- 1 week ago
Evil Lives Here - Season 19 - Episode 04: He's One Hundred Percent a Monster
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00:00Hmm.
00:04Yeah, this is the monster I know.
00:06This is who I grew up with.
00:11This is what he looked like, just a little bit shorter hair.
00:18And no life in his eyes.
00:21You can tell there's nothing behind his eyes.
00:25There's no soul, not a care only for a self.
00:31I dealt with mental, physical, psychological.
00:36Every abuse that an adult can put on a child, I dealt with from him.
00:42Him alone.
00:44And it's almost like I can see the proudness, kind of.
00:50He's proud of what he did, almost.
00:53I can almost see that look in his eyes he used to get when he would come into my room.
01:03It's just disgusting.
01:07Just trash, garbage of the earth.
01:22What was your reaction when I reached out to you?
01:27You know, my reaction when you reached out was, why didn't this happen sooner?
01:35You know, maybe three people would have been saved.
01:40I believe that everybody that came in contact with him knew that he was about control.
01:49He's just the evil person.
01:52He's the devil.
01:56He's the devil.
01:59He's the devil.
02:01He's the devil.
02:13He's the devil.
02:40I have so many mixed feelings about this picture.
02:43This was the building we lived in.
02:49My life before Robert, I would say, was a regular textbook family.
02:55All three of us, me and my mom and my sister, were always super close.
02:59I was old enough to understand that my dad, who was in the Air Force, was out of the country.
03:04And he had been gone for a while, and she was lonely.
03:09I'm sure she was lonely until Robert came in the picture and things took a big, big turn.
03:37This is a picture of my mom and Robert soon after they started dating.
03:45My mom met him.
03:46She went out with one of our neighbors to the local officers club, the NCO club on base.
03:55When I found this picture, even my mom doesn't look happy in this picture.
04:04I feel during the time my dad was gone, my mom really didn't know what to do.
04:10This was her first time with two little kids on her own.
04:14And I think that she just thought it'd be easier if she had somebody else to help her with everything.
04:39The first time I met Robert, I was seven, getting ready to have my eighth birthday.
04:45It was kind of exciting at first.
04:54This was the Robert that we had in his off time, when he wasn't thinking he was playing G.I.
05:02Joe, Rambo in the Air Force.
05:04He worked in the military police. He was a big guy. He always seemed so big to me.
05:11And he always had his camis on and his camouflage hat with a beer and a koozie.
05:17That was his outside of work uniform, always.
05:22We initially thought it was a cool idea if he would have really been that way, you know?
05:29I'd say that that wore off within the first six months.
05:37I would say their relationship moved rather quickly.
05:44He would just come on the weekends or, you know, a couple days.
05:50But when he started being there all the time, it just, it was so overwhelming for me.
05:57So overwhelming.
06:01He had set up a target in our basement.
06:06And he would shoot our Barbies that we no longer played with.
06:12Or dolls we didn't play with anymore.
06:19He had a blast doing that, which I thought was very, very weird, in our basement.
06:27He had a seat on the couch that was just where he sat.
06:31We had a coffee table that all his guns and all his cleaning products to clean them were always right
06:39there.
06:40He didn't need to have guns.
06:41And I think that that was his backbone.
06:45It was more of him showing the power behind them and what he had, honestly.
06:54I had never been around that.
06:56So it was kind of scary to me.
07:06One day, I come in, open the door, drop my stuff, and run to the bathroom.
07:14And right before I could pull my pants down, the shower curtain flies open.
07:23And he's standing there with a gas mask and a machete.
07:33He thought it was the funniest thing that I peed my pants.
07:41I felt like I was on eggshells all the time.
07:44I didn't know what was going to happen.
07:46He just kind of took over and my mom let him.
07:50Like, I guess the man's supposed to control the house.
07:53So that's how she felt about it.
07:55I just wanted to not worry and not be anxious all the time and just be a kid.
08:19I just did not trust him.
08:21You know, I was always waiting for something to happen.
08:24And I guess now we really have to follow his rules.
08:29Whenever we asked for something, he would have us drop and do push-ups for whatever we wanted.
08:34You want to go roller skating?
08:3730 push-ups.
08:39You know, it started being whatever we asked, we had to do push-ups.
08:45So, yeah, I quit asking for anything.
08:50I mean, because there would be any time he would just be like, give me 20 push-ups.
08:55Or, you know, just sitting there and he'd tell us to count them off.
09:03It was all him establishing dominance over me.
09:10He was taking control and seeing what he could get away with.
09:22Robert, along with many other things, implemented that I wash dishes now.
09:28I was eight years old, couldn't even reach in the sink yet.
09:35And there was a time where I had did the dishes the night before.
09:39And Robert came and woke me up from bed.
09:44It wasn't time to get up for school yet.
09:49He pointed out a plate that still had crusty stuff on it and told me that I was to hold
09:57the plate to the wall with my nose until he told me I was done.
10:04He told me if I dropped that plate, I would pay for it.
10:09The whole time I'm just sitting there thinking like, what's next?
10:14And just try not to cry because there was nothing I could do about it.
10:22Absolutely nothing.
10:23I just, it was my life.
10:26I'm just thinking like, what is the point of this?
10:29You know, the anxiety and the fear and everything that I was already feeling, I felt was enough.
10:37Punishment.
10:41I must have been standing there 30, 45 minutes.
10:48And he finally said I could move.
10:52That's enough.
11:06This is a picture of my sister and I with my puppy Buster that I had received on my birthday.
11:16When I got Buster, he was mine and nobody could take him from me.
11:20Not even Robert.
11:22My mom gave him to me and he was mine, you know.
11:26But when Robert came home and found Buster, he was mad.
11:30He voices his anger and he wasn't going to do anything for him.
11:36It was me and my mom's job to take care of him.
11:41And we did.
11:54I was running all over the house looking for him.
11:57Buster.
11:59Like, where's Buster?
12:02Buster.
12:03I already had all these things in my mind.
12:07Like, did Robert do something to him?
12:10He didn't like him from the beginning.
12:13So what's stopping him from doing it?
12:17And Robert's just on the couch.
12:20He just blatant, like he was so proud of himself.
12:25Was like, if you really want to know what I did to Buster, I broke his neck and threw him
12:30in the garbage.
12:35And I just, I just ran up to my room.
12:37I just, I cried the whole night.
12:43I was so, so messed up at that time.
12:47I just didn't even know what to do.
12:49I didn't, I didn't know who to talk to.
12:52I'm like, this, this, just, this is not good.
12:55And that was always in my head.
12:58Always in my head.
12:59If somebody could kill a dog, they could definitely kill a person.
13:04And I, I didn't know if that was going to be me.
13:18This was our baby Rocky.
13:23Right before he went and got Rocky is when he told me what he did to Buster.
13:27It was just like a couple months before that.
13:30And I thought, well maybe he's trying to make it right.
13:34He was such a good dog though.
13:36But just like everything else, Robert had to tear it away from us because he couldn't control him.
13:47I remember the day that he broke his four by four run.
13:54Robert ran over there and took him by his chain that he was dragging and flung him around like a
14:01helicopter in the air.
14:02It was terrifying to hear the noises coming out of Rocky.
14:09And to see a human being doing that.
14:13And he had to shoot him five times because he just wouldn't die.
14:27I want to know why he ever kept getting dogs.
14:35You know you're just going to take them away from us.
14:38Why even do that?
14:40Why?
14:41Was that fulfilling your need of killing something?
14:48The day he did that, I just, I wouldn't even look at Robert.
14:52I just kept staring at my mom.
14:54Just like, are you going to open your mouth?
14:58Why is this okay?
14:59Hello, lady?
15:02You know, do you see what's happening here?
15:05And I just kept looking at her like, and just no response, nothing.
15:11She just, and I just think she was afraid if she would have said something.
15:21He controlled all of us.
15:25He did it because he wanted to.
15:27And he got a thrill from it.
15:30And after Rocky was killed, I definitely had the thought in my head that nobody's safe.
15:58He wore the belts to work every day.
16:00That seemed to be his go-to, you know?
16:04Well, you can always get the belt.
16:07You know?
16:10The one time I got the belt, that was the first time.
16:14I didn't make it home before the street lights came on.
16:17I was actually 30 minutes late.
16:27I had marks for days, thick, leather marks for days.
16:33And that was just for coming home late.
16:37He had no problem whooping me.
16:40And that's when the paddle, my cutting board, came into play.
16:55I was, like, so excited because I made her a cutting board.
16:59Because I cut it out myself, and I had sanded it for weeks, and put the finish on it.
17:05And I was so excited to give it to her.
17:07And I came home and handed it to her, and Robert grabbed it.
17:14And he said, you know, this would be perfect for a paddle.
17:18And, like, my heart dropped.
17:21I was so disappointed.
17:26Because I knew he was going to do what he was saying, you know?
17:30And he went and cut the sides off.
17:36I was crying.
17:39I was also crying because I seen what he made with it.
17:45And I knew that was not going to be anything nice.
17:50So it always became a choice between the paddle that he made out of my cutting board,
17:56or his military belt, which was, like, thick leather.
18:03And I had already felt that, so I thought maybe the paddle would be better.
18:09I always chose the paddle.
18:11I don't know why, but I did.
18:16It was a big deal to me, because then he took what I made and used it against me.
18:21And that's when he started the whoopens.
18:32It was a part of the grooming.
18:34I believe he was trying to see what he could do.
18:38What he could just push the limit far enough.
18:41My mom won't say anything.
18:43He could get away with it.
18:44And it was just always just a little bit more each time.
18:57He would ask me to rub his back.
18:59So, you know, I'd have to go around on the couch and rub his back,
19:03which was fine, because my mom was right there, and we were on the couch.
19:09But then it started escalating to he lay in the bed.
19:15And he would just have a towel over his butt.
19:19We'd get up to get ready for school, and he would just say, hey, I need my back massaged.
19:26And normally it would be after my mom already left for work.
19:29So she wouldn't really know until she got home, and she's like, why aren't you at school?
19:34But even then, I don't think she questioned him.
19:36I don't understand why my mom thinks this is normal, you know.
19:42But nobody wanted to anger the bear.
19:46Nobody wanted to see what would happen if they said no.
20:01When I was sleeping, all of a sudden, I would just be woke up to hem up my shirt, or
20:08down my pants, and just the smell of beer.
20:16But he would come in there every, it was a lot.
20:20I would try to make myself, I started layering.
20:23I would wear like, like, four tank tops, and then a shirt.
20:29You know what I'm, like, if he can't get through all the layers, he can't touch me, was my thinking
20:36then.
20:38But I'd also normally cry myself to sleep.
20:43Because I couldn't believe I was having to go through that.
20:47I finally was able to tell my mom about it.
20:49She said she talked to him.
20:51And it stopped for a minute, and I, you know, I'm like, wow, thanks for talking to him, Mom.
20:56But, um, then it started back up again.
21:01And there was one opportunity where I told her, well, he's doing it again.
21:07And she's like, what?
21:10And I said, what do you want me to do?
21:15Like, I would really like to just be a kid.
21:19And she's like, well, why don't we just pick up a lock?
21:30And we bought one of them slide chain locks.
21:36I couldn't wait to go to bed and lock the door, because I was going to sleep that night.
21:42You know, I was excited.
21:44I want, I'm not going to be bothered. I get to sleep. My mom did something.
21:53And I woke up immediately as soon as I heard that doorknob.
22:01He tried it, and he couldn't get in.
22:09And then I could hear him with my mom, like, what did you do? What did you do?
22:17I'm just laying there, just thinking, like, is that the conversation we're having right now?
22:22I guess, you know.
22:27But I'm safe. He didn't get in here tonight.
22:37I believe at the time when my mom put the lock on the door, she was brave enough to, to
22:42finally tell him to get out.
22:46Was finally stepping up for herself.
22:49Sometimes I just wonder if she even had a clue what to do.
23:03One day, I just noticed, like, a really, it was a big gash in her back.
23:12And then, like, a mark over it, and it was big, you know.
23:16And I'm like, what happened to your back?
23:18And she's like, oh, I fell into the, the, um, the bedside table.
23:25Even at that age, I was telling her, there's no excuse for him to put his hands on you.
23:30You know, it's, it's bad enough, like, the mind control and everything, and now he's, now he's touching, putting his
23:36hands on you.
23:37No.
23:41I feel it just, it goes back to the grooming, the predatory behavior, seeking out people that you can manipulate
23:52and control.
23:54And I think that most narcissists, they go for people.
24:00They see people, they notice people that they can influence and engage in and control.
24:07They pick up on that so easily, and I think he probably picked up on that.
24:13My mom was so small and petite compared to him, and I think he took advantage of that.
24:19He knew that he can control her.
24:24I would ask her, why can't we just leave?
24:26Because she was always afraid of him.
24:29So I, why, if you can't make him leave, why can't we leave?
24:33I know that there had to be brainwashing, and she was just, it was just fear.
24:39But then I did start thinking about what he might be doing to her.
24:58We were sitting watching TV one day after school, and he was cleaning his guns like he normally did.
25:05My mom was cooking dinner, so she really was oblivious to anything that was happening.
25:11And he pulled the gun on me.
25:13He said, I could just shoot you right now.
25:18And what, what would you do?
25:22Hey.
25:23And I, I just kind of stared at him.
25:27I was stunned, and I didn't really know how to respond.
25:31I just, I'm sure my face probably said it all, and I think that gave him the gratification he wanted.
25:43And he just started going back into cleaning it again, like nothing just happened.
25:53And, um, that was the first time that it happened where he actually pointed the gun at me.
26:10We were at my cousin's house visiting.
26:14We were in Robert's parents, like, conversion van.
26:18And, um, my mom had to run up to the corner store.
26:21I'll be right back, okay?
26:24And then he turns around and started arguing with me with something that I don't remember what we were arguing
26:30about.
26:31But he was like, you know, I could just kill you.
26:39And just pulled his gun out from under the seat and just held it to my head.
26:44I always remember expression.
26:46I always remember his face.
26:49He was very straight-faced and very serious.
26:53And I knew it.
26:55But I just didn't care anymore.
26:58And then, like, I see my mom in the rear-view mirror walking up.
27:03And I thought I'd probably be better off if he just pulled it.
27:06Then I wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.
27:09None of the bull.
27:11None of it.
27:12Not worrying about what's gonna happen to me, what he's gonna do, or, you know.
27:19Then maybe he'll get in trouble.
27:21I was like, just do it.
27:23Just do it.
27:25You'll have a lot to explain to my mom.
27:31Just pull it.
27:37He intended to shoot me that day.
27:40Something just happened and I was done.
27:42And I wasn't gonna let him do his dumb
27:46he had been doing to me for all them years.
27:48And I was gonna talk back and fight back.
27:57And he slid it back under the seat.
28:01And I think about that all the time.
28:04Like, what if he would've did it?
28:25A cyclist charged in fatal I-270 crash.
28:30A Columbus man is charged with drunken driving after a passenger on his motorcycle died as a result of injuries
28:37he sustained in an accident.
28:38The driver over the motorcycle, Robert Cordell, 32, was driving at a high rate of speed and lost control of
28:45the motorcycle.
28:45Both men had been drinking at the time and the investigation continues.
28:53This was an accident that my mom had actually been waiting to happen because he told her he had planned
29:04this.
29:06Their marriage was dissolving.
29:12So, things started, you know, taking different turns, meeting different people he wanted to bring around.
29:22Robert started having an affair with his friend's wife.
29:27He would brag to my mom that he was gonna take care of him, get him out of the picture,
29:32and did exactly like he told her.
29:35He was gonna get him as drunk as he could.
29:38He was gonna put him on the back of his bike, and he was gonna drive as fast as he
29:42could till he flew off.
29:43And that's exactly what he did.
29:46When we seen it on the news and in the paper, she just, her jaw dropped when we seen it,
29:53and that he actually did it.
29:56I don't know why she would ever think he wouldn't.
30:00I mean, he was pretty good with following through with threats.
30:04It was heartbreaking that his family did not know how evil Robert was and actually fought for him not to
30:14do jail time.
30:15They won. He did no jail time for this.
30:17I believe that he murdered his best friend.
30:25It's just the lowest of the low.
30:36I'm sure there was fear and despair.
30:42My mom just really couldn't handle it.
30:45And she was over it.
30:47And she, I think she needed that.
30:50She just was fed up.
30:52And she, she gained her footing.
31:07My mom finally had the courage to leave.
31:12I was happy that she was divorcing him, just making him go.
31:17And she made him go.
31:18We didn't leave.
31:19She made him go.
31:20At least when he wasn't there, I, I, I could breathe.
31:25I felt like I could breathe.
31:27I could fully expand my lungs and I could breathe.
31:33The day she went to court, I, I told her, come pick me up from school early.
31:37And we went out and celebrated.
31:40But she was scared.
31:41She was so scared then.
31:45And I think she was afraid of, um, him stalking, which he did.
31:54Robert kept calling over and over again and leaving messages on the answer machine that he was on his way
32:01over there to kill her.
32:03And he was going to do to her like he did to his friend.
32:08And we all know how that turned out is what he said.
32:13It was just constant.
32:14He was calling back to back to back to back and just kept leaving messages.
32:22I believe he was very capable of following through with every threat.
32:26Probably wouldn't have a second thought about killing me or my mom.
32:30Wouldn't even bother them.
32:49When he was gone, I would still feel the anxiousness.
32:54I think that I won't truly feel, like, calm in my heart until he's dead.
33:02Until I know he's, he's gone.
33:06Around 2002, we had just moved.
33:10My mom was in a new place.
33:12And, you know, we're settling and the phone rings.
33:15And, uh, it's a lawyer.
33:18And she asked what it's referring to.
33:21And they said, Robert Cordell.
33:26And I'm like, what do they, what?
33:30And I guess he was explaining to her what happened.
33:34Prosecutors say Cordell shot and killed his neighbor, former Reading Mayor Frank Carnevelli,
33:39his ex-wife, Rita Bushman, and Cordell's former sister-in-law, Kathy Cordell.
33:43Yesterday afternoon, police say he had blood on his boots and eventually admitted killing his neighbors
33:49and then told police his sister-in-law was also dead inside the home.
33:55None of us were surprised.
33:58I mean, it blew our mind that he did that.
34:02But we weren't surprised.
34:04He's 100% a monster and a predator.
34:09And a killer.
34:23The victim's family was also in court to face the man they say turned on friends.
34:27Just came over and killed my brother and his wife for no reason.
34:32I don't know.
34:32It just don't make sense why somebody would hurt somebody that did so much for him.
34:45I learned that he strangled his sister-in-law.
34:52And I can't believe he was in the house with her for a day or two.
34:59And went next door and confronted the neighbor about wanting his vehicle back.
35:04And proceeded to shoot him 12 times.
35:09And when his ex-wife came to check out what happened, he shot her.
35:15It wasn't unexpected.
35:17We 100% thought we'd see something else sooner than this.
35:24I just think about his sister-in-law.
35:30He had to stare her in the eyes while he was doing this.
35:34That's very personal.
35:37To strangle somebody.
35:42Honestly, I...
35:44None of us would have been surprised if there was other victims.
35:49There's probably other victims.
35:52People that he took advantage of didn't have people.
35:56You know, the grooming mentality of trying to be around people that didn't have anybody protect them, look out for
36:05them.
36:08And I think about that a lot, too.
36:11Because I think, you know...
36:15Anytime he came in my room, he could have just decided to get rid of me, too.
36:19I knew too much.
36:21You know?
36:21I could get him in trouble.
36:26And then it just makes me think of the guns to my head.
36:29And he could have killed me two times then.
36:35He actually looks very small.
36:38He looks like he's defeated.
36:42And I like that.
36:43He needs to be defeated.
36:45He needs to be brought down to the level he belongs, which is under my feet.
36:54And that's the first, like, the first time he looks like that.
37:13I believe he should have been given the death penalty.
37:19And I would have loved to have seen that day.
37:25I don't think the taxpayers should pay for him to breathe.
37:31And to eat.
37:32And to live.
37:36He's a waste of space.
37:41I would actually, like, when he dies, can they send me a video of him being pushed into the oven?
37:49I am so serious.
37:51That would be the best closure for a lot of people.
37:57My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer in the summer of 2018.
38:06And even though she went through treatment and was doing well, it still took her life in 2020 during COVID.
38:18If my mom was here for this, I believe that she would be very supportive.
38:23And I think she'd probably be proud of me.
38:25It's kind of like the end of the chapter, closing the book.
38:34I wish she would have had the strength to leave earlier.
38:40I wish she would have known what to do.
38:42I think just at her age and in the life she lived, she really didn't know her options.
38:50And she didn't have anybody to talk to about that either.
38:55And she just picked what she thought was the best route for her.
39:03And as much as I paid for her being with him, she paid.
39:17I've closed my book on all the trauma.
39:20I've worked through the trauma.
39:22It's just made me the person I am today.
39:25I don't deal with anybody's bull .
39:27I'm always the one to stand up.
39:31If I wouldn't have lived the life I lived with him, I probably would have been a different person.
39:39My experiences have made me who I am today.
39:42I'm not going to thank him for that.
39:44He should die for that.
39:45But I am the person I am.
39:48Everything has built me up to this.
39:51What would you say to Robert if you were sitting in the same room with him today?
39:57I would say if I seen Robert today, you didn't get me.
40:09I won.
40:12I'm still here.
40:14I'm walking this earth.
40:16I'm breathing this air free.
40:19And I'm not only free to do it, I'm free from you to do it.
40:27And I'm good.
40:28And I made a life.
40:32And I didn't let anything you do take that from me.
40:35Anything you did, I still did everything.
40:39Just made me do it better.
40:41I could have went down his path and ended up crazy.
40:46And let everything that affected me drive me crazy and do crazy things.
40:52But it's my mind.
40:54So I chose that I was going to heal from it.
40:59And I wasn't going to let it break me.
41:03Like it did when I was that age.
41:06I've done pretty good.
41:18I make a comment.
41:20He angers like that.
41:22The next thing I know, he's got his hands around me choking me.
41:29It was real then that he was a murderer and I had been living with him.
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