Episode 344

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. I found my daughter and my wife, somebody killed them in the apartment. They have been murdered. It's a little before 6 p.m. on a Saturday in Englewood, Colorado. It's sunny, but still frigid. It's the end of March 2023, and two local Englewood Colorado police deputies are sitting in their cruiser. They're just talking and looking over some paperwork, really. The officer, Aloe Wies, has been with the force for a few years now, but today he's got a trainee with him. Englewood is in the heart of the Denver metropolitan area. There are over 30,000 residents and a typical crime rate, which consists of basically two things, robberies and drug-related incidents, maybe a few traffic violations sprinkled in there as well. When either Officer Aloe Wies, nor his trainee, are expecting any crazy calls today, let alone a double homicide and a luxury apartment complex. "901 Englewood Parkway is going to be unit N in the Nancy 308 rate." He's got the cord to his radio wrapped around his finger, fidgeting with it, as he listens to dispatch. They'll be heading to a complex called Art Walk at City Center, Salon's fancy. There are one and two better apartments that go upwards of $2,000 a month. It's usually pretty quiet over there. "They get to be on the north with them and get a hold up." "Parametics, Mrs. Cara." "Hey, it's Julie from Englewood. "We're not sure what we have, but we need you to stage for right now. We might have two people that were killed inside of an apartment, 901 Englewood Parkway." "So this is like a homicide and like, the. " "Well, I don't know. He thinks it's his nephew, he thinks they're both dead, 70 and 34. I have a ton of officers going, as I'm sure you know." This is the 911 call that had come in just moments before. "911, where's your emergency?" "Yes, ma'am. This is Reggie McLean. I'm going from Art Walk apartments to the apartment N 308. I came around 3 o'clock and I found my wife and my daughter's mother's." "I'm sorry, you why?" "I found my daughter and my wife, somebody killed them in the apartment. They have been murdered." "Okay, how do you know that they're dead?" "Well, I am here, they are dead, you know, because the guy who ever entered, he was trying to take them in a trash can or take away, but he couldn't do it. So, I am just. Are your wife and daughter still inside the apartment?" "Inside the apartment." "Okay. How old are they?" "My wife is 17 years old." "Okay, and your daughter?" "Dotter is about 34 years old." "And what is your name?" "Reginald." "You got your name?" "Yes, that's my name. Reginald, McLean." "Okay. And are you in the hallway?" "No, I am going in the hallway because I want to put on my jacket, it's very cold there." "Okay. My officers are there, though, and they need you to not be in the apartment, okay?" "Okay." "At the same time, officer Al-Aweez and his trainee were running up the stairs to Unit N308." "Hey, already. I think it's this side." "What's ready to go? Do you go that way?" "Let's go. Do you want to put it on your way? Do you want to put it on your way?" "No, I'll put it on your way." "Do you want to put it on your way?" "No, I'll put it on your way." "Do you want to put it on your way?" When they finally get to that unit, the hallway is absolutely silent. There isn't a person in sight. They cautiously approach the apartment door, hoping they won't have to break it down. "Do it, I can firmly as an answer, you're like, 'Please follow those two hands. You called?' "Yeah." "Step outside. Step outside." He calls for a potential showdown, with whoever murdered this man's family. But instead, it's the caller himself who answers the door. He's still on the phone with Dispatch. "So let me know when you stepped out into the hallway because my officers are going to meet you in the hallway." "Okay." "How long ago did you find them? What time did you come home and find them?" "I don't know, man. I don't know." "Okay." "I don't know. I have no idea." "And you're in a van?" "Is it Nancy?" "You go?" "I don't know. I don't know." The man who emerges is frail and hunched over, clutching his jacket. Reginald McLaren is 81 years old, and the stress of this situation is making him look even older. He's a normal old man, except for the distant look in his eyes, and a name that doesn't match his accent. It doesn't seem injured, just stunned. Officers help him out of the apartment and plan to take him back to the station to ask a few more questions. "Yeah. You want to take him in? He's the on-call of the Texas Sergeant and on-call staff." "You picked a bad time to be on-call supervisor?" "Uh, looks like I had a double homicide." The new trainee stands guard at the front door, while Reginald gets a pat down in the hallway. Meanwhile, the handful of officers inside are getting a taste of what they'll be dealing with. Right away, they know it'll be more than their little police department can handle. "Fuck, the car was kids. Fuck you, man." "Yeah. Oh, jeez. Oh, jeez. Jesus Christ." "There's a closet right now. The house is clean. It's like, at least one confirmed so far." "Two." "Yeah, two?" "Two?" "Two?" "Two?" "Two." "Yeah, two?" "There's two." "You going that one too?" "Yeah." "You want me to stay inside with?" "Do you want me to stay inside for more?" "All right. I'll be back in the station." The department isn't chaotic. It looks like they're in mid-move. Boxes are stacked neatly in corners. Some are sealed. Others are half-packed with clothes and books still visible inside. Long on their sides in the living room are two oversized black roller trash cans. The lids are open. With his gun and flashlight drawn, one of the officers carefully steps over to one of the bins and leans down so he can see inside. Immediately, he can see clothing, skin, limbs, and blood. Both of the victims are women. They've been stuffed inside headfirst. Their arms and legs are bent unnaturally. One of the woman's legs hangs partially outside its plastic vessel. There's a towel covering part of the first victim's body. Blood is pooled beneath her. The second woman is positioned mostly face down. Neither is moving. The officers don't touch the bodies. They don't try CPR. It's already too late. Double homicide, 901 Wood Parkway, Innocent Nora, 308, is the apartment number. Sounds like husband came home, finds his wife and daughter deceased. They both have been shoved into a trash can of peace. So it looks like, by all appearances, it would look like this was trying to put the bodies in the trash can and take them whoever. Husband seems to think he knows who did it. We're trying to talk with him. He's pretty shook up. Obviously. But yeah, you might want to call the troops on out there. Are civilians? You'd be like, in a building on where they don't they do? No. Um, just that fly. This is all this kind of blood. Oh, yeah. That's all that. Yeah. I saw that. And if you look underneath those bedsheets and stuff, that pillow is covered in blood. Blood spatters, fleck the walls. A pillow soaked in blood lays on the floor near the couch. And a utility closet behind the love seat, they find an axe and what looks like strands of black hair caught in the blade. A hand saw rests nearby. The kitchen's sink has hair and blood in the basin. The rest of the unit looks oddly clean. Just before a deputy is about to drive Reginald to the police station to get a formal statement, he complains of chest pain. He explains that he has a history of heart attacks and has recently had open heart surgery. He's 81 years old after all. Finding your wife and daughter brutally murdered is asking for another incident. Luckily, paramedics are just arriving. Out of caution, officers have him transported to Swedish Medical Center for evaluation. An officer is assigned to sit outside his room. If Reginald is right, if this really is about his gang banging nephews, then he might not be safe. Even in a hospital. On March 25th, 2023, 81-year-old Reginald McLaren called 911 after discovering his wife and daughter murdered inside their Engelwood, Colorado apartment. The police department and emergency dispatch were wholly unprepared to deal with this situation. Dispatch scrambled, trying to figure out how to get in contact with the state crime scene unit. Officer Alouese's trainee frantically scribbled names into the crime scene log as personnel swept in and out of the apartment. A lot of these responders were newbies doing their absolute best. The crime scene was now sealed. The victims had been officially pronounced dead. Reginald was under observation at Swedish Medical Center. And if Reginald's nephews were involved, then time was already working against them. As the investigation unfolded, neighbors started noticing it was dinner time for most people. And this group of cops who were jingling their keys and talking in the hall was starting to draw a little bit of attention. We're probably going to do at least a quick rant on him and just talk to him and see what our information would give if the suspect's out on the ballot is under supervision of the public. We need to find it out as quickly as possible. How does he know? How does he know he knows who did it? That type of thing. Yeah, but he's going to be more than I'd ever think. Are we okay? Are we okay? Are we okay? Are we okay? Just see it. Yeah. Okay, come in. Yeah, this is it. How are you guys? Good for you. Have you guys heard anything suspicious or anything? No, I saw him. I left around like, so what did I leave? I went to the liquor store around like three or four and he was leaving. He locked his apartment. He was walking to his car and then I got in my car and then I saw him come back around like three o'clock, three or four whenever I had texted you. Yeah. Can we get that? Can we get that text to see what time it was? Did you guys hear anything? No, and they, they're supposed to know things soon. They told me. They're super nice. Okay, did you know the daughter in the, is he the husband? Yeah, I know there's a daughter, husband and wife, right? I think. I don't. Did they ever see any like disturbances? No, I heard talking a lot in the hall and I heard doors slam but I thought that they were moving and it was just kind of okay. Yeah. Was last time someone got her? I don't, I don't know. I haven't seen them in a while. I've only seen him. I saw him on the daughter. Okay, the last time I saw them I can tell you exactly because the fire alarm went off here. Okay. And I saw them leaving and I, did they ever express any like problems? No, nothing. They've always been super nice. Never thought, never said like, watch out for a suspicious person. Huh? Okay. I saw them on Tuesday. I saw the doctor. Oh yeah, because you said it. Yeah, they had their door open and they were cooking food and I smelled it and it's not really good. And so I looked in it and I saw I'm assuming it's a daughter. She looked young girl. Yeah. This is what they heard on repeat from all the neighbors. No one knew the family well, no one even knew their names but they could always smell delicious food coming from their open door. I see them all the time. I've seen fairly friendly. Well, good guy speaks, the woman not so much. It seemed like they just kind of come in and out. Um, he think he works at RGD or like the light rail or something like that. He always has a phone on. No, RKD or the light rail stuff. Okay. Um, and the mom, I don't really see very much. Okay. At times they cook things and so kind of they have to air out there for a minute. Yeah, that's what your other neighbor said like daily, they're door open and he can smell it. Smell it. Okay. Have I heard any like issues or complaints or do you ever heard anything? Not anything super loud or a pain that I'm aware of. Okay. Since the ones that you haven't seen anybody. Yeah. Yeah. I hope they're okay. But to be 100% honest with you, mom and daughter are deceased. And so we're trying to figure out what is going on. So that's why I'm asking you so many. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I guess I could have let it out before I started asking you, when are you coming back? Yeah. So we're trying to figure out what's going on. Police continued canvassing nearby units. One neighbor who lived just a few doors down from the family told officers he remembered running into Reginald in the parking lot. I don't even know what he's saying. I'm sure I don't know what he's saying. Oh, he says, "I don't know. I don't know." Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. He came over to me and the other neighbor had spoken in the garage because they could need to be in favor. We're moving up on the Saturday. I was like, "Okay." He was like, "If it's after hours, can I drop off the keys to you?" And I was like, "Okay. I told my apartment number." Then we saw him walking around this morning and when I hear all the shit. Did he ever make a plan to leave the keys to the unit at any point? He just said that he had to drop him off. Okay. He said he was going overseas, but he was going to come back. And then, do you ever see his wife and daughter? One of the last time he saw them. And he never mentioned anything about that. When he said they were moving overseas. They were moving out of the house because they'd say, "I'm going overseas." So, I didn't. Like, I'm as in singular? Yeah. I've seen singular and so that. Okay. The women stuffed inside the trash cans were 70-year-old Bethany McLaren and her 35-year-old daughter Ruth. Bethany and Reginald moved to America in the 80s and really kept to themselves. Back at the hospital, some of these details were beginning to come up in conversation. But the officer assigned a watch over Reginald's room. Apparently, Reginald was born in India and his wife Bethany was from Nepal. Reginald had an estranged son from another marriage and then there was his daughter Ruth. I think he said that. Is your heart feeling okay now? A little bit? Yeah. Okay. And then you just insured and. Yeah, we'll give you one blanket for now, is that okay? We'll give you this kind of a temperature until we can get you some brother clothes, okay? But it's better than nothing, okay? So, next thing we're going to do, again, dissolve your permission too. So, we get like a hand swab of the DNA in your hand to show that basically that's your DNA. So, if we find other people's DNA, we know that's not your DNA. You know what I'm saying? So, like I'm touching this, right? Then you touch it, then I can compare your DNA to this DNA. So, we don't see like who's this. So, we have yours to show. Is that okay to do? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. It wasn't just his four prior heart attacks that had detectives worried. They wanted a full medical evaluation on Reginald because he told one of the officers that after he got home after 3 p.m. and found Bethany and Ruth in the trash cans, he passed out. It wasn't until around 6 p.m. that he tried to call the apartment property management's office. And then, after that, he called 911. Here are the property managers. And you guys are all hidden back in here. Hi. Hi, I'm Lindsay. Thank you, Brian. Remember, this is a Saturday night. Everyone, including some of these cops, had been relaxing at home before all this happened. That's my day off. So, I'm like, what are you going to do? You guys are playing the same boat. Here's the voicemail, Reginald left. I think my doctor was murdered, so I went to call D. I was saying that she was left at 602 p.m. Okay. Now let's swing back over to the hospital. So let me show you that you have no injuries on you. No arms, no legs. Okay. We're going to take a picture to make sure that you have no injuries. We're going to show that you had no injuries, okay? You put your arms up for me. Let me show that you're okay, no injuries. But you weren't hurt at all. No, I wasn't hurt. Okay. Make sure. I heard that you passed out. Oh yeah. But you didn't hit your head or nothing like that. I have no idea. Okay. We'll take some pictures real quick just to make sure, okay? Yeah. Imagine waking up on the floor three hours after finding your wife and daughter murdered. You've just come back to reality. You remember what happened? You're panicked and confused. Now listen to how Reginald McLaren say on to what he calls 911. 911, where's your emergency? Yeah, yes, ma'am. This is Reginald McLaren. I'm going from hard walk to the apartment. To the apartment N-308. I came around 3 o'clock and I found my wife and my daughter's murder. Now, I didn't tell you anything about it. The apartment N-308, I just wanted to call you there and hang in there. My partner was on a field block. I found my wife and my daughter's murder. So I'm going to call the evil police right now. I was sitting down here. I was left at 6.00 am. Now that you've heard both the voicemail he left for the property manager. And this 911 call. Don't they sound eerily similar? Almost rehearsed? Here's the rest of the call. Okay. And how were they injured? Can you tell? Well, ma'am, I'm very disturbed. I have no idea. The order is difficult. I'm getting home. Okay. I'm getting home. Yeah, thank you. Do you know who did this? Yeah, before I go further, I want to tell you that our security door in the garage door is always open. I mean, this is never enough. Okay. Answer my questions. Okay, I understand this is very hard and I'm getting you lots of help. Okay. But how were they hurt? Were they shot? Were they stabbed? Can you tell me how they were injured? They were stabbed. Not to stab days. Somebody use a hammer or. I don't know, you know. Where are you at now? I am in my apartment. I need you to step out. I don't want you to be in there. Okay. Oh, step out. Okay. Okay. Have you touched anything? Well, I went into the room. I just looked at my body spurs, my daughter's purse, the IDs were gone. All the things are upside down, you know. Okay. Oh, shit. Okay. So do the office. If the security building can they come in here still? Yes, we have lots of people come in. We're even having ambulance coming, okay? Who did this? Okay, thank you. Who did it? Yeah, well, we had a long enemy TV, our nephew, Regen, Regen Bicca, and the another one is Millen Kawas. They are both my wife and nephew. Is he there? Oh, no, no. He's. He ran away from our home and he just goes all over the places. He's in gangs and here and there. And I just want to make sure it's a year of wife and daughter currently inside the apartment in which room? Uh, Master Bedroom. They're in the bedroom? Master Bedroom. Okay. Do you have any weapons? Me? No. Okay. So wife and daughter are both in the master bedroom? No, they are not in the master bedroom. They were sitting. I don't know what they were sitting. But they are living room right now. Okay. In the living room. Okay. In the living room. Okay. Thank you. Am I the only one disturbed, by the way, she says. Okay. Thank you. Well, it's just a routine checklist she's going through. Like she's asking for the ingredients to make a batch of cookies. Maybe it's just me. And are you in the hallway? No, I'm going in the hallway because I even put on my jacket. It's very cold there. Okay. My officers are there, though, and they need you to not be in the apartment, okay? Okay. So let me know when you stepped out into the hallway because my officers are going to meet you in the hallway. Okay. Okay. Okay. And when did you. How long ago did you find them? What time did you come home and find them? I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. I don't know. I have no idea. And you're in a. Is it Nancy? You go? Yeah. That's all right. Did you catch any inconsistencies? And Goldwood police were starting to rethink the idea that the suspects were on the loose somewhere. Now let's rewind just a little bit. Remember this neighbor? Are we okay? She had mentioned earlier that she had seen Reginald that day. Around the same time that he said he had discovered his wife and daughter's bodies. I went to the liquor store around like three or four. And he was leaving, he locked his apartment and was locking in his car, and then I got in my car and then I saw him come back. She texted me at three fifty-five. That's where she left? Yeah. So I was like, "You want to come over?" Yeah. And I was at the liquor store when you texted me back. And he is leaving as you were leaving? Yeah. Well, he went to his car. Okay. I saw that. I was like, "Hi." He normally says, "Hi to me." He didn't say anything. He just kind of said a lot. He acknowledged you? He said, "Hi." And then kept walking and normally he'll like stop and chat with me. Okay. So he locked his door and then he came. Yeah. And then he went to the parking lot. And while I was going in the parking lot, he walked past me and didn't say anything and then came back. Okay. Which I thought was kind of weird because then I was like, "Oh, he's probably leaving." That's why I saw you guys out there. I was like, "I need to go talk to you." Yeah, absolutely. So right after this officer leaves the woman's apartment, he tells his colleagues, "They'll be changing course." Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We need to find a car. Are you good? Wow. Around 355 today. She was going on the store. She saw him walk to the car. He had locked the door, locked the car. It doesn't know what he did in the car, but he came back. The car is a white sedan, possibly on the same floor. They have a go look for it. So someone goes over to the adjoining parking garage to find Reginald's SUV. And when they do, everything kind of starts to make sense. There was a 355. It's a plastic seat. And then when it came back, I didn't see if there were any warmth to them or not, but. I didn't either. I just. So for. I don't think this was done in two albums. Some of them, but there's a lot more missing. Well, can you just see it down the front of the trash can? I can't look back. So not yet, but we just were informed by Bryce that it sounds like he. Dad left at 355. She's neighbor saw him driving at his car. And so Bryce is going to locate the car right now with the neighbor that saw it. That was around four. And she's saying, if I'm hearing what Bryce said correctly, he locked this door, left of the car, and came back. That might be our extension. I'm going to see if Bryce has the car. Are you guys good here? Oh, yeah, I was good. Stay here with the Crimson Monk. Detective, Eloise, walked to the parking garage and spots his colleague, who's peering in through the windows of the SUV. Just tell it. It's flat. Stay with this car when we touch it. Hey. Who's. I'll be there with you guys. Yeah, we'll be there. The SUV is completely flat. So I got Bryce sitting on it. The apartment complex has its own trash system, one that doesn't require any kind of rolling cans you leave on the side of the road. Could Reginald have flattened the back seats to make room for the new trash cans that were now in his apartment? With this possibility in mind, they have to find a neighbor with a doorbell camera. They need to get footage of whoever brought those trash cans into the apartment. Hey there. Can I come in for a second? Yeah, you can go in. Are you guys. I'm doing all right. I'm Grant. I'm with the police department, obviously. Um. Are you saying the. Yeah. Okay. So you guys might have some video or something? Yeah, I have on the video doorbell over there. I'm not entirely sure what times I think he said, like, around 330 was, like, one of them. Okay. But it just catches clips. I think this was, like, one. So you know what I'm looking for is someone dragging a trash can couple trash cans like they like the really ones Oh gosh, yeah, I haven't like we hear that sometimes like at night do you guys get roll trash cans or you put your trash outside and they collect it They collect it, but they have like a big like like one of those ones you see like like that they push and then come back and collect them. In this 911 call, Reginald weirdly mentions that whoever did this must have started the cleanup process and couldn't finish it. Was he talking about himself? I mean who breaks into a place, kills people and then tries to remove the bodies. Why would you do that unless you live there? The car discovery paired with Reginald's claim that his wife and daughter's purses were empty prompted a search of the big dumpsters on the ground floor of the apartment complex. Inside they found an exfinity bill addressed to Reggie McLaren, a credit union bank statement for the couple, numerous ID cards for Ruth, three of Bethany's driver's licenses, and both women's social security cards. All of these items had been cut up, they found bloody close too. This all wasn't looking very good. The next logical step was to find out which hardware store the rolling trash cans were from. Maybe they'd even be able to get security camera footage of Reginald buying the items. So the deputy went to nearly every store in the area. Finally, he arrived at a particular home depot. What I can do is I can go back a storage of when he entered the store without items. Yeah, if you can follow him from his car to where his car is, most of the things go past this because I'm afraid it's going to be good. We can't really talk. Is that him? Yeah, that's him. He's taking long time to like his items. Yeah, while he's in the like in the small section, I want the trash cans, so there he is. So he's already picked the trash cans. I never thought like I would not mention that because I always thought because you see these people with these items. I wonder what they use it for the last time when I was cashing. I saw a guy with a truck shovel, and like walking to close and I was like, oh my god, looks so sketchy and stuff. I don't know. I don't know. Her enthusiasm is cute, isn't it? Bet you never thought she'd be in a real life episode of CSI. Anyway, this footage showed him not only purchasing the two trash cans, but also a Stanley brand hand saw. Good brand. He paid for all the items with cash, and remember that neighbor with a doorbell camera? He found footage from March 9th that showed Reginald wheeling his two brand new trash cans back to his apartment. Weird. Then there was that long handled axe. Footage showed Reginald in Harbor Freight's checkout line with his axe in hand. Again, he used cash. This was all on March 9th just before 4pm. Shortly after he got home that day, doorbell footage showed the three of them, Reginald Bethany and their daughter Ruth, all leaving the apartment. Then they get back around 7-15pm, having just gone on an outing with the man who would soon. And their lives. While investigators rewound camera feeds and match time stamps, a sense of disbelief washed over everyone. How could 81-year-old Reginald, elderly and frail, have done any of this? So the doctor asked him what happened, and Reginald said, "Oh, I made a mistake, and that's why." The audio isn't perfect, it's from the body-worn camera of the officer sitting in Reginald's hospital room. Reginald calls the doctor, "Doc." That might help you follow it a little bit better. The doctor was saying something where he said, "It's on there. I feel that you want to know that you found something with him?" "Well, you know, doubt, I'm not familiar with him." "No, I'm very sorry. I have lived here for 40 years and I typically live here." "And I take care of my family basically, and we were degenerating here." "We just ran out of money at this age, at the age you can already find." "No, you're fine." "And the family, she's dressing me to take an apartment and go there, and I have moved in, and I had it." "And then I have some money here, it's still my $8,000 in my case at home." "But that was only for one month, and to sign a piece of 15, anyone who tried this will be sure that I didn't want to see my family in this street bedding." "I don't want to see no matter what happens." "But I just think because I see I eat a lot of rolls, and I don't want to eat anything better, but I also don't do anything." "So you eat the children?" "Oh, come on, come on. And then in the end I passed out, was that correct? Then I passed out." The doctor asks him, "So you killed them? Both of them?" And Reginald admitted that he had. After this shockingly calm admission, so creepy, really, Reginald continued, telling the doctor that he used to work for HSS security company in the hospital setting. During his time there, he saw the harsh reality of homelessness every day. He said that after he lost his job, he knew that he and his family would end up like these people, begging on the side of the road. At his age, no one would hire him. To make matters worse, he said that they were being evicted. Bethany and Ruth were pressuring him to sign a lease on a new apartment, and Reginald said he was down to his last $8,000, which wouldn't be enough for first and last month's rent, plus a security deposit, and his daughter's medication. 35-year-old Ruth lived with cerebral palsy and required constant monitoring. Her meds were $800 a month according to Reginald, who really emphasized that he'd been taking care of his wife and daughter for 35 years. His family depended on him, relied on him. They couldn't survive without him. Apparently, he had just become too much. He said he'd started planning about 10 days prior. He just couldn't see any other way out. [Music] On March 25, 2023, from a hospital bed under police watch, 81-year-old Reginald McClarin calmly admitted he had murdered his wife and daughter. He said he'd spent decades supporting them. But when he lost his job and found out they were being evicted, he saw only one path forward. According to Reginald, the plan had been in motion for a week. Here's what investigators believe happened that final day. Sometime in the early afternoon, he grabbed an axe. the one he bought at Harbor Freight. He set aside the handsaw that was for later. He purchased everything he needed using cash like the two rolling trash cans. He wheeled them through the parking lot by himself. They were now waiting in his living room. Lids propped open. Bethany, his wife of nearly 40 years, was likely sitting on the couch. He struck her first, hard enough to slice through a major artery, causing a blood spray that painted the wall behind her. Then, he turned on Ruth, hacking away at her. She was 35 years old and Reginald said she had cerebral palsy. Detectives believe she may have been standing near the kitchen at the time. Later, they found the sink drain clogged with blood and hair, clear evidence of an effort to clean up what was becoming an unmanageably messy situation. After they were both dead, Reginald used a combination of the ax and the saw to remove one of his wife's legs. It was harder than he imagined it would be. So he abandoned that idea. Instead, he forcibly bent Bethany and Ruth's limbs at awkward angles so they'd fit. He draped a towel over his wife, but it didn't cover much. He looked down out of breath and knew he still had to get both of these bins to stand up so he could roll them down the hall and into his SUV. One of Bethany's legs was still sticking out, lying on top of the open lid. Blood was starting to pool around each of the bins. Reginald panicked. His chest felt tight. He knew this feeling. Quickly he cut up both of the women's identification cards, drivers licenses and social security cards. He tossed the pieces down the trash you into the apartment's main dumpster, along with bloody clothes and other personal effects. Then he picked up his phone and called the property manager followed by 9-1-1. In his 9-1-1 call, Reginald said to the dispatcher, whoever did this probably started the cleanup, but got tired and gave up. And that's exactly what he did. During the process of hauling bodies, cleaning blood and lugging heavy plastic bins into position, Reginald overexerted himself. He began to field the familiar warnings of a heart attack. He'd already suffered four and had recently undergone open heart surgery. He just got scared. Scared that he was about to die. Getting medical attention for himself became the number one priority. I wonder how he was gonna pay for that. - Can I come from the back doors? - A horrifying crime in Anglewood in the suspect talked about Colorado's housing crisis with investigators. The 81-year-old man told them he killed and dismembered his wife and daughter because he could no longer afford to pay the rent. They were murdered in an apartment building in the Anglewood City Center, just off Hampton Avenue instead of a drive. Karen Morphet on the story tonight and Karen, the man told police he didn't want his family to suffer through a homelessness. - During his arrest, he reportedly told police that he had no regrets because he felt like they were in a better place. Now police responding today pleading for anyone who may be struggling to ask for help. - According to the arrest at the David McClaren confessed to the murders, telling detectives he had recently lost his job and the family was about to be evicted. Having worked with the homeless population before, he told police he quote, "New, what a miserable life that was." Having planned for several days, he allegedly carried out those murders the morning they were to vacate. - You know, he seemed to strut, maybe, and I don't know what the reasons for, his actions were, I mean, that's part of our investigation. We're trying to determine why he did what he did. But as far as our dealings with him, he was more than cooperative. - Now McClaren is expected in court sometime later this week. We know the Arapaho County Coroner's office will identify those victims once their family is notified. - Notifying extended family about Bethany and Ruth's deaths was more difficult than expected. Who were these women? The family had lived in the same building for years and yet no one seemed to know them beyond their friendly smiles in the smell of food, wafting from their unit. - Well, Jim and the sadness over this terrible, terrible crime is the realization that this family lived quietly in an Englewood apartment building. The mother and victim in this case, Bethany McClaren, was apparently from overseas, but without the help of her husband, the suspect finding her family has been difficult. And so the coroner's office has reached out for help. There was no one to claim Bethany and Ruth's bodies. No one to plan their funerals or give them a peaceful sign off. When leaders at the Colorado Nepal Alliance found out about this situation, they couldn't let it end like this. There had to be someone who knew and loved these women. - They knew Bethany McClaren first got a social security number after arriving in the US somewhere in the '80s in a little bit more, but no one knew her relatives. The coroner's office called you. - Yeah, they called me the Tuesday after the murders. - Anne Hines and San Gita Shrotria are both part of the Colorado Nepal Alliance. And the coroner had found the mom, Bethany, had another name. - The fact that her name was Pavita was a good clue that she might, if she wasn't Nepal, that kind of Nepal descent was likely. - And so they set to work to find family to remember them. And they're passed. - They brought a photo of Bethany to a local funeral. Someone in the Anglewood Nepal community had passed away and 600 people were in attendance. All people who might know these women. - Somebody has to mourn these women. - Yeah. - Yeah. - With a photo from Bethany McClaren's license, San Gita began to ask everyone she could in the 10,000-plus member at Nepali community. So I took the picture to the funeral, say that you guys know her. And there were around like 600 people. And nobody could tell that they knew her. - Eventually a man in Kansas responded, saying he remembered a woman named Pavita. She'd helped him find a job back in Colorado years prior. When he saw her name in photo, he was pretty sure this was the same woman. - So she was a kind woman. - She was, yeah. - Then after our reporting of the name got out, a woman reached out from India. One who as a little girl once posed for a photo with Ruth McClaren. - Then she should open up and it happened to be Pavita's niece. - The woman confirmed that she recognized both Bethany and Ruth. Apparently Bethany was originally Pavitra Rana, born in northern India, but of Nepali origin. She worked as a nurse and eventually moved to the United States, where she married Reginald after meeting him through a newspaper ad of all things. - It looks like they had been in India for a few generations because both of Pavitra and her sister were born in India. There are so many uncovered part of the stories that we don't know yet about their life. I'm sure they have touched more life than we know. - I'm sure they have to. - Yeah. - They had succeeded in finding a needle in a haystack, one single member of Bethany's family. But they were too far away to help with the funeral. So these two women from the Colorado Nepal Lions took it upon themselves. - You didn't have to do this. - Yeah, I did have to do it because. (laughs) These women were so brutally murdered. - Yeah. - And so few people in the Denver Metro area knew them. And they could not imagine that there were people there that were grieving for them. - There was no family statement, no recent photo, no custom obituary, instead just a Bible verse. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makeeth me lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreeth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou prepareeth to table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runeth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. No mention of her daughter, her work is a nurse, nothing. Bethany and Ruth McLaren lived quietly, but they died violently. And if not for the kindness of strangers, they would have been buried without anyone to grieve them. Everything we know about them comes from the fragments they left behind, whether it be a. neighbor's memory, a community's sorrow, or a killer's version of events. And Reginald's side of the story was built entirely on his lies. Because here's the horrible truth. The McLaren family wasn't facing homelessness. Detectives recovered several documents addressed to Reginald and Bethany. One of those documents was a statement from a credit union. It showed an account balance of over $11,000. Keep in mind this was just one of their accounts. In his hospital bed confession, Reginald had also mentioned a briefcase with $8,000 in it. If that doesn't convince you that his entire excuse was a lie, maybe this will. There was no evidence that Reginald and his family were about to be evicted. But so ever, there was no eviction, notice, no court order, and it was just that their lease was up. So that's it, it was all a lie. This wasn't a man pushed into a corner. Reginald had made a decision. He was done being the pillar of his family. He was done having a family altogether. It was on April 3, 2023 that Reginald was formally charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of tampering with a deceased human body and one count of false reporting. A January 23, 2024, he entered a not guilty plea. His trial began in June of 2024. It was a somber, quiet courtroom. No one sat in the gallery behind the defense table, and no one sat behind the prosecutors. "Well, at least there was no one in attendance that really knew," the McLaren family. And Heinz, the executive director of the Colorado Nepal Alliance, attended the entire trial. Just like she'd helped plan Bethany and Ruth's burial, she wanted to be there when justice was finally served. And sounds like a nice person. We need more ants. This is Bethany when she was a nurse in the Indian Army. This is Ruth right here when she was young. The only pictures that the jury got to see of them were the pictures when they were dead. The hardest part for me was hearing how many times he had struck his daughter with an ax. The evidence shown at trial was convincing. After about a week in court in just a few hours of deliberation, a jury found him guilty at all charges. The prosecution had a very good case, and they just reiterated all the pre-planning that had gone into these murders. He had purchased the ax, the saw, and the trash cans. I think I was hoping to try to understand why these two murders had occurred, but I left without any answers. I thought maybe having him convicted might make me feel better, but I don't. Ruth and Bethany are still deceased. And who had been in contact with Bethany's family in India told them about the guilty verdict. One of Bethany's friends ended up writing a letter for the sentencing hearing. She asked Ann to read it on her behalf. I have known Pavita Rana, also known as Bethany, for the last half a century. We both belong to Kalampong, a small hill town in eastern India. She was born, brought up, and did her schooling in one of the famous missionary schools, the Kalampong Girls High School. We worshipped in the same Presbyterian church. After her schooling, she did her diploma in nursing. In the late 1970s, she joined the Indian Army as a nursing officer in the rank of lieutenant. She continued working and was promoted to the rank of captain. From 1986, she married Reginald McLaren. After marriage, she resigned from the army and moved with her husband to Denver, Colorado, and the US. In 1996, she came to visit us in India with her husband and daughter. Thereafter, we were in occasional contact over the phone. Last I remember speaking with her was in 2015. After that, I was unable to contact her, despite trying many times. The tragic news came as a great shock, not only to me, but to all of those who knew her here in India. I would like to remember her as a fine and humble human being, a dependable friend, and a very helpful person. She liked to do embroidery and tatting laces in her free time. She was warm and friendly but reserved socially. She was observant, and we shared many laughs at her impressions of friends and colleagues. May their souls rest in peace. Reginald, who was now 83 years old, received two consecutive life sentences. On top of that, the judge tacked on two 12-year sentences for tapering with deceased bodies, and a 120-day sentence for false reporting, with credit for time served. In the end, no one remembered when they moved in. No one noticed the quiet lives of these women, and when they finally did, it was because the only person who ever saw them was the one who made them vanish. While we hope you enjoyed that horrible story, Weirdos, if you like this sort of thing, these tragic, terrible stories, head on over to our YouTube channel, Sword and Scale TV. There you can get our visual version of Sword and Scale. Go get it. You can also find us at swordandscale.com, where you can subscribe for $10 to plus, or $20 to plus, including Sword and Scale TV. I know it's a lot to ask, but this shouldn't be cheap to make. So you can keep free loading, or you can help out your favorite creator. It's up to you to decide, you know, what a good person would do, and what somebody like yourself would do. Don't let me guilt you, or anything. Guilt, guilt, guilt. Alright, we'll see you next week. Stay safe. Say hi to your mom. Bye. Bye.