The Sinister Napa Valley Halloween Killer

Hey, Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I don't know if you've heard, but Mint's premium wireless is $15 a month. But I'd like to offer one other perk. We have no stores. That means no small talk. Crazy weather we're having. No, it's not. It's just weather. It is an introvert's dream. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan, $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Seamintmobile.com. Many people have the Halloween tradition of settling in on the couch and watching movies all night with a big bowl of candy. But in one house on Halloween 2004, the night turned into a real-life horror movie. This is 911 emergency. What are you reporting? Oh, my God. We've got an attack. Who attacked you? I don't know. I don't know what happened. Okay. Most of my roommates were hurt. Oh, my God. I think they're dying. I'm sorry, guys. Do you know who might have done that? Oh, my God. Two innocent women murdered in their home. There were no leads. There were no suspects. No one had any clue who would want these two successful, vibrant young women dead. But they would soon be shocked to find out that the killer was much closer than anyone could have realized. The pain is just excruciating. I could not accept that someone wanted to kill my child. Someone hated her and wanted her gone. This is the case of the Napa Valley Halloween Roommate Murders. My name is Brianna, and I'm hot on the case. Over the years, I've signed up for so many free trials that I've completely lost track. And then those free trials run out, and I'm stuck paying for a bunch of money. And then I'm stuck paying for a bunch of subscriptions that I completely forgot about. And that's why I'm excited to share today's sponsor, Rocket Money. 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This case, takes us to Napa Valley, California, or better known as Wine Country. This beautiful area in Northern California was obviously made famous by its gorgeous vineyards and popular wineries. And this is where, in 2004, three 26-year-old women all lived together as roommates in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 2631 Dorset Street. And this was supposed to be an area that was really, really safe. Reportedly, until October of 2004, Napa hadn't seen a murder in over two years. The three roommates consisted of Adrian Insagna, Leslie Mazzara, and Lauren Minza. Adrian grew up not that far from Napa Valley with her parents, who she was very close with, and also her three siblings, two sisters, and a brother. Adrian was a Girl Scout growing up, and as she got older, she wanted to give back and even volunteered as a Girl Scout troop leader, which, I've always thought, sounded like so much fun. I did not do Girl Scouts growing up, but I definitely always wanted to. Adrian got a degree in engineering at Cal Poly and was working as an engineer in Napa Valley. And it was through this job that Adrian met one of her best friends, Lily. The two had only known each other for a little bit of time, but it was one of those situations where you meet somebody and you just feel like you've known them your entire lives. And the two got extremely close. They were as close as best friends. And it was actually Lily and Lily's fiancé that would help the girls move in to their new rental house on Dorset Street. Adrian was always super sporty. She played softball and volleyball. And even as an adult living in Napa, she was heavily involved in community leagues. And it was through a local volleyball community league or a community college volleyball course, different sources say different things, that Adrian met Lily. Lauren also grew up in Northern California and she's been described as your typical jock. She was like a star athlete all throughout college and all throughout high school. Lauren also attended Cal Poly where she got a bachelor's degree in political science. And whereas Adrian was more outgoing, Lauren was a lot more shy and reserved. And since Lauren had only recently moved to the Napa Valley area in early 2004 when she met Adrian and the two became friends, Adrian really like took Lauren in and introduced her to all of her friends. So when Lauren found this rental property that she really, really liked on Dorset Street, she knew that if she was going to live with anyone, she would have wanted it to have been Adrian. And it was not long after the two moved in to this home on Dorset Street that they would meet Leslie. Leslie was born in Florida, but she mainly grew up in South Carolina. She really was your typical Southern girl. Leslie was the youngest in her family and she was also the only girl born into her family. So as you can imagine, she grew up as a little princess and it was while living in South Carolina that Leslie would dabble in some beauty pageants. So she even looked like a princess. The one thing that everyone always said when they met Leslie was how pretty she was. But there was a lot more to Leslie than just her looks. She also had an incredibly beautiful heart. She was largely involved in a lot of different charities, but she was specifically extremely passionate about charities, fundraisers, and programs that focused on children advocacy. It was crimes against children that Leslie fought the hardest against. Leslie attended the University of Georgia where she got a bachelor's degree in philosophy. After graduating college, Leslie was still living in South Carolina. She was working in public relations and she was in a law firm and had a long-term relationship with a guy that went by the name Lee. But sometime in early 2004, Leslie ended her relationship with Lee and she decided that she just wanted a fresh start. Her mother was actually staying in Napa. She had a short-term lease in Napa. It was a temporary situation. So that's where Leslie decided she was gonna go, go spend some time with her mom in Northern California on the opposite side of the country. How fun and exciting is that? And this would just be like a new, fresh start and a new adventure for Leslie. In Napa, Leslie started working at a very popular winery where she excelled. I read in just a few handful of months, Leslie was promoted three times. Leslie had this larger than life personality where she would just meet friends everywhere she went. Just like she did with the two girls, Adrian and Lauren, who just moved in near where she was staying with her mom. So when it was time for Leslie's mom to leave Napa, at that point, Leslie felt like Napa was home. So Adrian and Lauren invited Leslie to come move in with them. All three of these women were so different, but it worked. And they really all got along really, really well. They were able to all hang out all of the time and it would just be fun, but low key. And they never really ever fought. There was never any drama between the girls, at least. There was something kind of funny that happened two days before Halloween. Leslie, like I said, she's new to town. She's only been here about like six months. She just got out of a very long-term relationship and she's here for a fresh start. So in Napa, Leslie was going out on a few dates with a few different guys. And on this particular night, Leslie had one of these male suitors over to stay the night. And the home that Leslie shared with her two roommates was pretty small and it was the kind of place where everyone could hear everyone and hear what they're doing. And that's what happened this night with Leslie and her friend. The girls just laughed it off. Like I said, they were really chill girls. The only thing that was like kind of annoying was that Lauren had a dog named Chloe and Chloe slept in Lauren's bedroom with her. And Chloe was the kind of dog that was super protective over her owner and her home. And anytime she ever heard anything, maybe outside or someone inside, she would kind of growl and bark all night. So that's what happened this night, two nights before Halloween. So it's a little bit annoying, but it wasn't any big deal. Two days later was Halloween and Halloween was actually a really fun night for the three roommates. Instead of going out and trying to find a party or go to some club, the three girls decided to just stay in and hand out candy to the little trick-or-treaters, something that I also personally really, really love doing every single Halloween now that I'm an adult. I swear when you're a kid I feel like holidays are so magical and then there's like a little bit of a period where it kind of loses that magic but then you get older again and that magic does come back. Leslie, Lauren, and Adrian had a lot of fun together looking at all the cute costumes. Just a quiet fun holiday at home. Things started to slow down around 9 p.m. They started getting less trick-or-treaters and the time between trick-or-treaters started to become longer and longer until they got their last trick-or-treater. After that Adrian wanted to go out and see her boyfriend Christian for a little bit so she headed out of the house. Leslie and Lauren were just hanging out in the living room watching some tv together before it got a little late and they said good night to each other and started heading off to their own bedrooms. This was around 10 30 p.m. and it was also around the same time that Adrian and Lauren were hanging out in the living room. They were hanging out in the living room came home from her boyfriend's and she also headed off to her own room to go to sleep. So a little layout of the home. Lauren and her dog Chloe were the only ones that slept on the first floor and then Leslie and Adrian both had a bedroom on the second floor of the home. That evening was just a nice quiet Halloween night in Napa Valley until a little bit after 2 a.m. when one of the roommates called 9-1-1 to report that her roommates were dying. What emergency? Oh my god we've got attacked. Who attacked you? I don't know. Okay. Oh my god. I'm sorry guys. Do you know who might have done this? Oh my god. Hank joined BJ's Wholesale Club the day he became a father of 30. I coach football. Now coach Hank saves up to 25% off grocery store prices. 30 pounds of pasta. Three cases of protein bars. 75 sports drinks. And that's just pregame. He knows teamwork and BJ's knows savings. This is your home coach. Home of the Save. Join for just $20 at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer. New members only. BJ's. Home of the Save. Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistants Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only. Then full price plan options available. See full terms at mintmobile.com. This was Lauren on the other end of the line. When later questioned, she would tell investigators that in the very early morning hours of November 1st, Lauren woke up once again to the sound of her dog Chloe growling and upset. Outside, Lauren could see that the motion sensor light that was above their driveway was on. Thinking that this was probably just some small animal that tripped the light and that Chloe was growling at, Lauren tried to get Chloe to calm down and Lauren tried to go back to sleep. But that's when Lauren heard the sounds of somebody coming into her home and heading up her stairs. Again, at this point, Lauren is not really worried. She initially thinks that this is probably just Leslie's new guy over again for another night. No big deal at all. But that feeling that everything was perfectly normal quickly slipped away when Lauren was jolted completely awake by the sound of a blood curdling scream coming from upstairs and one of her roommates screaming, begging for help. Instinctly, Lauren jumps out of bed. She starts heading for her roommate's aid when suddenly Lauren just froze in fear. She wanted to go help her roommates, but she physically could not move. They say in times like this, people fight, flee, or freeze, and you never know how you will react until you're in a situation just like this. But that's when Lauren heard that whoever was in her house was now barreling down the stairs, fleeing so fast he was bumping into walls, breaking things as he went. And he's now rushing right towards where Lauren was. So Lauren just quickly grabs her dog and she runs out of the closest exit, which was the back door that was off the kitchen that led into the backyard. And it was when Lauren and Chloe, her dog, are now outside that she realized that she made a huge mistake. The backyard of her home is surrounded by this six foot tall fence and there's no gate for her to exit. If the intruder brought Lauren out into the backyard, she would be cornered. Nowhere to go. Lauren did her best to just hide out in the backyard. She was probably out there for only a few minutes, but it likely felt like an eternity. After a while, Lauren felt like she heard the sound of somebody leaving the home, so she bravely walked back inside. She grabbed the landline in the kitchen to try and call 911, but the line was dead. They typically had some pretty bad phone service at their house, but this was a particular really inconvenient time for a call not to go through. Just moments earlier, when this intruder was still in her home, still upstairs, Lauren could hear her roommate, who she believed was Adrian, screaming for help, begging, help me, please help me. But now there were no more noises coming from upstairs. Lauren started to make her way up the stairs and she walked into Adrian's bedroom. And the first thing she heard was a voice. She heard a voice. And she heard Adrian's voice. And the first thing she noticed was that the floor was completely soaked in blood. Their other roommate, Leslie, was in Adrian's room. She was lying face down in a large pool of blood in Adrian's bedroom. And Adrian was also on the floor, but she was crouched hiding kind of next to her bed. Leslie had clearly been stabbed multiple times and she was unresponsive. She wasn't moving and it didn't look like she was breathing. Adrian was still alive at this point, but barely, and she could no longer speak. Adrian had also been stabbed multiple times and she was quickly bleeding to death. Lauren ran downstairs into her bedroom where her cell phone was so she could try and call 911 again. And this time, at least thankfully, the call went through. While on the phone with 911, Lauren became very anxious and scared that the intruder, the attacker, might come back. So she grabbed her dog Chloe, she jumped in her car, and she just starts driving around in circles in the neighborhood while she's on the phone with 911, waiting for the police to show up. And when the 911 operator heard that Lauren wasn't in the home anymore and she was just driving around the neighborhood, the 911 operator seemed baffled that Lauren would want to leave her home where her roommates were both just attacked by an intruder and stabbed multiple times. And the 911 operator said, actually tells Lauren to go back to the house. I'm guessing this is because she wanted Lauren to perform some sort of CPR on her roommates, but demanding that this frightened girl go back inside a home where a knife-wielding killer could still be inside is pretty wild to me. By the time that the first responding officers and the EMTs arrived at the home, it was already too late. Both Leslie and Adrian, only 26 years old, were already gone. Both of them had been stabbed to death. There was no clear motive for someone to want either of these women dead. As far as everyone knew, neither of these girls had any enemies. They were sweet, bubbly, successful, vibrant, young women. There was absolutely nothing stolen from the home and it didn't even look like anyone was rummaging through any belongings trying to find something valuable to steal. And there were no signs of any attempted sexual assault on either Leslie or Adrian. This was a seemingly just random, brutal attack. Either there's just this crazed maniac wielding a knife on the loose, randomly breaking into people's homes and murdering strangers in the middle of the night, or this was some sort of rage-fueled attack. This killer purposefully broke into this home because they wanted someone inside that house. And so, they were able to escape. Dead. This brutal, senseless, double homicide completely shattered this community. They were left devastated and shocked and completely terrified. And the loved ones of Leslie and Adrian were just completely heartbroken. A candlelight vigil was held in Napa for both Leslie and Adrian. And there were also additional memorials held in both of their hometowns. I mean, Leslie's family and friends were just absolutely devastated. I mean, is there even a way to describe the level of grief and sadness? Leslie's loved ones actually found out that she was dead on the news. They saw, reported that there was a double homicide, two women brutally killed on the street that Leslie lived with her roommates. Everyone is desperately trying to call Leslie, get a hold of her, but of course they never do. So, it was actually Leslie's mom that called the police to see if her daughter was one of the victims. And that's how this family discovered that their beloved Leslie was gone. One of Leslie's really close childhood friends from back home in South Carolina named Kelly McCorkle. was actually set to begin filming season seven of The Amazing Race with her boyfriend just a few weeks after Leslie was murdered. After coming in third place on her season, Kelly had a lot of connections in the reality competition TV space. So back home in South Carolina, she actually hosted an Amazing Race-style charity event to help raise money in Leslie's name for different children advocacy programs and charities. All that Leslie was incredibly passionate about. The event was a huge success. Even married couple and both were Survivor Season winners, Boston Rob and Amber, came out to support the event, as well as a bunch of competitors on Kelly's Amazing Race season. Adrienne's mother found out that her daughter Adrienne was killed while she was visiting her other daughter, Adrienne's sister, in Australia. Adrienne was extremely close with her entire family, but the relationship that she had with her mother was just different. She was best friends with her mom. Adrienne actually also had plans to visit her sister in Australia just a few weeks after she was murdered. And she planned to visit Australia with her really close friend Lily, who I told you about earlier. This was actually a really rough and weird time for Adrienne's best friend Lily. Lily had been dating her boyfriend Eric for eight years. The two got together all the way back in high school. They were engaged and actually set to be married on November 1st, 2004 in Hawaii, which was the exact same day that Leslie and Adrian were murdered. But Lily had actually recently called her wedding off. She broke off her engagement. So now the day that was supposed to be the day she was going to marry her very long-term boyfriend was actually the day she found out that one of her best friends had been horrifically murdered the entire thing must have just been so surreal so many emotions probably a lot of guilt if she hadn't called off her wedding it's likely that adrian would have been at the wedding since they were best friends so adrian would have been in hawaii meaning that she would likely still be here tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college that's why she shops at bj's wholesale club saving up to 25 off grocery store prices beef jerky microwave meals laundry pods even they can't screw up have you met my kids and with bj's gas she gets there for less they call me the road warrior this is your home road warrior mom home of the save join for just 20 at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months open soon limited time offer new members only bj's home of the save ryan reynolds here from mint mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much please for the love of everything good in this world stop with mint you can get premium wireless for just 15 a month of course if you enjoy overpaying no judgments but that's weird okay one judgment anyway give it a try at mint mobile.com switch upfront payment of 45 for three month plan equivalent to 15 per month required intro rate first three months only then full price plan options available taxes and fees extra see full terms at mint mobile.com adrian's murder definitely really really affected lily she just started thinking about life and how nothing was certain so following adrian's murder lily actually got back together with her ex-fiance and the two were married only a few months later in february lily and eric actually did a lot at their wedding to remember leslie and adrian they had a moment set aside as a memorial for them they played the song she will be loved by maroon 5 at their wedding because it was adrian's favorite song at the time they even invited adrian's mother to their wedding and asked adrian's mother to do a reading during their ceremony early on the investigators already seemed stumped like i said there was no clear motive there were no signs that anything was stolen or that anyone tried to steal anything there were no signs of any attempted sexual assault on either of the victims there was unfortunately early on a lot of public and media scrutiny aimed at Lauren who was the only surviving roommate because she was the only one that wasn't attacked because there was no clear signs of forced entry into the home because nothing seemed to be making sense at all in this case out of respect I'm not even going to feed into this theory at all because Lauren did not do this and we saw the exact same thing happened to the surviving roommates in the Idaho 4 case. I didn't even want to be online on social media in the early days of that case because of all the disgusting accusations that were being thrown at those two very young innocent girls. I can't even imagine if this case happened today and all of the absolutely disgusting things that would be said online about Lauren with absolutely no evidence to back them up. Plus there was a drop of blood found in one of the downstairs windows and this was blood that belonged to an unknown white male. So clearly not Lauren. And they did believe that this was the blood of their killer and that their killer used this downstairs window to get in and out of the home. They also found two cigarette butts directly outside the home in the front yard and no one that lived inside of this home smoked and not Leslie, not Lauren, not Adrian. So they also sent the cigarette butts for DNA testing. And eventually those tests confirmed that the same male's DNA that was on those cigarette butts was the same male's DNA whose blood was found inside the home. So they were pretty confident that this was their killer. Now they just had to find him. So investigators start looking at every single guy that was in Adrian and Leslie's lives. Initially, investigators were pretty certain that Leslie was the intended victim. They believed that the killer went upstairs and first walked into Leslie's bedroom and attacked her in her sleep. She got up and she ran into her roommate Adrian's bedroom for help. This is why Leslie was found in Adrian's bedroom and also would explain why Adrian was also attacked and killed. Leslie had only lived in this area for about six months but she was already extremely popular. I mean everyone that met Leslie just fell absolutely in love with her. Like I mentioned Leslie was freshly out of a long-term relationship and in Napa she was going on a few different dates with a few different guys. They interviewed all of these guys and also took samples of all of their DNA and nothing. No matches. They were also extremely interested in speaking with Leslie's ex-boyfriend Lee. Reportedly, Lee had an extremely hard time with the breakup. He was having a really hard time accepting the breakup and moving on. So that's a clear motive right there. The investigators were also extremely interested in speaking with Lee's father. Reportedly, Leslie would claim that her ex-boyfriend's dad gave her the serious creeps while she was dating Lee. It kind of felt like he was always coming on to her, giving her a lot of unwanted attention, and he was always talking about how pretty she was. And because of how uncomfortable her ex-boyfriend's dad made her, that was actually a big part of the reason why Leslie wanted to move away to Napa, go across the entire country in the first place. So this is a huge lead. Reportedly, in the six months since Leslie moved to Napa, her ex-boyfriend's dad would just call her all of the time. He was obsessed with her and he just couldn't let her go. And on Halloween night, the night that Leslie was horrifically killed, her ex-boyfriend's father called her two times. Neither call that Leslie answered. So investigators are extremely interested in speaking with both father and son. But they both had extremely solid alibis. You can't crack these alibis. They were both proven to be in South Carolina on Halloween night. But they still tested both of their DNAs and no match came back. So they start investigating different leads and they quickly find out that Leslie wasn't the only roommate having guy troubles. Adrienne's relationship with her boyfriend Christian wasn't all that great. It was actually pretty toxic and they were constantly on and off they would just fight all the time and we know that adrian left her home on halloween night to go spend some time with christian this was only just a few hours before she was murdered so is it possible that something happened while they were hanging out like maybe they got into some kind of fight reportedly not a single one of adrian's friends liked her boyfriend christian so there was clearly something going on there but when they questioned christian he seemed genuinely devastated he said he loved atrian and he knew he wasn't always the best boyfriend and that was on him they tested his dna and again it was not a match so police are very quickly running out of leads and potential suspects they had just about talked to and taken dna samples from every single guy that either of these women had ever interacted with during the investigation I saw it reported that they conducted 1,300 interviews and took nearly 300 DNA samples. And they were still nowhere closer to finding their killer. Weeks turned into months and police had very little to say. LITTLE to go on. A few months after Leslie and Adrian were killed, 48 Hours started filming interviews with loved ones and with detectives, investigators for a special on Leslie and Adrian's case that they planned to title Nightmare in Napa. Production believed that the episode would air as an ongoing case and mystery and they would use the end of the episode to ask the public for any tips or information. But just as 48 Hours production was finishing up on the episode's structure in September of 2005, something major happened in the case. Up until this point, investigators were keeping some information away from the public. And this is a tactic that investigators use all of the time, pretty much in every single ongoing and unsolved case. The reason for this, and I'll use this random example to explain it, is let's say there is an unsolved murder case and the murder weapon was an axe. If the investigators never release to the public and don't tell anyone outside of the investigation that the murder weapon was an axe, let's say one day they are interviewing a suspect and that suspect brings up that an axe was used in the murder. Then it's extremely likely, because the only person that would have known that is the killer, that that person is the killer. Well, in this case, investigators weren't releasing any information to the public about those cigarette butts that were found at the murder scene, and that the DNA on those butts matched DNA that was found inside the house, and that this was likely the DNA, the blood, and the cigarette butts of their killer. And the reason that they chose not to release this information was because the cigarettes that were found at the scene was actually a very unique kind of cigarette. They were camel Turkish gold cigarettes, and they had only been available on the market for a couple months before Leslie and Adrian were killed. So not a lot of people were smoking them during Halloween of 2004. So they're keeping this information away from the public because let's say one day they're doing an interview and that person asked to take a smoke break and then they pull out a pack of Turkish golds. But it was now September 2005, 11 months since Leslie and Adrian had been murdered and they had absolutely no leads and no suspects. And very quickly, it was about to be the one year anniversary since this horrific homicide happened, this double homicide, and they did not want to go a whole year without this being solved. So investigators decided that it was finally time to show all of their cards. So the Napa police department held a press conference and they publicly made the announcement about the camel Turkish gold cigarettes that were found at the scene. And they had this press conference on Thursday, September 27th, 2012. And they had this press conference on Thursday, September 27th, 2005. Investigators revealed that their killer had left behind these smoked down cigarette butts, and that the DNA that was found on the cigarette butts matched blood that was found inside of the home. They asked the public for any information and they were extremely hopeful that this announcement would bring them some sort of lead and some sort of suspect. But what they never would have expected was that only five days later on September 27th, 2012, the Napa police department called the Napa police department and asked the public for help. The Napa police department then called the Napa police department to come to the Napa police department. The Napa police department then asked the Napa police department to come to the Napa police department and asked the Napa police department to come to the Napa police department and asked the Napa police department to come to the Napa police department and asked the Napa police department to come to the Napa police department and asked the Napa police department to come to the Napa police department. And this was Eric Koppel, a man that I've already told you about a few times. Eric Koppel was the now husband of one of Adrian's best friends, Lily. This was a huge shock to everyone involved in the case, but especially Adrian's mother, who just seven months earlier was asked to speak at Eric's and Lily's wedding. And the entire time she's at this wedding and they're playing her daughter's favorite song and she's speaking at their wedding and they're holding a memorial service at his wedding for her daughter, he knows that he was the one that killed her daughter. The police are also in total shock. This is a man that had never been in trouble with the law before. He never even got a speeding ticket before. And now here he is walking into a police station with some members of his family and an attorney ready to confess to double homicide. Tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college. That's why she shops at BJ's Wholesale Club, saving up to 25% off grocery store prices. Beef jerky, microwave meals, laundry pods, even they can't screw up. Have you met my kids? And with BJ's gas, she gets there for less. They call me the road warrior. This is your home, road warrior mom. Home of the save. Join for just $20 at bjs.com/mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer. New members only. BJ's home of the save. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. So do like I did and have one of your assistants assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com/switch. He knew that after the police released the information about the cigarette butts that it was just a matter of time before he was caught. And he actually felt like the police were closing in on him. And that's like half true. I'm sure Eric was really paranoid that the police were closing in on him. But to be honest, he wasn't really on the radar. Back in August, a month before publicly releasing the information about the cigarette butts found at the scene, investigators asked Lauren if she or any of her roommates knew anyone that smoked cigarettes. And at first, Lauren could not think of a single person that smoked cigarettes. But as she was just racking her brain trying to think of a single person. She remembered how Adrian's friends, Lily and Eric helped them move in. And she was pretty sure that Eric smoked. Remember at this point in August, it's been 10 months since Leslie and Adrian were murdered. And the police have been adamant that they have DNA tested every single male connected to both Leslie and or Adrian. So when Lauren remembers that one of Adrian's best friends' fiancees at the time smoked cigarettes, she asked the investigators if they had DNA tested him yet and was shocked to find out that somehow Eric had slipped through the cracks and hadn't yet been DNA tested. So for a month, from August to September, police are trying to get Eric to come in for a DNA test, but Eric keeps on telling them. This is why he felt that it was just a matter of time before he was caught and that the police were closing in on him when they released the information about the brand of cigarettes that he smoked at the time of the murders. But I'm sure if they actually believed that Eric Koppel was the killer they were after, they would have DNA tested him long before he came in to confess. It had been a month, over a month. And if they really thought he was the killer, they would have gotten that DNA test by now, no matter how much he tried to dodge them. In the months before Eric confessed, he claimed he became extremely depressed and even became suicidal. He was just filled with remorse. And he claimed that when he felt that the police were closing in on him, he actually considered taking his own life. He sent letters to all of his family, letters that were saying goodbye and saying that he needed to do this because it was justice for what he did. He obviously did not end up taking his own life and it was his family members that convinced him to turn himself into the police. So this is when Eric's wife, Lily, one of Adrian's closest friends, discovered that her husband was the one that murdered Leslie and Adrian. I honestly couldn't even imagine what was going through Lily's head at that exact moment. And just so you know, we're going to pause right now on Lily, but we are going to talk about her towards the end of this episode. Eric Koppel is finally DNA tested and of course his DNA comes as a match. He is the one that murdered Leslie and Adrian definitively. When he's questioned, Eric claimed that he had no explanation why he murdered Leslie and Adrian. He said that he had a darkness inside of him his entire life and that Halloween night, even though him and Lily were no longer engaged, she called off their wedding. They were still kind of together. It was complicated. And that night they went out to a Halloween party together. And at this party, Eric got really, really drunk. And he either said something or did something that really embarrassed Lily. So she ends up driving him back to the apartment they shared, dropped him off, and then she left to go to her parents' house to spend a night at her parents'. So now it's the early morning hours of November 1st, 2004, the exact same day that Eric and Lily were meant to be married in Hawaii. And now he's here in a fight with Lily and he's completely alone. She called off their engagement and now she's so mad at him that she can't even spend the night with him. And that's what I think is the motive. I think for whatever reason, Eric had it in his head that Lily's friends were trying to turn Lily against him. Eric said that he went and he found a big knife and also a bag of zip ties. He then drove his car over to where Lily, Adrian, and Lauren shared a home together. This was the exact same home that just earlier that same year him and Lily helped. Lauren and Adrian move into. He carried all their stuff into their bedrooms and their living room. He helped them unpack. and then they all shared pizza and beer together, just like a bunch of friends, and now he's here outside their house again, this time with a knife. He pries open the window with that knife and he breaks in. He starts making his way upstairs and he believes that he went into Adrian's bedroom. Investigators believed that Leslie was the intended victim at first because they believed that she was attacked first, and then she ran into Adrian's bedroom because their theory was she was attacked, woke up, and she fled to her roommate's room for help. Eric seems pretty confident that he went into Adrian's bedroom first, though. He says that when he first attacked Adrian before he attacked Leslie, he made eye contact with Adrian, and that's when he started to feel very panicked. So I think it's possible that he got it wrong. He was apparently really drunk this night. Maybe he mistook Leslie for Adrian, but I also think it's possible that maybe Adrian was attacked first, and the reason that Leslie was found in Adrian's room was because she woke up to the sound of Adrian screaming and ran to see what was going on. But from here, after he's attacking these innocent women, Eric claims that he blacked out, and he doesn't remember a single thing. He remembers driving over there, breaking in, going upstairs, and to that exact moment, then he blacks out. But then he remembers everything after the attack. He remembers walking back downstairs and going back to the window and driving home, and then, you know, at home, he sets a fire, and he burns all his clothes, and he burns the shoes he was wearing that were all covered in blood. It's very convenient that he remembers everything leading up to the murder and everything immediately after, but it's just the murders that he can't remember. I swear, recently, in every single case I've been covering, the killer just magically blacks out at the time of the crime. Like, it makes them less responsible if they black out, and it's like something inside of them just took over, and it wasn't really them. There are a lot of cases where the killer just magically blacks out at the time of the crime, also claims that he has no explanation why he did this. He literally can't come up with a single reason why he did it, and to be honest, I really don't believe, like, a single thing that comes out of his mouth. I think that Eric Koppel was a rageful, insecure loser that thought the reason he was losing Lily was all Adrian's fault. He didn't take any time to actually sit, think about the man and partner that he was, see what he could do better, why Lily broke off the engagement. No, he just blamed Adrian. That's at least what I believe happened. That's why I think he showed up to that house with a knife on the day that he was supposed to marry Adrian's best friend. Even crazier to think about, I swear, is the fact that I told you earlier in this episode that 48 Hours started filming an episode on this case just a few months after Leslie and Adrian were killed. And in the early prep for this episode, they filmed a interview with Lily. And during this interview with Lily, who at this point was already married to Eric, she says, and I quote, Somebody must have seen something. Somebody out there knows something. Somebody would have had to notice a friend of theirs acting strange. She says all of this while her new husband is sitting in the exact same room that she's having this interview in, and he was the killer. He was the one that murdered her best friend the entire time. At this point, Eric Koppel was officially arrested for the murders of Leslie and Adrian, and Eric would eventually take a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. At his sentencing hearing in 2007, loved ones of Adrian and Leslie were able to speak to the court and also speak directly to Eric. And Adrian's mother actually makes an extremely emotional victim impact statement where she speaks directly to Eric. And I'm not going to lie, this was so emotional that when I was listening to it, I was actually crying. It was so emotional and powerful. You knew Adrian. She counted you among her friends. You are a man who violently stabbed to death the best friend of the woman you love. You cannot love Lily and bring a knife into Adrian's home and stab her and stab her again and again and again. While in the coming years, the memory of Leslie and of Adrian will remain clear and shining bright in our hearts. I will think of you no more. Eric's wife, Lily, who was Adrian's best friend, also was able to speak during Eric's sentencing hearing, but she spoke in Eric's defense in support of him, asking for leniency when sentencing him. I have bits and pieces of what she said during the statement. So this isn't a whole direct quote. These are different quotes that she said, but I'm going to read them for you now. There's nothing in this world you could do to make me love you less. We still bear the scars of losing Adrian and Leslie in such a horrifying way. Now we must also endure the pain of watching a much loved and very admirable man spend the rest of his life behind bars. I can say without hesitation that the man who committed this crime is not present in the person or the mind of my husband today, unquote. And it's been extremely controversial, as you can imagine, that this is someone saying things about the man that murdered her best friend. I will say, though, that I am and I'm sure most, if not all of you, are very lucky to not understand Lily and to have never been in a situation close to Lily's. This is a similar sentiment that Adrian's mother said after hearing what Lily said at Eric's sentencing. After Adrian was murdered, her mother and Lily became extremely close, so she did say when she heard these words, it really did feel like a slap in the face, though, which I think she is completely justified in feeling that way. I know if it was my loved one that I would feel the exact same way. Eric Koppel was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole. He will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will die in prison. And in the spring of 2008, just a year after he was sentenced to two life sentences, Eric and Lily officially divorced. This is such a tragic case. I first heard this case actually in the 48 Hours episode, Nightmare in Napa, that actually premiered in November of 2005, so just a month after Eric confessed. And I swear, this is a case that really has stuck with me. I say that about a lot of cases. This is, I think, one of the first true crime cases I remember watching. One of the first true crime cases I remember watching was the one with my stepmom, who first started showing me true crime episodes like 48 Hours and Investigation Discovery. And this is definitely one I have never, never forgot. The betrayal. I just don't understand how you could marry someone, sit next to them every single day, and not see a difference in them. And I don't understand how Eric could invite Adrian's mother to his wedding, ask her to be a part of all these special moments. And he knows he's the one that's supposed to be the one who stole her daughter. Such a tragic, tragic case. Very interested to hear all of your thoughts. Have you ever heard of this case before? Please let me know all of your thoughts and opinions and theories. Why do you think Eric killed Leslie and Adrian? But while you're in the comments, just please always remember to be respectful for Leslie and Adrian's and their loved ones' sake. While you're also in the comments on Spotify and YouTube, please let me know what case you want to see covered in a future Howl in the Case episode. But that's all I have for this week's investigation, and I will see you guys all next time, when we are hot in the case. Home of the save. Open soon. 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