401: Disney Cruise Busted, Missing Scientist & Makayla Settles’ Dad Pleads Guilty

Hey true crime besties, welcome back to an all-new episode of "Serialist Sweet." Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all-new episode of "Serialist Sweet." Realistly with me, your host, Andrew True Crime Bestie, Annie Elise. Today's Thursday, which A means I hope you're having a good week so far, and if you are, I'm sorry, because it's almost over, but if you're having a bad week so far, then, yeah, it's almost over. But no, it's Thursday, so Thursdays mean we are not doing our normal deep dive into one case, but we are going over a lot of cases in headline highlights. We're going to talk about things that are brand new cases happening this week, cases where there are updates, cases where there has been no fucking justice in my opinion, and I'm a little pissed off about it, and we have a lot to go over. One of the main things too that we are going to be discussing, actually, that actually is the new word that I'm going to use. I meant to say discussing, but one of the things we will be disgusting is the Disney Cruise Predator bust, because there is so much to unpack with this Disney Cruise situation, and it's getting buried in the news, and I know that there's a lot of conspiracies out there being like, "Oh, that's the whole reason people brought up onto virus to bury the Disney Cruise scandal, but let me just tell you, we need to talk about it." So before we get into the cases and today's updates and all of the things, I do want to make a quick announcement, because I feel like I like to keep you guys in the know and let you know all things going on with my life. You are my friends. I keep you updated, and today I am so thrilled to be joined by someone that I have looked up to my whole life and that feels like an older sister of sorts. Welcome to the show, Amy Kolahead. Thanks, Mopi. Thanks. Josh Bosharoni, do you think that I will ever not do a trickery intro? I think you've got people shocked, they have no idea who's going to be here. They're shook right now. Somebody just re-rended someone on the freeway because they are so shocked that you are the guest today. I know. Well, he'll alert. He'll alert. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me. You're very welcome. Okay. So, we have a lot to talk about. I'm going to talk about the first, actually, all of these updates pissed me the hell off, but I'm going to start with this one because I know I sent it to you, Amy, last night, or yesterday afternoon, and you were kind of like, what the hell is this, what's going on. But there has been a major update in the Mikayla Settles case, and people, myself included, are absolutely outraged over it. And unfortunately, I think that we saw that this was a possibility with what had gone on. So, for those of you who maybe aren't familiar with the Mikayla Settles case, let me give you a brief rundown, but I did cover it a few weeks back so you can certainly find it. But Mikayla was a beautiful 18-year-old girl who graduated high school in North Carolina and then decided to move to California to pursue her college dreams. Her biological father also lived in California, so she had been connected with him throughout her life, but primarily lived with her mom in North Carolina. And so, she wanted to move to California to not only start over, not start over, but like start a new, go to college, live with her dad, connect with her dad, all of those things. And so, she did that, and within just a couple of days of being there, she ended up calling her mom saying that her father, her biological father, had violently sexually assaulted her. So much so that when Mikayla's mom and her uncle arrived, they had to carry her into the ER. Now, what makes this even worse is, well, as if it could get any worse, right? But once she was in the ER, she made a police report. She said that he had brutally assaulted her for over four hours. They found his DNA inside of her, and she ended up going back to the Carolinas to live with her mother and to like try to not only, I mean, come back from this, but try to like figure out what the hell happened to her, what like, how does she move forward from this? She was going through a very dark time, obviously. And unfortunately, in December, she ended up taking her own life over this. It was just too much for her to bear. So now, fast forward, and again, the other episode has way more detail, but now fast forward, and she did file that police report, and they did find his DNA inside of her. However, because she is not here to testify, there was worry that he would be able to get out of this by saying that it was consensual, which he did say it was consensual. And of course, because she's not there to testify that it absolutely was not, even though this was incest through and through, and he gave alcohol to a minor, he said it was consensual, he gave her alcohol, got her drunk, and then they both chose to do this. So the family for months has been, of course, not only outraged because they lost little Michaela, and I know she was 18, but like she was a young woman, they lost Michaela, and it looked as though this monster was not going to face any real accountability, because there was fear of prosecuting him, because they felt like they couldn't prove it with that, that there was assault beyond reasonable doubt due to the fact that Michaela would not be able to share her side of the story. So this has been a concern for several weeks now. There was a hearing a few weeks back, he didn't show up, his lawyer showed up for him, and now we know that as of this week, he did plead guilty, which is great on paper, you would think, but it's not, because he pled guilty to yes incest and also giving a minor alcohol, there was also, it was felony incest, by the way. He also pled guilty to abusing a position of trust and how she was particularly vulnerable, but because he is still saying this was consensual, there's no assault charges, which means the maximum sentence that he will face, when he is sentenced, which is scheduled for June 23rd, get this, will be three years, that's it. And we also know in California with overcrowding, with good behavior, with all that, he could be out in as little as a year or a year and a half, which is so appalling, he's an electrician also, so like he goes in and out of homes, I will say with whatever sentence is handed down, he will also be put on the registry for 20 years, which that will of course then dictate what his job is going to be and where he's allowed to go, but there is so much backlash because of this, because he now may only serve a year in prison for what he did to his own daughter, so much so caused so much distress that she took her own life and where is the justice for Michaela and all of that. It is so sickening, the whole thing. And I understand that there are corners that you can cut and loopholes in the system and this is how these predators do operate and it's like great for him, but like what about Michaela's family? What about Michaela's family who has now lost a daughter who they had these horrible details about this assault and he's getting a slap on the wrist. I mean, the fact that when I read possibly only a year, a year and a half, I was absolutely in shock, but just for the assault alone, right, four hours, so much so she had to be carried into the emergency room and that's what's so shocking about all of that is there's just irrefutable evidence and so many crimes that happened that how could it only be reduced down to this? I know because he's just saying, oh no, we were drunk, it was rough, consensual sex with my own daughter. So yeah, I will plead felony incest or to felony incest, but like it's so unnerving and disheartening when you think about it and think about what her poor family is going through now. It's in raging. I think at this point, you just hope for justice in another way and that's not only for Michaela, but for her family. I know and she again, she only was there with him for a couple of days and this happened. I just think, you know, I think about her being so excited to reconnect with her dad and like just being California and just I can just I really feel for her and like just exactly what she, that excitement, that new chapter, this new relationship, you're getting to meet your dad when you're kind of turning of age and you can maybe have some of those conversations to have a resolution to maybe the time that you lost with them before and then to be so utterly betrayed and just her poor family having to say, you know, I obviously supported their daughter in going on that mission, which was her decision and it just awful. I know. So we will find out what the sentencing will be on June 23rd, but I mean, come on. I think we all are hopefully thinking the same thing that we know that child predators do not fare well in the prison system. So even if he's only going to be there for 365 days, I hope that those 365 days are filled with torment and just fear personally. Now speaking of other scum human beings, let's take a quick little pivot. I want to give you the update with the Corey Richens. Sentencing this obviously happened a little over a week ago, but haven't talked about it on here And I did cover the case extensively. So figured let's close the loop on all of this She has officially been sentenced and as a recap if you're unfamiliar with this case I'm sure you did see it on your tiktok feed or your Instagram feed But Corey Richens is the woman from Utah who was convicted of murdering her husband Eric by poisoning him with a fentanyl Laced Moscow mule now this took place back in 2022 The motives and the alleged motives behind it were money related because hello, obviously what a cliche, right? But after Eric died she actually had the audacity to write a children's grief book called are you with me where it helps kids cope with losing a parent She even went on like this mini local press tour peddling this book and I have seen a lot of people be like she didn't even write it She had a ghost writer fair, but a lot of authors use ghost writer or things like that So I don't think it's like a huge, you know bomb shell But we have talked about this case quite a bit in the past and just Corey as a human being and Through all of this through the trial through when she was first arrested She really tried to portray herself as the victim in all of this the martyr mother the You know selfless mother who just loves her kids all these things yet carefully behind the scenes She was trying to orchestrate how the trial would go She wrote this infamous letter to her family called it was a walk the dog letter where she was basically trying to Craft their testimony for them, and which is like hi, that's witness tampering you freak But she did just as one of those people who feels like she can do no wrong And I'm again not a medical licensed professional, but I would safely and confidently use the term narcissist here 100 percent so About two months after her trial ended she now has officially been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole The other alternative would have been life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years But I'm glad that that was taken off the table now one of the biggest things that came out of this sentencing Wasn't even about the sentencing itself, but it was about Corey once again becoming this Narrator of her own story giving her statement to the court and to the family in this very performative Carefully crafted monologue it was so cringey There were moments where she was telling her boys like, you know I want you to stand up on the mountain tops and think of this and it was just like so Beyond cringe which before I even get in I'm gonna play you a couple clips of that But before I get into that her boys also her boys shared their victim impact statements where all of them collectively said They were terrified of their mom that they're scared that if she ever got released that she would come after them They would live in fear that they missed their dad all of these things where it's like you would hope that as this mother In that moment you would have a little moment of self-awareness or self-reflection and read the room and not make it about yourself But maybe use that opportunity to apologize to your boys and hopefully give them some sort of peace or closure so that they could grow up and live regular normal lives as you know as best as they could But that's not what she did instead she took this opportunity to get up Grandstand give this whole you know monologue of a performance Maintaining her innocence even though she had already been found guilty now during most of that time She was talking directly to her sons telling them that she has done things in her life that she's not proud of that she does have regrets But that she never abandoned them that she was not put on this earth to be a killer that she never would hurt anyone like that She's talked about something about killing your spouse and their father and like then in an asked backwards way said But I'm not abandoning you like but she didn't take accountability for killing Eric Let me just make that clear and what I thought was so great is that the sentencing it took place on Eric 44th birthday. What would have been his 44th birthday and I want to just play a little clip for you really quick So then after this as this shit show is continuing there was a moment that made a lot of people pause because she Started then pivoting and giving her son's advice saying be like your dad Oh, I'm sorry You mean the dad that you have been now convicted of murdering like what are you even talking about but go ahead Hear it for yourself. Don't ever settle for just good Go for great in school your career and hunting and fishing and your relationships and your goals exceed expectations Be like your dad be generous be charitable stay humble Give when you have too much Give more that you take Help what others are in need Serve your community Be like your dad Never stop learning Your education Your people Your travel Culture Your business and friends From your success and achievements From your mistakes and failures Be like your dad I Love the outdoors find your peace Your therapy Your heart and soul Hold the top of a mountain somewhere Where it's quiet Where it's calm Where you will be able to feel the spirits of those that you love and miss the most Be like your dad She's been sentenced to life No parole. We know there's going to be an appeal coming down the line She also there's like some financial crimes going on and What is it? Eric's family is suing her for using his likeness in the book and You know, I think they're going after her for like $1.6 million or something like that which I feel like is also kind of you know Divine intervention because this whole thing was in my opinion financially motivated from the start She wanted money. She was greedy She wanted their business all to herself all these things and yet now she's not only convicted I'm going to be locked up for the rest of her life But she's also going to have to turn over any money that she does have so I don't know I know the appeals come in I can feel it in my bones, but this woman is just the most entitled Piece of shit mother that I've ever seen. You literally stole the words out of my mouth. I was about to be another About to say another piece of shit parent. It's like a Lori Valow different scale But where it's like you will never take responsibility and accountability and go out Screaming that you're the martyr and you love your children and you would never hurt anymore. I never I never abandoned you I just committed a crime that put me behind bars for the rest of my life right and to and killed your other parents father to which You have been abandoned and don't have any biological parents looking after you now, but I didn't abandon you You did, but what are you telling yourself that you actually think that's true or I don't know I don't know what's going on in her brain. Don't even want to know I'm just glad that this like wet sewer rat if you ever saw her during the trial like is gone and away and off my screen and Buy abandoned me Cory abandoned me honestly abandoned me Speaking of audacity I know the audacity All right, we have to talk about the Alex Murdo case for a minute because last week He was granted a new trial and this whole thing is kind of crazy And if you're not familiar with this case Alex Murdo was a well-known South Carolina attorney who had allegedly been stealing money and committing financial fraud for years Prosecutors believe that he murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul back in 2021 During the time when his financial crimes were starting to really all catch up to him And their argument was basically that everything in Alex's life was starting to fall apart behind the scenes And that the murder shifted the attention away from those financial crimes that were about to come out publicly And as the case progressed it became one of the biggest televised murder trials in the country And not only because of the actual murders but also because it became More of a symbol of the old entrenched good ol boy structure in the South Finally being exposed which there was rumors to be generational situations where people were granted, immunities and favoritism throughout the South. So again, this trial really just gained a lot of attention in the area. And by the end of the trial in 2023, Alex was found guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. But now the South Carolina Supreme Court has officially overturned those convictions and ordered a brand new trial all because of something the court clerk did during the first trial. Becky Hill. Becky Mother F and Hill. Yep. Yep. This Hussie. Honestly, honestly, life-ruiner. So Becky Hill was the court clerk during Alex's first murder trial and she became, I guess you could say, popular during this whole thing. She was doing interviews, appearing in documentaries and even wrote a book about the case while working in court. Then allegations started coming out that she may have crossed some major lines with the jury. According to court documents, she made comments to jurors about Alex's credibility when he testified, told them to "pay attention to his behavior and body language" and overall just became way too personally involved in the case itself. So the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that her actions did influence the jury which violated Alex's right to a fair trial. Now, Becky has since pleaded guilty to charges for misconduct and that's what ultimately caused the Supreme Court to overturn Alex's convictions. Alex's legal team has also reportedly sued Becky as of Monday this week, accusing her of reckless or callous indifference to Mr. Murdoz, federally protected right to trial before an impartial jury. They say in the filing that her behavior was motivated by "evil motive or intent" and they are hoping to hold her accountable and get paid compensatory damages and attorneys fees which were over $600,000 a loan. So again, this doesn't mean that he's all the sudden free and clear. He's still sitting in prison for all of those financial crimes that he was originally found guilty of but now prosecutors have to retry this entire murder case from the beginning. It's pretty wild to me because first of all, I actually saw something this morning that said they're looking into is there a possible way where taxpayers can somehow also sue Becky Hill or the court system because their taxpayer money is what paid for, you know, part of the trial, his incarceration, all of these things. But what I think, I think that it's going to be still a slam dunk conviction on the new trial but I know that there is a lot of concern out there that maybe it won't be because apparently and I have to do some more research on my end with this because I don't know what the truth really is maybe somebody listening or watching does and let me know in the comments because I haven't been following this super closely. But apparently the financial crimes were brought into the murder trial in a very big way. They really harped on it to say this is the motive and I don't think from what I'm hearing they're allowed to bring the financial crimes in as much or at all into this new trial. Also, you know, adjacent to this whole thing, there is a big portion of the population that believes that Buster is the one who committed these murders which is Alex other son and that Alex was just taking the fall for him being his dad because there is to your point this long history of influence and cover up and it goes back generations and generations and not even that far back because Buster what there's a lot of things with this family. I think it was Paul if I remember correctly on the boat in 2019 that fatal boat crash or Paul was involved and those charges were all pending during the murders. So I think there was some chatter there too is like was the murder part of like because he was going to be found guilty maybe. Yes. They'd have to bankroll. They were already financial struggles and was it Paul? I can't remember. Paul or Buster who also had the issue with I want to say his name was Tyler the gay young man on the highway who was just right. I think that was Paul also. So which I don't know where then Buster would have the motive or the reasoning and again you guys who have been following this closely you tell me in the comments why he would want to kill his mother and brother in all of this it seems more likely that like Paul would want to kill his mom and Buster. I don't know maybe there's something I'm forgetting or missing it has been years and I need to brush up on this case. But yeah a lot of people out there seem to think that maybe it's not going to be a slam dunk at the retrial and that he could get off and have enough reasonable doubt to get out of these murder charges. Well I like everyone probably saw the headline first and just jumped to all these conclusions in my own head and my first thing was of course like after all these generational things and like people getting off of course this guy would get a retrial and then my next thought which I haven't been able to verify anywhere yet was like was there some sort of technicality with that cell phone video that was found because that was such a big part of the evidence was that there were potentially three people in the dog kennel area when supposedly Alex was never there so yeah it'll be interesting to see if that ends up somehow also being changed. And it's so crazy let's just throw a hypothetical out for a moment here. If he does in this new trial if he is found not guilty how insane is it that this court clerk yes damage and tainted this case and investigation and trial and everything so much that two murders are going without any sort of accountability or justice for them and that because of her greedy motivations wanting to write a book wanting to make money wanting to insert herself in it sway the jury her personal bias that she had that much power for that kind of outcome which hopefully that's not the case hopefully he is found guilty but I mean come on where's the justice then for Maggie and Paul. Well and how are they going to find an unbiased jury now right especially in that area it seems like there's a lot of like historic yeah issues there so are they going to relocate the trial somewhere else. Maybe a file for a change of any who knows maybe team Annie Elise needs to make the venue orange County California yeah that's wild. Okay so this next story it is one that has been blowing up online over the last couple of weeks because so many people are trying to figure out what exactly was happening behind the scenes and why this handful of cruise ships just docked in San Diego earlier this month and let me tell you I really went down the dark hole with this that's why it's taken me a while to talk about it because I wanted to just like figure out what it was was it true what people were talking about like what really happened now this wasn't local police just showing up to arrest one person after some sort of incident on board that then required the ship to you know I don't know what the technical time is pullover and dock but this was a coordinated federal operation involving multiple cruise lines multiple ships and 28 crew members who ended up being removed from those ships because they allegedly had CSAM material now if you don't know that acronym bless your heart I'm so glad you don't but it stands for child sexual abuse material. Now the reason that people are talking about this so much is because there are still so many unanswered questions according to US customs and border protection federal agents boarded eight different cruise ships that were docked in San Diego and they boarded these between April 23rd and April 27th and after interviewing crew members aboard authorities detained 28 of the workers across eight ships customs and border patrol later said that 27 of those 28 individuals were confirmed to have been involved in quote the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution or viewing of CSAM material. Now 26 of the crew members were from the Philippines one was from Portugal and one was from Indonesia and look we know that this kind of activity happens behind closed doors everywhere in every country and every state in every county but I will say I did a video on this kind of situation and CSAM material particularly last month because many of you know I work closely with the child rescue coalition they actually have developed a technology that helps track these predators in real time it also helps aid in the arrest they partner with law enforcement on this and in that episode I talk a lot about the statistics and it's disheartening but one of the main areas where exchanging like that of that material and even live children happens is the Philippines which that so for 26 of the 28 to be from the Philippines that is obviously upsetting as well. Now one of the biggest parts that's being talked about is this passenger video that was taken during these arrests because a woman onboard a Disney cruise ship said that she was getting off the ship and she was heading towards customs when federal agents just came in and started escorting these crew members off the ship and loading them into a white van and then as all this chaos was happening she realized that one of the people who was being taken away was apparently her server from the Disney cruise ship. Here's what she had to say about it. The cruise left here San Diego It was like the Disney Magic Cruise that departed on April 19th. During our trip, we were assigned a head server, a host, and a assistant host. At dinner, we got to actually have conversations with them because we spent about two hours with them. As we were leaving, actually, we ran into our head server and his name was Joel. From the look on his face, you could tell, he was really stressed and distraught, but I disembarked and was waiting in the customs line. That's when I witnessed officers and employees being walked off of the boat onto that back dock or pier back there. I ran, grabbed my car, I came back and I had to pull into this parking lot right here behind us to wait for my family to come with the luggage. Once we loaded the luggage, we noticed officers and different employees in restraints being brought into the parking lot. As we pulled up, we noticed that one of the employees was actually the host that I had just been speaking to and there were several other employees with them being loaded onto that man. Which, imagine being on a vacation with your family on a Disney cruise of all places which I know is like Amy's absolute nightmare. Hopefully as you're like, imagine yourself, I'm like, no, thank you. No, I know, no cruise in general for you, but Disney cruise, I know especially. But like, you're on a Disney cruise. Would you pay so much money for it? I've never been on one, I've looked into it, but I know a lot of families of my son's friends who have done it and they rave about it, not anymore, but it costs so much money. You think that you're going to have this amazing family vacation that they're trained to be with kids to create this amazing environment, safety, then you suddenly see federal agents walking workers off this ship in handcuffs and you have no clue why. That would certainly be alarming and make you kind of be like, what the heck is really going on? And I know that there have been rumors about Disney for years, I get it. But like, this is pretty major. According to reports, ten of the detained workers came from Disney ships specifically. While the other eighteen came from cruise lines over the following days. Now public statements that have come forward from the cruise lines themselves have identified at least some of these ships that were involved as the Disney magic, Disney wonder, and the Holland America ship, Zidam, which is owned apparently by Carnival. And something else that is really important in all of this is that local police were reportedly not involved in all of this. It was entirely federal. Which means that this was all very specific, this was coordinated, this was pre-planned, and authorities clearly knew who they were looking for before these ships even docked. And then once they docked, they jumped aboard, may start, you know, grabbing people making arrests, and it was a very coordinated effort. But here's where things get even more complicated. None of the 28 workers have publicly been criminally charged in the United States. At least not that we know of right now. Instead, all 28 of them had their visas revoked, and they were then deported back to their home countries. Now what's interesting is that customs and border patrol specifically said that 27 of the 28 workers were confirmed to have been involved with CCM material, right? So people online, obviously, here in hearing that, they're like, "Okay, well, what about the 28th person? Where's that person? What happened to them? What were they doing? What happened? Were they all connected somehow? Was this 28th person, maybe in accessory to a crime, I mean, what's going on with this person? But the authorities haven't really explained that part. Authorities also have not publicly said which specific ships were involved besides the few that I just listed that we know of. They haven't said how the workers were identified, whether these workers knew each other and were connected somehow, and like working in some weird underground cruise ship ring, which is like so crazy to think about. It sounds like a lifetime movie, but like, hello, we've seen crazier. And another huge point that people are focusing on in all of this is the fact that officials also haven't given many details about what digital evidence led to these arrests, only that it was CCM material, which honestly, I will say it's not that unusual in an investigation like this, especially if it's federal. We know that things usually remain pretty tight-lipped and not even just because it's federal, but because it's minors who are involved, but as you can imagine, because Disney cruises are so heavily centered around families, around children, around what's the like the kid's zone where you literally can go down a slide on the ship and just be like spout off into like the kid's club area. Because of that, speculation online has absolutely exploded. And apparently this also was not the first situation like this involving cruise ship workers. There were similar incidents back in 2025 involving carnival cruise employees in both Virginia and Baltimore. And this particular incident, or these incidents, I should say, crew members were also detained or deported over allegations involving CCM. So now people online are connecting this case not only to those incidents, but also to previous Disney cruise line employee arrests from 2021 and 2022, which involved similar crimes. And because this latest operation involved multiple ships and multiple cruise lines all within just a few days, some people are also wondering whether there could be something bigger going on here. Now to be clear, there is no public evidence currently that this was any sort of trafficking ring, that it's, you know, a trafficking ring connected to Disney cruises or in between cruise lines, anything like that. There's no public evidence that any passengers on board were harmed in any sort of way either. But as we know, cases like this, I mean, it's usually tied to a much bigger investigation or an online investigation that's happening behind the scenes. And sometimes authorities are tracking digital evidence across multiple countries, state lines, all sorts of, you know, knows no borders. What is it, doctors without borders, Disney cruise lines without borders, apparently, where they're tracking things for months or even years before anybody realizes it. So right now, people are looking at this lack of information as frustrating, of course, and trying to piece things together and see what makes sense, but also they're frustrated with the fact that there haven't been any charges filed publicly, and the fact that almost no details have come out since this happened. So it just feels like there are a lot of missing pieces here, and there's way more questions than answers at this point, unfortunately. But I know if I went on a Disney cruise with my family, I would be freaking the heck out right now, having conversations with my kids, just trying to be like, how was kids, I don't even know. Like, it's so unnerving to think about. Well, number one, I smell a huge lawsuit, a huge lawsuit in Rees on the Slotter version. Yeah. Number two, I was actually picturing you spring break in Orlando just a few weeks ago, and imagine at the Princess breakfast with little Lou, and all the set in your server is being taken out and taken out in handcuffs, but in all seriousness, I mean, I know this is going to sound more dramatic than I mean it, but would it make you question? And continuing that vacation, if you're like, all the set in all these cast members and people around us are being 100% like I'm packing my bags, we're coming home. What is this operation? Now I'm questioning everything like every time you're in kids club, every time you're on ride. I've always been freaked out and I shouldn't be, but probably because of what you do, the characters that are like hugging kids all day. And so it's just your mind is spiraling. So I probably would freak out because I'm obviously like hyper paranoid, a little bit of a helicopter parent. But my mind immediately would go to, this is such a busy park or cruise ship. I don't know who's taking photos. When they're in the pool, I don't know who's taking photos. If we know people walk around with the cameras for cast photos, we know people in general are just walking around with like video cameras and things like that or their phone. Like I would be concerned enough to know, to think like if this many people are being arrested right now for sea sand material, I don't even know what it is. Yeah, I don't even know what it is. I don't trust my children being exposed publicly at all right now in this environment. We're going in the hotel room. We're staying together as a family like just because like, not that you don't even know it has anything to do with children. You just know it's a crime. So yeah, I guess, I mean, but still to me, that would freak me out because I would think Disney vets their employees more than anybody. So if something's happening on a bigger scale, which I know, I wonder how that works though on Disney cruises. Is it Disney who vets them or is it a third party cruise company that vets them because they need to be trained to like be on board a cruise? I do know Disney in general, like for their parks, I had friends who work there, it didn't work there back in the day. And like, they do vet you. There's a very strict rules and regulations. Sorry, I'm going to throw my friend under the bus who got fired from there because she showed up drunk the park and she got thrown in Disney jail, which is a real thing. But yeah, this is certainly unnerving and I wonder, I don't think there's probably any public information available, but I wonder going into summertime now if bookings have been canceled, if it's dipped, because this would be the time where the hot device also affected that. I mean, God, just don't take a cruise. Take a robo. Don't invest in a cruise company. No, honestly, but like, I wonder what this is doing to their bookings. Right now, but like I said, it's been buried even the other day when I was talking to Ben, a guy who works with us on our team, if you follow me on social media, you know Ben. But I was talking to Ben and I was like, have you heard about this Disney cruise thing? Like, I want to, we're going to cover it in headline highlights, did it? He's all what Disney cruise? I hadn't heard of it. I know. And he's like, I did a simple Google search and it doesn't even pop up. It's buried. And so I don't know if that's some like coordinated effort because from Disney who's working with like Google AdWords and all these things and trying to bury it or like, what is going on? But it's a, I think it's a pretty big deal. That is a huge deal. Yeah. And like CSAM material scares the hell out of me because it's not limited to just, not that it's not just, but like, it's not just exchanging child. images, it's some of the most horrific material out there involving children. And being exchanged in very dark places. Yeah. So it's like, who's to say once they do a bigger investigation, what else will be uncovered for these people? I know. I know. Okay, well, this next case actually came from our dental hygienist, which also speaks to the fact that once again, we're on the same schedule because we had our cleanings the same week. I know. I know. But I want to talk about this really bizarre missing persons case out of New Mexico that's basically turned into this giant rabbit hole on the internet over the last year, but especially in the last couple of weeks. Because at first glance, it sounds like a pretty straightforward disappearance. But then you start looking at the timeline and connecting the dots to some of the cases of scientists who have gone missing or been found dead recently. And suddenly, people are split on what really happened here. They're saying this could be anything from a voluntary disappearance to espionage to some giant government conspiracy. And the woman at the center of all of this is 53-year-old Melissa Cassius. Melissa disappeared on Thursday, June 26th, 2025 from the Touse area of New Mexico. And according to investigators and her family, that morning started out completely normal. Melissa lived in Touse with her husband, Mark, and early that morning, she drove him to work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she also worked as an administrative assistant. Her family confirmed that Melissa was not a scientist herself, but because she worked at the lab, she held a special security clearance. And this next detail becomes really important later. According to Mark, Melissa dropped him off sometime around 6 a.m., saying that she was then going to go complete her work in another area of the lab. And that's when he reminded her that he needed the car back around 11 a.m. as he normally did, which she of course then agreed to. However, her daughter, Sierra, said that she remembers hearing her mom come home about 15 minutes after she woke up at 7.30. And when she asked her mom why she was home, Melissa said that she had realized she had forgotten her security badge, which is a pretty big deal if you work in a lab like Los Alamos and need that special security clearance. So instead of doing her work in the lab, she decided she would just work from home that day. And then later that morning, Melissa left the house to bring lunch to Sierra, who worked at a shopping center nearby in Touse. According to the timeline, later pieced together by investigators, Melissa arrived around lunch time, sometime close to noon, and by all accounts, nothing seemed unusual. Sierra said that Melissa appeared completely normal. She didn't seem emotional, panicked, or act like anything was wrong at all. And then at around 1.33 pm, Sierra got a text from Melissa, telling her that she needed to tell Mark, her father, to find another ride home. And about 30 minutes after that, Mark himself got a call from Los Alamos lab, saying that Melissa actually never clocked into work that day. Then at 2.18 pm, a surveillance camera along State Road 5.18 outside Tulpa, New Mexico captured what would become the last confirmed sighting of Melissa Cassius alive. In the footage, Melissa was seen walking eastbound along the road near Pot Creek. She appeared to be alone, wearing dark clothing, and carrying a backpack. No visible signs of distress at all. No one following her, no immediate signs of danger, but according to her family, the situation itself was extremely unusual. It was reportedly a very hot day outside that day, with temperatures reaching into the high 80s and low 90s, and Melissa was seen walking quickly along the roadway wearing very dark clothing. Family members later say that Melissa wasn't somebody who normally just wandered around highways or went walking alone, so this was pretty alarming. And then after that footage, she just vanished. Around 3.30 pm, Melissa's daughter, Sierra, went back home and she realized that Melissa wasn't there. But what immediately stood out was that Melissa's car was there, along with all of her personal belongings, her purse, wallet, keys, ID, medication, and both of her cell phones had all been left behind. And according to reports in Melissa's family, those two phones had apparently been both factory reset, which honestly that detail alone is one that completely changed how a lot of people viewed this case, because a factory reset doesn't just accidentally happen. Somebody has to intentionally wipe the device. And immediately people started asking, did Melissa do all of that before disappearing? Was she trying to hide something on that phone? Or did somebody do it afterwards? And depending on who you ask, that single detail points this case in completely different directions. Some people believe Melissa intentionally disappeared and started over somewhere else. They say that the phone resets the surveillance footage showing her alone and the lack of obvious signs of violence mean that this couldn't be anything more than just her deciding to leave her old life behind. There have also been rumors online that Melissa may have been under a significant amount of stress leading up to her disappearance, although a lot of those details have never fully been confirmed publicly. But other people say that the fact that she left behind her medication, money, personal belongings, both phones, it all seems just very odd and that she just would not do that. And there's the whole other side of this. The side that became completely fixated on the Los Almos connection. Because once people realized that Melissa worked at Los Almos National Laboratory, the Reddit threads started running with conspiracy theories. People started connecting Melissa's disappearance to several other deaths and disappearances involving government officials, military, aerospace, nuclear, and defense workers. And as of now, people are convinced that there is some sort of a larger pattern happening here with all of this. And honestly, the theories have been spiraling very fast. People started talking about espionage, secret intelligence, secret missions, and even UFO-related cover-ups. Which all of that sounds completely crazy to say out loud. But if you go into Reddit and go into those discussions, they are everywhere related to this case, and super interesting if you take the deep dive in. But what seems to get people talking about this recently are some new details that have come out. One of the strangest details that came out recently involved a woman who allegedly contacted Sierra months after Melissa's disappearance. According to reports, the woman showed up at Sierra's work, gave her $50 cash as a graduation gift, made odd comments involving Melissa, and acted like she knew something else about the case. She also insisted that she take a picture with Sierra and told her not to tell Mark anything about them meeting. But later, when investigators figured out exactly who this woman was, she said that she didn't know Sierra or Mark and had never even gone to the cafe. Meanwhile, Mark said that he had actually known her for years, which is really strange. So who knows what really went on there. But then in April of this year, almost 10 months after Melissa disappeared, investigators reportedly recovered a pair of shoes in Carson National Forest that may have matched the shoes Melissa was seen wearing the day she vanished. And at the time those reports came out, DNA testing was reportedly still pending, and investigators have still not publicly confirmed whether those shoes did in fact belong to her or not. And really that's kind of where this whole case sits right now. There are all these strange little pieces that feel like they should fit together somehow, but none of them fully point to a clear direction. Because depending on how you look at the evidence, you can almost build an entirely different theory every single time. And meanwhile, nearly a year later, Melissa Cassius is still missing. No confirmed sightings, no body, and no real answers about what actually happened to her on that afternoon of June 26, 2025. I mean to me, it's definitely mysterious, but it seems like she absolutely intentionally planned to leave for whatever reason that is to start a new life because somebody was threatening her who knows. But the fact that she like made it a mission to drop her husband off, then say she left her key card, which I think when I read in when I looked into this, she had her key card. So it was an excuse saying that she left it at home, but she purposefully like needed an excuse to get back home. And then the weird thing that doesn't really match with that would be if she left her medication behind, I could see leaving behind the phones, the purse, all of that, but you're always going to need medication. If you have an illness, I mean, it doesn't matter if you're creating a new identity or not. But it seems like it was intentional, but I, I don't know if it's to start a new life. I would say it's like there might be something deeper even more out of fear. Yeah, like trying to get away and protect her family or something. I don't know. Maybe we should do a deep dive on this, guys. Let me know. I'm curious to know, too, like what exactly her role was as administrative assistant? Like did she have access to a lot of confidential files because maybe she had more knowledge than her husband did? That's why she was the one maybe being targeted if this is all a bigger thing. It's definitely weird and spooky. I don't know. I'm interested in the scientist thing. I know. That's like a whole, oh God, I don't know if I have the bandwidth to go down that route. Oh, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe speaking of rabbit holes, though. If you guys watched the crash on Netflix with Mackenzie Sherilla, my arch nemesis. I like can't stand this girl. We did put out an episode two episodes actually this week, one on Monday with a full deep dive into the case, so much stuff that Netflix didn't include. Jail calls, footage, interviews, the whole nine, but then also in watching the crash. There was so much that obviously I knew Netflix left out and it was included in our deep dive from Monday, but there were five main things that I felt like I needed to put Netflix on blast for her for not putting in there, so I released a bonus episode yesterday, it's in the feed, but basically one thing being that her dad early on, while she was still in the hospital, in the police report, 'cause I have 518 pages worth of material I've gone through, told the sergeant that she did this intentionally and that she killed the two boys. And so I talk about why that wasn't entered in like what that means, that allegations that Mackenzie was involved in sex work and not really allegations, there is proof at which I go into, because it's all again laid out in the police report. The dry run that she apparently did a couple days before where she did that same route. Their, her parents trying to silence the friends at the hospital telling them not to cooperate with the police. There's so much, so I did this bonus episode yesterday, it's out now you can go listen to it on this feed, it's right above. And it's like, I wanted to just talk about the biggest bomb shells that like I thought are very relevant to the case, and I don't know why Netflix left it out. Actually, I do know why Netflix left it out is because they were able to secure an interview with her parents and with Mackenzie and any other documentary who has covered this case, the parents have not gone on it and Mackenzie has not gone on it because it paints her as the villain, whereas this one, it leaves that door open for interpretation, so they're safeguarded. So I believe that that's the reason why Netflix makes sense. That's, I believe that that's why they left so many of these like black and white hit you over the head with the fact that this was intentional, they left that out especially because since Mackenzie is going to continue appealing, I'm sure her parents had under the condition we have is that you, you know, you don't, not like you paint, you only share the story we want to share, but something to the effect of like we have final say or you can't do anything that can jeopardize her appeal or things like that. - I believe the audience wondering if there is some sort of a-- - Like create the doubt. - Yeah, because as soon as I finished it, I texted you, and said I have so many questions because I did not have a ton of prior knowledge on the details and there were so many holes that didn't make sense to where I had a feeling there was more to the story. - Also, I in this bonus episode from yesterday, I talk about how the blood sample that was taken at the ER, the night or the morning of the crash, the physician ordered it to be thrown away. So it was never tested. - Although the documentary makes it seem like she was tested, only THC was in the blood. - She was tested, the blood was drawn on August 3rd, days later, which I've seen conflicting reports that some drugs obviously we know stay in your system for like 30 days, 60 days, whatever hair tests are obviously the bulletproof ones, but that I have seen reports too that acid and trums doesn't stay in your system for that long. I personally don't know, I'm not a doctor and I don't know if there's different types that last longer or linger longer, but she also was reportedly according to friends drinking heavily that night. We know that a blood sample three days later would not show her blood alcohol level and I even say in the episode, that's why people when they get pulled over for a suspected DUI demand a blood test because by the time they get to the station, their blood alcohol level has reduced, you know, for the draw and so and like so many friends have spoken out saying that they were terrified to get in the car with McKenzie. She had Snapchat videos of her driving the car over 90 miles per hour and like bragging about it. So like yeah, Monday is the deep dive. It gives you the footage, more jail calls, all of that more context for the case. My episode yesterday is here are the major things that they left out that in my opinion show this girl is trash, guilty, no remorse and an entitled little B. - For sure entitled. - Absolutely. - So go listen to those right now. All right guys, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Headline Highlights. We will be back with you on the mic very, very soon. Have a great weekend and until the next one. Be nice, don't kill people. Don't go on any cruise ships for Haunt of Iris or see Sam Fear and just be a good human. All right, bye. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]