:34Anyway, Rich became interested in this terrible B movie that I was in.
20:40I played a monk.
20:41It was called 300 Days of Hell.
20:47Terrible B movie, that's what you called it?
20:49300 Days of Hell is the scariest film of the 1990s.
20:52Really?
20:53The Ring, Scream, Blair Witch Project?
20:54Which one of us executive produced a horror movie?
20:57Trust me, T-H-D-O-H is true nightmare fuel.
21:01It's not that scary.
21:03She may be watching the beginning of our relationship.
21:05When he was still trying to impress me.
21:08You want to watch it again tonight?
21:10I would.
21:12Totally.
21:12I do have plans, though.
21:16Yeah, I'm not watching that crap.
21:17Even if it is for a case.
21:18I see enough horror on the job.
21:21That being said, 300 Days of Hell was our first real window into the rabbit hole that Rich had gone
21:26down.
21:27A rabbit hole filled with demons.
21:28Or rather, a demon.
21:30So Rich believed a demon had killed all those people?
21:33No, the killers were definitely human.
21:34Killers, plural.
21:35Yeah, there was different trace DNA on all the bodies.
21:39All from different subjects, and none of them were in the system.
21:42Meaning?
21:42The murders were committed by a group of people with shared beliefs.
21:46A murder cult.
21:47The cult believed a demon named Malephous had been possessing people all across the city.
21:51Jumping from host to host.
21:53And it was up to them to stop it.
22:00The legend of Malephous is centuries old.
22:03The first mention we see of him is 1433's Lesser Grimoire of Solomon by Slovenian Inquisitor Terentius Bruma.
22:12A reference text of demons and their attributes.
22:16Gnarly.
22:16Right?
22:17He's also known as the Deceiver, the Infester, and Demon of 300 Days.
22:22Why?
22:23Once summoned to Earth, Malephous won't rest until he finds a human host.
22:27After possession begins, he incubates.
22:30300 days.
22:32What happens after 300 days?
22:33He reaches full strength and his power becomes uncontainable.
22:38Uh-oh.
22:40Um, if Malephous was summoned to Earth, how would one stop him?
22:44Bruma suggests killing the host might slow Malephous down, forcing him to regenerate before he can find a new host.
22:51A process that also can be slowed by the use of copper.
22:56It was the pennies.
22:58The pennies.
22:58It all came back to the pennies.
23:00Before 1984, U.S. pennies were 95% copper.
23:03So the copper and the pennies was meant to bind the demon, but what about the 1930 part?
23:08Are you familiar with numerology?
23:11Well, some ancient peoples, and Taylor Swift, believed there was a mystical connection between letters and numbers.
23:20Using the Chaldean method, the name Malephous becomes a digit 1930.
23:24So you're saying?
23:25We had a theory.
23:26Whoever killed those people believed the victims were possessed by Malephous.
23:30They had to reach Malephous's host before he reached his true form.
23:36A 1930 penny was the perfect tool.
23:38Yeah.
23:38Rich's talk of, it's inside me, it won't let me die, he thought he was infested by this demon too,
23:43and that's why he killed himself.
23:45Wait, I thought Rich didn't believe in Malephous.
23:48Isn't that why he was trying to stop the cult?
23:49Yes, but years of obsession and paranoia can do a number on a person's psyche.
23:54I mean, it seems as though in the end, Rich could no longer distinguish fantasy from reality.
23:58And you got this theory from Rich's files?
24:00Well, I mean, we actually got it from Lopas.
24:02And they say watching old horror movies isn't a good use of time.
24:06I never said that.
24:15Are we safe, brother?
24:17Is Malephous banished?
24:19His sigil is drawn.
24:21The right is spoken.
24:23We have sealed his last human vessel with copper.
24:32Heaven forgive us.
24:34Indeed.
24:36For hell will not.
24:40Midnight.
24:41The 300th day.
24:44Our task was done, none too soon.
25:12Yeah, that was me.
25:16Do you guys want a glass?
25:17You got anything stronger?
25:20Fine, I'll just take the glass.
25:23Okay, I'll just, I'll have nothing, actually.
25:25No fun for me.
25:26Yeah, that was my first big movie role.
25:30Well, my only one, really.
25:33Rich was so excited when I told him I booked it.
25:36He helped me run lines.
25:37Did Rich buy into the Malephous mythology?
25:40No.
25:41Weirdly, given all the conspiracies that Rich believed in, he was a total atheist.
25:46But I wouldn't have blamed him after everything that happened on that shoot.
25:49Like what?
25:52Before production wrapped, the DP was paralyzed driving to set.
25:56A stunt person had his leg amputated.
25:59There were divorces, bankruptcies, careers ended.
26:01One of the actors even died in his hotel room.
26:05People say the production was cursed.
26:08What about you?
26:09What do you believe?
26:10I believe the real curse was the director.
26:13He was a reckless maniac that didn't know how to run a set.
26:17Cuts!
26:18Cuts!
26:19Arthur!
26:20Arthur!
26:21Your strangulation, it has to be real.
26:25I want to feel a life draining for man.
26:27And you, you, you cannot move from your position, not even an inch.
26:32Guys, this ritual is extremely specific.
26:36Okay?
26:37Let's go again.
26:38Okay.
26:39I thought I was choking you pretty well.
26:40I'm sorry.
26:41Okay?
26:41I'm going to choke you a little harder.
26:42Ready?
26:43Douglas was real touchy about the religious stuff.
26:45I guess he had grown up in some sort of commune.
26:47And this was all based on stories he was told growing up.
26:51Okay, but what I heard is that they accidentally summoned Malephous for real.
26:54The director found some ancient tome and inserted the incantation and rituals verbatim.
27:00Ooh, I love that.
27:01And that's what got me thinking about the penny killings.
27:03We found the first victim just a little under 300 days after the summoning ritual was filmed.
27:08We knew Rich was aware of the Malephous legends.
27:11It was only natural to link them.
27:12So Rich thought that penny victims were killed by people trying to stop Malephous.
27:16Was he able to identify any of these killers?
27:18We know he tried.
27:21Hi.
27:21Hey, how are you?
27:22Jared.
27:23Hello.
27:24Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, gentlemen.
27:27Pleasure to meet you, too.
27:29Why don't you tell us about yourselves?
27:30Yeah, we co-starred on a TV show together for 15 seasons called Supernatural.
27:38Yeah, we played Sam and Dean Winchester, brothers that, you know, tracked and fought supernatural beings.
27:45Like K-pop demon hunters?
27:47No.
27:48No, not like that.
27:49I mean, kind of like that.
27:51Yeah.
27:52Okay.
27:52Can you tell us about your encounter with Rich Rowley?
27:54Yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:56Rich Rowley.
27:57He came to a fan event we did last year at MonsterCon.
28:02Yeah, you know, most people show up and they just want an autograph for a photo.
28:07But Rich was a different beast altogether.
28:10Yeah, yeah, he was super fixated on this one particular episode where we fought a demon.
28:16Malifus.
28:17Yeah, that one.
28:19Anyway, he seemed to think we, like, knew more about it than we were saying.
28:25More about what?
28:26Demon hunting.
28:27He kept, like, asking these super pointed questions like he was testing us or something.
28:33Did you have an answer?
28:35No.
28:36No, I mean, we didn't.
28:37We didn't come up with these stories, you know.
28:39We just did what the writers wrote.
28:40It's called acting.
28:42There's no actual demon hunters in real life.
28:44Exactly.
28:45Uh, that's not exactly true.
28:47There is at least one.
28:49And it actually connected to the movie.
28:52We heard the director brought a priest named Father Simon McCabe to bless the set every day before filming.
28:57Well, it was either that or the whole crew was going to walk.
29:00Does that name mean anything to you?
29:03About 15 years ago, Lopez and I had just finished our rookie years.
29:07We responded to a, call it a house of a priest doing an exorcism with a 16-year-old girl.
29:12I've been going on for three days.
29:13Father, no!
29:14Please!
29:16Police!
29:19Help her!
29:20Please!
29:23Please!
29:24Please!
29:25Please, please, sir.
29:27No, please.
29:27Get away from her!
29:31Father, forgive me.
29:38Did you feel like you'd seen the devil?
29:40The only thing in that room that belonged in hell was Father Simon.
29:43He kept saying he had to.
29:45The whole way to the station.
29:46I'm sorry I had to.
29:47I'm sorry I had to.
29:49Because he believed she was possessed.
29:50She had a brain tumor.
29:52That's what they found after the autopsy.
29:54She needed a doctor, not an exorcism, and he wasn't a man of God.
29:58He was a killer.
29:59The courts agreed.
30:00So Father Simon was convicted of first-degree murder.
30:03When we processed him, we found a penny in his pocket.
30:05Nothing else, just a penny.
30:07Didn't mean anything at the time, but after Rich connected those seven murders, it seemed
30:10likely he was involved.
30:12Involved?
30:12Like he killed them?
30:13No, Simon was already in prison when five of the murders took place, and his DNA didn't
30:18match any that was found on the corpses.
30:20But he could have been part of whatever group Rich was so afraid of, which means he knew
30:24more than he had told us, so we had to go back.
30:29Officers, I remember you.
30:31You were the ones who tried to stop the ritual.
30:33I wish we would have gotten here sooner.
30:34Becca Scott might still be alive.
30:36Oh, she was long gone before you arrived.
30:39The demon saw the bat.
30:40Malifus?
30:42Do not say its name in my presence.
30:44What, are you afraid we might accidentally summon it?
30:47You may scorn me and my beliefs, but I have fought this evil.
30:51I know enough to fear its power.
30:54What's more evil than murdering a child?
30:56I took no pleasure in the act.
30:58I'm grateful I had the courage to do what was necessary.
31:01Courage?
31:01Tell us about the penny that was in your pocket.
31:04In the movie 300 Days of Hell, Malifus is sealed inside his house with copper before
31:08he can be killed.
31:10Banished, not killed.
31:12What's the difference?
31:13The demon is a parasite.
31:16It needs a host.
31:17Once you kill the body that inhabits it, find a new one.
31:21Becca Scott was just a single battle in a larger war.
31:24If you're in here, who's doing the fighting now?
31:29The Knights of Avila.
31:31Los Angeles has a long history of spiritualism, esoteric religions that go back over 100 years.
31:37So think Aleister Crowley, Jack Parsons, L. Ron Hubbard.
31:40He freaking loves this stuff.
31:42I do.
31:43Anyway, a lot of these groups started out as fraternal orders, similar to the Freemasons,
31:47where people would gather and share.
31:50Well, yeah, yes, and some women, and they would share new ideas, explore philosophies.
31:56They also liked partying, doing drugs, and performing weird sex rituals.
32:01Sign me up.
32:04For the intellectual exchanging of ideas, obviously.
32:07So the Knights of Avila is one of these groups?
32:09It was.
32:10Like a lot of the similar organizations of the time, it fell apart when the founder died.
32:13It hasn't been active in 60 years?
32:16Then what was Father Simon talking about?
32:17Based on Tim and Lopez's conversation with Father Simon, we began to believe that the
32:22group, or at least the name, had been revived sometime in the late 90s to the early 2000s
32:28and rebranded as some kind of demon hunting cult.
32:33So Rich was actually right.
32:35There was a murderous cabal after him.
32:37It seemed that way, and we were getting close to discovering who their ringleader was.
32:44I found him.
32:45Found who?
32:46Doug Roberts.
32:47I want to fill a live training for him.
32:49Oh, you mean the director of the sad little demon porn?
32:51Where?
32:52I was going through some old industry trades from around the time THDOH was slated to come
32:55out.
32:56One of the articles mentioned that Roberts was a client of Stuart Wynecliffe at the Golden
33:00Talent Agency.
33:01The guy hasn't made a movie in 26 years.
33:02I doubt they still rep him.
33:03Not actively, no, but I called their offices, and I bribed their, like, I talked one of the
33:08assistants into giving me the address where his residual checks are sent.
33:11It's downtown.
33:12Let's go.
33:12Uh, hold on.
33:14You just want to go doorstep the guy?
33:15If that means go knock on a door while also filming, then yes.
33:18Yeah, I'm not in the business of gotcha journalism.
33:19What about the business of making that paper?
33:23The guap?
33:25Money, guy.
33:26Come on.
33:27The doc business is oversaturated these days.
33:29We need footage that P.O.P.'s.
33:31And what pops more than blindsiding a potential cult leader?
33:34Come on.
33:36What's the worst that could happen?
33:38This is it.
33:40Okay.
33:41Um, uh, here.
33:42Here's your camera.
33:43Um, I don't operate.
33:45Oh.
33:45Okay.
33:49Now, you do.
33:52Let's go.
33:54What floor is it on?
33:56Eight, but, uh, there's an elevator.
33:58Don't worry.
34:04Are you sure it's that way?
34:06Yep.
34:07Nope.
34:09You know, at the risk of being called a scaredy cat, you do understand that this is inherently
34:14neither a wise nor safe activity?
34:16You're asking a woman if she understands that it's inherently dangerous to go anywhere or do
34:21anything?
34:22When you put it that way, I sound like an ass.
34:28Maybe we should come back?
34:31Hey, hello, Douglas Roberts.
34:33We're here to question you about murders and demons.
34:36That should get his attention.
34:38Oh.
34:40I am just an internist.
34:43So.
34:44Clearly we're not deceased.
34:46Which means?
34:47We saved you from certain deaths?
34:49I'm not sure how certain it was, babe.
34:50Oh, it felt pretty certain to me.
34:52Please don't kill us.
34:53We will join your cult.
34:54Is there a membership fee or a secret handshake?
34:56I love a secret handshake.
34:57Ignore her.
34:58She's not right in the head.
34:59In fact, she has short-term memory issues, so if you let her go now, she won't remember
35:02any of this.
35:02Just shut up.
35:03No one's going anywhere.
35:04I mean, technically, we're all going somewhere.
35:10All right, let him go.
35:11Get your hands up.
35:13Up against the Jeep now.
35:14Let's go.
35:15Go.
35:20Oh, go ahead.
35:22Thanks for trying to save me, even though I'm the one who put us in danger.
35:26No problem.
35:28I was about to do the same thing, but you just beat me to it.
35:31I can be noble, too.
35:33No doubt.
35:33Yeah.
35:34I get very claustrophobic.
35:35Can I just point out how claustrophobic I get, please?
35:37So, when did you and Douglas meet?
35:40The movie.
35:41He was, you know, so commanding and driven and everything I wasn't.
35:46When did he start talking about killing the demon?
35:48It was at least a year after that.
35:51He would call me late at night and talk about the demon and how scared he was for the world.
35:56And eventually, it started to make sense.
35:59And he told you that someone was possessed?
36:02Correct.
36:03Her name was Cynthia.
36:06She cried when I tied her up, and she kept saying that she was not a demon.
36:10She begged me to believe her, and at that point, he was very deep in my head.
36:20And then tonight, you know, all the lies he was spewing at the end, it was like somebody turned on
36:25the light switch.
36:25I could just see him for who he was.
36:28So pathetic.
36:32We'll need you to write up a detailed confession.
36:39I would like to make a deal.
36:43We have already located your co-conspirators.
36:45You don't really have anything to offer.
36:48You don't want to know what an alien spaceship looks like?
36:52I am all that stands between the world and damnation.
36:58So all of the people that you had targeted, they had to die for the greater good?
37:03Yes.
37:03And my heart breaks for each of them.
37:07But I will not let innocence fall to perdition.
37:10Okay.
37:10Have you had your fill of BS?
37:12God, yes.
37:13Okay, me too.
37:14So, uh, first victim.
37:17Cynthia Green.
37:18You did it for two years before she cheated on you.
37:20Marcus Ford.
37:21He worked as a teamster on your movie, then later sued you for non-payment.
37:25Pamela Jones wrote a scathing review of your movie.
37:30Really?
37:31I had no idea.
37:32All seven victims were people who wronged you in some way.
37:36You don't even believe in the demon.
37:37You just used it as a tool to get people with weak minds to do your dirty work for you.
37:44Exactly.
37:45I was the director.
37:46I think you'll find I never laid a finger on any of the victims.
37:51And I think you will find that Manson died in prison.
37:57All right.
37:58Uh, anything else?
37:59No, I think we got everything.
38:01Okay.
38:03That was a crazy one, huh?
38:04Tell me about it.
38:05And look, thanks so much for all of your time and for saving our lives.
38:09Anything from my favorite documentarian?
38:10Actually, the only documentarian I know.
38:12Not true.
38:13I'm a documentarian, too.
38:14Of course.
38:14Yes.
38:15Oh, speaking of, how did this whole working together thing go?
38:19Is this the start of a beautiful friendship?
38:21I don't know.
38:22I mean, we have very different styles and instincts and, well, basically everything.
38:27But I'd be open to another collaboration.
38:31Oh, um, it's just I, uh, I kind of signed an exclusive three-film deal with Hulu.
38:38What?
38:38Yeah, I, um, I sent them a sizzle reel of this project.
38:41Just the me parts.
38:42And, uh, they freaked.
38:43Said I'm going to be the new face of true crime.
38:46Their words.
38:46Wow.
38:47I mean, you'd probably be able to bring him along, though, right?
38:50Oh, totally.
38:52Totally.
38:55I gotta go.
38:56But, uh, thanks again.
38:57Hello?
38:58No, I said Toronto and then camp.
39:02She'll probably call you.
39:40Damn it.
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