The Vanlife Murder of Emily Ferlazzo

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That's stitchfix.com. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website, to marketing, to selling, and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into. Sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. Today we're starting in my home. We're in the sub-state of Vermont, where a couple left for their very first van life trip together, but only one of them came home. And when police finally tracked down their missing van, what they found inside made the story even more disturbing. Then we're heading into the Pacific, where a family's attempt to sail around the world ended with six people stranded in the open ocean, and almost no chance that anyone even knew where to look for them. So listen on if you dare, and I also dare you to hit the follow button. It really helps our standing with Spotify. And it only takes about two seconds, so thank you so much for your support, and here we go. This couple left home together for their very first van life trip, but only one of them came back. Emily and Joseph Ferlazzo drove to Bolton, Vermont, in a bus that they had just converted into their brand new home. And this was supposed to be the beginning of a van life social media dream for the couple, particularly for Emily. But only three days later, Joseph returned alone. No Emily, and no van. Joseph claimed that he knew what had happened to his wife, but before anyone could determine whether he was telling the truth, they needed to find the van, and when police finally tracked it down, what they found inside didn't explain where Emily was. It only made her disappearance even more disturbing. This case hits unusually close to home for me, I grew up in Vermont, and I was actually still living there when this happened. I spent a ton of time in Bolton, Vermont, hiking and skiing over the years, in fact I actually filmed a video of a hike that started only one mile away from where all of this took place, and I filmed it like a month or two before this happened. As I researched this story, I wasn't just picturing some unfamiliar dot on a map, I know these roads, these trails, and several of the exact places where this all unfolded. In October of 2021, married couple Emily and Joseph Ferlazzo moved to Bolton, Vermont, for what was supposed to be a romantic, autumn getaway to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. But this wasn't just any anniversary trip, again, because the couple had recently converted a small bus into a camper so they could finally begin their van life journey together. In fact, this was their very first real trip in the van, and the start of a new chapter in their lives, a chapter that was supposed to be about freedom, adventure, and of course, their love for each other. And from the outside looking in, they seemed to be achieving just that dream. Emily loved social media and was always posting the highlights of her life and their relationship online. And if all you saw of their relationship were her posts, you would think of Emily and Joseph almost as the perfect couple. They seemed to have the kind of relationship that was adventurous and romantic and perfectly suited for van life. That weekend could not have been further from a fairy tale. The Instagram illusion of their lives would crumble pretty much as soon as the trip got started. On Friday, October 15, 2021, almost exactly one year after they got married, Emily and Joseph were ready to go. They were ready for van life and to experience all of the adventures that came with it. Emily's parents, Adrian and David, said goodbye to their daughter and her husband with a happy wave. They then watched the couple drive off. And neither one of them had any idea how monumental this goodbye would go on to be. That very same night, Joseph and Emily visited Joseph's sister, Nikki, who was staying at an Airbnb in Bolton, Vermont. Emily had never met Joseph's sister before, which seemed kind of wild since they were married. But it almost makes sense because their relationship had moved so quickly and Emily was excited to take another step in their relationship. And finally get to know some of Joseph's family for the first time. But that excitement would be very short-lived because this is where things started to go downhill and fast. Emily quickly realized that Joseph's sister was staying at the same apartment complex where Joseph's ex-wife lived. And knowing this understandably made Emily want to leave, which sparked an argument between the couple. Joseph listened to Emily's pleas to get the hell out of there. And eventually the couple went home. And by home, of course, I mean their van, which was now their new permanent residence. This fight over Joseph's ex-wife didn't fit into the perfect relationship that Emily wanted to show the world. And though this was only the first night of van life for them, the cracks in their relationship were already coming to the surface. So the next morning, Joseph rolled back up to his sister's house to get breakfast, but Emily didn't join them. Joseph explained that Emily wasn't feeling well and that she had told him to go on without her. And Joseph's sister accepted this excuse because, you know, why wouldn't she? She believed Joseph after all, I mean, he was her brother and there was no reason for her to assume that he was lying. Over breakfast, Joseph seemed mildly distant and a little bit upset, but his sister just attributed that as a completely normal way to act after having a fight with your wife. After breakfast, Joseph gave his sister a tattoo as he had promised. Joseph was a tattoo artist. And I want you to pause here for a second. Think about how steady Joseph's hand would have had to be for him to give someone a tattoo. Remember that once I tell you about what had happened just a few hours earlier. The following day, Joseph and his sister met up again, and Joseph seemed to be feeling a little bit better this time. Emily still wasn't happy. She wasn't there. But Joseph had another excuse for this, which is starting to get strange. But I digress. And so he wasn't upset or distant anymore. Instead, he was acting completely normal. His demeanor was calm and collected, not the shifty eyed fidgety way that you'd expect someone in Joseph's position to be acting. And this behavior would prove to be very confusing when you consider the story that would soon emerge. The following day, Monday, October 18th. Joseph drove back to New Hampshire. But notice what I said there. I said Joseph drove. I didn't say that Joseph and Emily drove back. And this is where things get even more confusing because Joseph arrived back at his in-laws house all alone. Not exactly the joyous homecoming the couple must have imagined after their very first van life trip. And so naturally, Emily's parents asked Joseph where their daughter was. I mean, the two of them had left together. And so they should have come back together, obviously. And Joseph's response didn't sound like a simple miscommunication between the couple. It sounded a lot more like Joseph was just straight up making up a story. He actually feigned confusion like like Emily isn't here. That's really strange because she's supposed to be, hmm, I'm I'm not quoting him, obviously, but that was the gist of it. And he explained that the two of them had gotten into a fight on Friday night. into a fight on friday night which ended with emily leaving the van and taking an uber home That was the gist of it. and emily's parents were immediately suspicious uh as they should have been and they were not buying this this wild story joseph's story was that she left the van you know on the side of the road in the middle of the night and then called an uber in an area where she might not have even had cell service and again i know bolton vermont really well and i would be shocked if someone would be able to get an uber there especially five years ago like that doesn't make sense but even if that story was somehow true even if emily had somehow gotten an uber way out in rural vermont then where the hell was she now not only had she not come home but her parents hadn't even heard from her since friday night and so emily's parents are pondering all of this talking with joseph trying to make sense of things probably very suspicious at this point as well when all of a sudden joseph did something that completely severed any of the tiny bit of remaining trust in him joseph pulled out emily's driver's license and then handed it over to her parents and the obvious question here is why did he have her driver's license and of course joseph had an explanation for this and of course it was just as flimsy as all of his other excuses according to him emily had given him the license when they went to a liquor store just in case the cashier asked to see it and this obviously struck emily's parents as incredibly odd and it seemed like every detail of the story that joseph told them only raised more questions than it answered emily's stepfather david would later go on to say that pulling out her license quote had serial killer vibes to it in david's words joseph looked at it almost like it was some sort of disturbing trophy and though i use the word disturbing a lot in my videos i don't know if you've seen it but joseph looked at it almost like it was some sort of disturbing trophy and though i use the word disturbing a lot in my videos i will admit it really is the best way to put it and as disturbing as things have been so far it's about to get a lot more disturbing when i tell you about what was found inside the couple's van so after this episode is brought to you by txu energy if you're looking for a better way to save on electricity both night and day look no further than txu energy free nights and cool summer it gives you free energy all night every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your daytime use every summer it's the only plan that lets you use free energy to get more savings so all nights are always free summer days are now always discounted with savings like that you'll never look at a free night's plan the same way again learn more at txu.com rep number one zero zero zero four when an intruder approaches a home they expect a camera what they don't expect stop this is simply safe police are on the way using smart ai cameras live us-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds don't just record a break-in stop it from ever happening plan starting around a dollar a day right now get 70 off your new system with professional monitoring at simply safe.com spotify 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at 49.99 a month visit simply safe.com licenses for alarm license information this holiday all plans even unlimited are just 15 dollars a month a holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song like all i want right okay we can't afford that you don't forget the music budget we're gonna stick with whatever's in the public domain give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch upfront payment of 45 for three months 90 for six months or 180 for 12 month plan required 15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra new customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms i'm hannah i've lost 75 pounds in 20 months with glp ones plus diet and exercise on row i've gone from struggling to run a mile to running farther every day you can access fda approved glp ones online get the support you need to reach your weight loss goals go to row.co slash weight to get the support you need to reach if you qualify i'm a paid row partner 20 average weight loss in one year and non-diabetics with obesity or overweight with a weight-related medical condition versus 3.1 in placebo arm rx only to stay informed about serious side effects go to row.co slash safety some personality quirks are really funny like i talk to my left foot more than i talk to my right you know what's not funny and not a personality quirk ocd although the term ocd is widely recognized it's misunderstood by most people it doesn't mean being tidy or clean it's having a obsessive fears thoughts and urges you question your character you question your safety that's ocd breaking the ocd cycle takes effective treatment go to no cd.com to learn more joseph pulled out emily's license and almost you know waved it around like a trophy i guess that's me editorializing a little bit but you know what i'm saying this was the final straw for emily's parents the moment when they decided that something had to be done and so her mother picked up the phone and she dialed 9-1-1 emily's mother explained why they were worried about their daughter and the police wasted no time jumping right into action emily was immediately labeled a missing person i mean no one had seen or heard from her since friday and i might add that her credit cards as well as her uber account weren't showing any charges and so she did call an uber as joseph claimed then like how did she pay for it obviously joseph didn't have any money to pay for it and joseph told emily that joseph didn't have any money to pay for it so joseph told emily that joseph didn't have any money to pay for it and joseph told emily that joseph didn't have any money to pay for it and joseph told emily that joseph didn't have any money to pay for it and joseph told emily that joseph didn't have any money to pay for it and joseph told emily that joseph didn't have any money to pay for it and joseph called Joseph. And something about Joseph struck Keith immediately. Joseph just seemed incredibly calm and almost unbothered. And look, this guy's wife had been missing for three days now, and yet no fear or anxiety or emotion was coming through his voice. And look, everyone reacts to traumatic situations differently but keith clocked this as very very suspicious joseph repeated the same story about how emily left the van after a fight on friday night and then he just never saw her again and he also told keith that the van was currently in a repair shop in st albans vermont another town i know very well apparently there had been some issues with it and so that's why joseph had ridden a motorcycle back to new hampshire which he claimed he got from his friend sarah's house and so obviously keith called sarah next and when he spoke to her joseph's explanation about the van unraveled in a way that could not be easily dismissed or rationalized as like a simple misunderstanding uh it was just straight up bs to be honest joseph told the police again that the camper was at this repair shot in st albans but sarah's response directly went against that story she told keith uh no the van can't be at a repair shop because it's currently at my house right now this was all the confirmation that keith needed to know that joseph had been bsing him from the start and he hadn't just been like inconsistent or confused about you know small details of the story but he had been actively lying about the van's whereabouts even like why would he lie about that unless there was something maybe inside of the van that he didn't want anyone to see. The police obviously needed to find that van and find it fast. I mean, for all they knew, Emily could still be in the van and her life could be depending on them finding it as quickly told emily that joseph told emily that joseph told emily that joseph told emily that joseph you know, the new home of a traveling van life couple. Maybe not perfectly neat or clean, but you know, they just started living there and they'd only just finished the van's conversion after all. There was no blood or any sign of a struggle that would indicate something had happened to Emily inside of the van. There was actually no sign of Emily at all, in fact, or at least that's what the trooper initially thought. There was one thing inside of the van that looked a little bit suspicious. Inside the shower, the officers found eight black garbage bags. And in hindsight, this was obviously a red flag, but the police didn't really think too much of it at the time because when they lifted one of the bags, it didn't really feel heavy enough to contain a body, you know? And because of police procedure and those pesky laws and all that stuff, they couldn't actually look inside the bags yet. But of course, that didn't mean that everything was okay, because the worst case scenario was about to become a reality. While the van search was going on, Joseph met up with his friend, Spencer. Now, Joseph had asked Spencer to drive him to go pick up his van, but when they arrived at Sarah's house, Spencer saw all of the police activity. And this set off some warning bells in his head because like, why in the world would the cops be there unless something bad had happened? And upon seeing all the police cars and all the sirens and lights and all this stuff, Joseph ordered Spencer to turn the car around and drive back away. And Spencer did just that, but now he was even more sure that something was not right with this situation. And so he pushed Joseph to tell him what was happening, saying, quote, what's going on, man? You need to tell me what's going on. Joseph could have kept his streak of lying going in this moment. He could have made up any number of excuses, but for some reason, despite all of the lying he had done leading up to this moment, he decided to end the streak here. Joseph told Spencer that Emily was in the van. And then Spencer asked a question that he wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer to. He asked, quote, is Emily alive? And the answer Joseph gave was exactly what he had dreaded hearing. He essentially said, no. Emily was not alive. She was in the van and she was dead. Spencer needed to know more. And so he pushed Joseph further and he asked if Joseph had hurt her. And Joseph said yes. And after giving this answer, Joseph started to get really fidgety, even reaching down towards his side a little bit. So Spencer was now fully fearing for his life he was thinking that joseph was maybe going for a firearm or a weapon or something and so he yelled at joseph to get out of his car and thankfully joseph listened and spencer was able to breathe a a momentary sigh of relief and then once he had driven a good distance away from where he had left joseph spencer called 9-1-1 remember the troopers were like just finishing up their search of the van right around the time that this call came in and a frantic spencer told them that his friend joseph ferlazzo had just admitted to murdering his wife and that joseph had just been dropped off on the side of the road and essentially was now roaming free missing if you will a terrible situation already but everything was about to get a whole lot worse as the police had started questioning emily's loved ones about her and joseph the dark truth of how he had been treating her began to surface that that that image of a picture-perfect relationship that emily had sometimes portrayed on her social media well that came crashing down and fast and to better understand their relationship and how we even got here let's go back to when the couple first started dating emily and joseph met in the summer of 2020 after they were introduced by emily's friend lauren who was joseph's co-worker at a tattoo shop a seemingly harmless setup with consequences that no one could have possibly foreseen emily and joseph met in the summer of 2020 after they were introduced by emily's friend lauren who was joseph's co-worker at a tattoo shop a seemingly harmless setup with consequences that no one could have possibly foreseen and i'm not surprised that joseph was so drawn to emily because she sounds wonderful she worked as a nurse and was incredibly caring towards all living things she was the kind of person who would bring injured animals that she found on the side of the road to her home to try to help them recover for instance her stepmother described her as quote the girl that ran around in polka dot pants and a striped shirt dancing emily was also a singer and many people remember her for her beautiful singing voice for this particular story i think it's important to mention the age gap between joseph and emily so when they first met joseph was 42 years old and emily was only 21 joseph was exactly twice her age emily was still college aged while joseph was like an entire middle-aged man and listen i know that not all age gap relationships are problematic but in this case it obviously was and it gets even worse because emily wasn't the first you know much younger woman that joseph had pursued but i'll get to that in just a second the truth is that the age gap wasn't really what worried emily's family again there were other age gap relationships in their family and her parents didn't want to question you know who their daughter decided to be with but what did worry her parents was this gut feeling that they had about joseph the first time they met him emily's stepmom would later say quote it's something with his eyes he looks evil in his eyes and like man she had no idea just how right she would be because that gut feeling would end up becoming a huge warning sign of what was to come emily's mother adrian also didn't have the best feeling about this guy and so adrian probably wasn't exactly thrilled with what happened next on october 10th 2020 only four months you're seeing that right four months into emily and joseph's relationship adrian got a text from her daughter and the entire message was quote so we did a thing this message was accompanied by a photo of emily in a white dress joseph in a suit and emily's hand outstretched with a ring on it i'm serena williams and i'm healthier on row i've lost 34 pounds in a year with glp-1's diet and exercise on row you can access glp-1 options including the first fda approved glp-1 pill for weight loss go to row.co slash journey to see if you qualify 14 to 20 average weight loss in one year and non-diabetics with obesity or overweight with a weight-related medical condition versus 2.2 percent to 3.1 percent in placebo r rx only to stay informed about serious side effects go to row.co slash safety observe the north american dad fifties great polo collection he enters his vehicle information on carvana an offer appears in minutes remarkable he squints reads it again smiles and says dang that's a good offer the highest form of approval no haggling no hassle no one called him boss he's still on the couch astonishing sell your car today on carvana.com pickup fees may apply shipping billing admin payroll marketing you're managing all the things so why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way mail and ship when you want how you want with stamps.com print postage on demand 24 7 and schedule pickups from your office or home save up to 90 percent with automated rate shopping that's why over 1 million small businesses trust stamps.com go to stamps.com and use code podcast to try stamps.com risk-free for 60 days starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like shopify they have the tools you need to start and grow your business from designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond shopify can help with everything you need there's a reason millions of companies like mattel heinz and all birds continue to trust and use them with shopify on your side turn your big business idea into sign up for your one dollar per month trial at shopify.com special offer this episode is brought to you by txu energy if you're looking for a better way to save on electricity both night and day look no further than txu energy free nights and cool summer it gives you free energy all night every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your daytime use every summer it's the only plan that lets you use free energy to get more savings so all nights are always free summer days are now always discounted with savings like that you'll never look at a free night's plan the same way again learn more at txu.com rep number one zero zero zero four and you can get a free night's plan at shopify.com and you can get a free night's plan at shopify.com ignoring the painfully millennial phrasing of the text i can't imagine if this was how i found out from my daughter that she'd gotten married uh and it wasn't like emily and her mother weren't close either they they had a great relationship but again knowing where this story goes my guess is that it was probably joseph's decision for them to elope without telling anybody else and so maybe because then no one could object i don't know joseph seemed to want emily all to himself without anyone else getting in the way and then on new year's eve 2020 emily's mother got a concerning call from her daughter emily told her that she and joseph had been fighting and it got so bad that joseph started pushing her and this wasn't the only time that the question of abuse in their relationship had come up there had been times before this phone call where emily's mother had seen bruises on emily and emily had apparently explained these bruises away by saying that they were from rough uh adult activities i think you know what i'm saying i don't know why i'm being so awkward about this but emily's parents didn't believe her um but they also didn't really know what to do at the time and have expressed regret about not doing more but then again you know emily was a was an adult and you can't force a person to leave someone even if you know that they're not going to be able to do it and they're not going to be able to do it they aren't good for them you also don't want to push them too hard because then they might pull away from you and then become even more isolated it's so so tricky but ultimately the only person responsible for the abuse and what happened to emily is obviously joseph for lazo emily had apparently talked to her mother about divorcing joseph on a few different occasions and so her parents hoped that she would do just that but unfortunately joseph was never gonna let emily and he had been willing to prove just how serious he was about this it also turns out that emily hadn't been joseph's first victim of abuse when the police issued their statement for the public you know to be on the lookout for a man named joseph for lazo another woman came forward with her own horrifying experience only hours after spencer's call to the police this woman who i'm going to leave anonymous placed her own 9-1-1 call this is alleged to have happened to joseph for lazo back in 2018 when joseph was 38 and this woman was only 21 so like almost the exact same age difference between him and emily but apparently this woman went in for a tattoo appointment at the shop where joseph worked but she never gave him like her phone number which was why she was very confused to receive a text from him later asking her out joseph must have gotten her number from the tattoo consent form which the woman of course thought was pretty strange and she would later admit that she didn't really want to go out with joseph but agreed to because she had been in a bad place mentally and was struggling with some things and instead of taking her somewhere you know public for like an actual date joseph invited her to go visit his home how romantic according to this woman joseph repeatedly pressured her into smoking marijuana and drinking even though she kept telling him that she wasn't really interested eventually though she did accept a glass of water from him but not long after drinking it she began to feel extremely strange she she had this overwhelming sense of dread wash over her and at one point she even asked joseph if he had drugged her and of course he told her no but then soon after that she lost consciousness completely and when she eventually woke up joseph was sa-ing her while holding a knife against her back this is just horrifying stuff for hours she drifted in and out of consciousness while joseph continued to assault her but then at 6 a.m she came to all of a sudden and this time she managed to escape and drive away that's about all the details i feel comfortable giving about this case um ultimately you know the police were never able to find any like hard proof and so joseph was never charged he walked free and this woman would go on to say that the whole thing left her feeling small and dehumanized and my goodness my heart goes out to her for having to endure this absolute horror but to bring it back to emily once the police learned about joseph's history particularly that story it made things even more urgent that they find him as soon as possible because based on how violent he could be i mean emily was most likely in grave danger remember the police hadn't quite heard joseph's confession yet detective sergeant amy nolan was part of the team looking for joseph that night again october 19th 2021 and she assumed that she had a long night ahead of her and so she ran into a convenience store real quick to grab an energy drink when something stopped her cold in her tracks out of the corner of her eye she noticed a man wearing a sweatshirt that looked really familiar but she couldn't quite place it at first it wasn't until this man turned and made eye contact with her that she realized she was standing right next to the man that every police officer in northern vermont was now searching for by pure luck and coincidence and timing she was now nearly face to face with a suspected murderer and she only had a few seconds to decide what to do next her first thought was something like oh my god that's that's him he's right there and then her next thought was that joseph was probably going to make a run for it so she looked to the other officer that was with her and she told him to call dispatch because she was going to go after joseph she wasn't going to let this moment slide joseph walked out the door of the convenience store and amy followed him outside and she remembers him taking this like long exaggerated drink you know could could he have thought maybe this would be one of his last drinks of freedom i don't know amy then made her approach saying quote joseph it's you right are you okay and in this moment joseph completely deflated and put his drink down and he told her quote no i'm not okay she then explained that many people were looking for him and then joseph said something that she could have never guessed uh he said let's go that was it that was all it took for him to be willing to go into custody with her and this is just a side note but i've actually been to this exact convenience store uh many times throughout my life so i'm telling you this story is just a trip for me back at the police station joseph gave his first statement and as i tell you what joseph said i want you to understand just how calm and articulate he was this entire time like think about how eerie that is given the story that he was about to tell you and i want you to understand just how calm and articulate he was this entire time like think about how eerie that is given the story that he was about to tell you and i want you to understand just how calm and articulate he was this entire time joseph started by saying quote i f***ed up plain and simple like i had a f***ing lapse and did something that i can't undo so here we are he took the investigators back to friday night the night that you know was supposed to be the first step in the couple's new van life so after dinner with his sister which again ended in a fight the couple parked the van outside the bolton valley ski resort which once again i've been to many many times in fact i literally had a season pass there in 2021 the year that this took place super crazy but anyways they parked up by the ski resort and that was when things got bad joseph claimed that emily kept trying to unfurl my piece by whatever that means by like kicking him and hitting him i guess and at some point emily stopped fighting with him and then just laid on their bed but joseph wasn't finished with the argument he described feeling this wave coming over him and this is when he stood up retrieved a handgun jumped on top of emily and did the unimaginable just a warning this is this next part's kind of gruesome so you good okay joseph then dismembered emily's body and put her into garbage bags which is like i hate these parts of the stories man but like just remember joseph is like super calm and unmoved while explaining all of this almost as if he was explaining like how to ride a bike or do your taxes and there's one line in particular that he said that especially stands out to me he said quote i never thought anybody could push me to that almost as if you know it was emily's fault that he murdered her in cold blood as if it was anyone's fault at all except for his so with this brutal confession amy went back to the van for a second time and this time they were able to find everything they had missed in the first search and again like what they found is really hard to hear so apologies in advance i've honestly censored a lot of it so they found emily's ring in a cup holder they found two nine millimeter handguns they found a sawed-off shotgun and a few other guns as well and then they flipped the evidence of where joseph had shot emily they found the saw that he had used behind the driver's seat and then they came to their final discovery they found the eight garbage bags that they had noticed during the initial search and amy touched one of the lower bags and based on her training and experience she could instantly tell what was inside of it the glp1 pimp pills you've been hearing about are on row yep they're here with clinically proven ingredients for weight loss now in a pill and now on row two fda approved glp1 pill options both at the lowest cash pay price available get real results from a daily glp1 pill now on row to see if you qualify go to road.co slash choices rx only go to road.co slash safety for serious side effects and boxed to buy a car from carvana 100 online and get it delivered to your door let me tell you your car is here mr shack thank you mr carvana guy can't wait to take it for a spin only the best for you mr shack hey have you always been so big tall and handsome not always i was 6 10 once seven days delivered or returned mr shack not that i would you never do no i never do so buy your car today on carvana delivery fees may apply see our seven-day return policy at carvana.com when an intruder approaches a home they expect a camera what they don't expect stop this is simply safe police are on the way using smart ai cameras live us-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds don't just record a break-in stop it from ever happening plan starting around a dollar a day right now get 70 off your new system with professional monitoring at simply safe.com slash spotify 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at 49.99 a month visit simply safe.com slash licenses for alarm license information starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like shopify they have the tools you need to start and grow your business from designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond shopify can help with everything you need there's a reason millions of companies like mattel heinz and all birds continue to trust and use them with shopify on your side turn your big business idea into sign up for your one dollar per month trial at shopify.com special offer some personality quirks are really funny like i talk to my left foot more than i talk to my right you know what's not funny and not a personality quirk ocd although the term ocd is widely recognized it's misunderstood by most people it doesn't mean being tidy or clean it's having obsessive fears thoughts and urges you question your character you question your safety that's ocd breaking the ocd cycle takes effective treatment go to no cd.com to learn more her worst fears for emily's fate had just been confirmed because of course inside those trash bags they found emily joseph had put the body parts of the woman he was supposed to love and protect into these black garbage bags almost as if she was just a piece of trash that needed to be thrown out like back at the police station joseph went on to tell the officers what happened after he had murdered you know his wife on what was supposed to be a trip celebrating their wedding anniversary for the next three days after he had killed her joseph basically pretended that nothing had happened so much so that he had even sent texts to emily's phone as if he had no idea that she was lying dead inside of their van he just kind of went on with life as usual his sister described him again as seeming a little bit off the day after the murder but totally fine two days later hell his hands were even steady enough to give his sister a freaking tattoo he even dinner with Emily's parents after dinner. killing their daughter joseph had confessed in extraordinary detail but by the time his case reached trial he started telling a very different story a story with many problems joseph claimed that emily was going to shoot him and so he had to shoot her first in order to save his life he essentially claimed self-defense but at the same time in his original confession he said that emily had stopped fighting him and went to lie down in the bed uh you know if she was this big threat to him allegedly you know how was he then able to subdue her under him and then shoot her and also why did the gun he shot her with have a silencer on it i didn't mention that yet the state clearly had a lot to work with here and the prosecution also pointed out the size difference between the the two of them joseph was six foot two and weighed about 200 pounds and then emily was much smaller at only five feet tall and around 125 pounds and so it feels a little bit off to say that she could easily overpower him joseph's defense then went on to claim amnesia but luckily the judge didn't buy this even for a second joseph's first statement was too clear and calm and specific to have come with someone with amnesia you know it just didn't track and then another one of the defense claims was substance abuse but that didn't hold much weight in court either and so in december of 2024 three years after murdering his wife joseph ferlazzo was convicted of first degree murder he hasn't had a moment of freedom since he was first brought in and he most likely won't for a very long time because he was sentenced to 42 and a half years in prison which i don't know why it wasn't a life sentence but i digress emily's family is happy with that sentence but it also doesn't bring their daughter back obviously nothing can but it at least gives them some peace to know that joseph will be behind bars for over four decades what was supposed to be the beginning of a new life of this van life dream ended in emily's death that van that should have been their new home became this this cage where joseph inflicted unimaginable horrors on a woman who just wanted some adventure and some freedom and so may emily rest in peace my heart goes out to her and all of her friends and family and if you or someone you know is experiencing you know a relationship like this resources are available through the national domestic violence hotline at www.thehotline.org or by calling 1-800-799-SAFE and if you want to join me in giving back to that same organization i'll be making a donation and i'll have their site links down below emily ferlazzo's story began with a dream of freedom and our next story begins with another family chasing a dream only this time the nightmare unfolds thousands of miles out at sea now i'll mention a few photos along the way in this one but if you're listening audio only don't worry you don't need to see them to understand what happened so let's get into it the family then looked to doogle and they asked him if they were going to survive i mean as a father as a leader how do you look your your children and your wife in the eyes and tell them that they're gonna die folks this story is so messed up and honestly at times straight up disgusting that i'm gonna have to give you a warning before certain parts of it so that those of you with a weak stomach can just kind of skip through it and skip ahead but with that said if you can stick it out until the very end of this story i'm actually gonna reveal a couple photos that i think are going to take this already unbelievable tale to a whole new level i have a question for those of you who are parents if your nine-year-old came up to you and asked for you to take them and the rest of your family on a diy sailing trip around the globe what would you tell them now i'm not a father yet but i am afraid of the ocean and so i can tell you without a doubt that if my child came up to me and asked that i would say no we're not doing that we're not gonna sail around the world that's a crazy idea and honestly i'd be willing to bet that most of you would probably tell your child the same thing however in the late 1960s a father from england was asked that very question by his nine-year-old son and when this father was asked he said yes this father's name was dougal robertson and to be fair to dougal he actually had a pretty good reason for saying yes you see dougal had served in the british merchant navy where he had been a sea captain and a master mariner but by the time his child asked him this question that was years ago and at this point dougal had traded in the high seas for what he felt was a very boring life as a dairy farmer in a small english town he wasn't happy with where he was and so he may not have realized this but by the year 1968 dougal was subconsciously looking for a way to kind of just take his family and just start over i'm sure some of you have been there before and it's kind of hard to know exactly what to do when you're in this kind of predicament but for dougal the answer kind of just fell right into his lap one day in the late 1960s the robertson family had been following the voyage of robin knox johnston who would become the first person to sail around the world solo by himself totally insane and so one day dougal's nine-year-old son neil asked the innocent question quote daddy's a sailor why don't we sail around the world too and again i think if most of us were in this situation we would kind of just brush it off but when neil asked dougal this question it ignited a firestorm within him oh and by the way it also ignited great fear into his wife lynn while dougal and his children were instantly hooked on this idea of living at sea navigating around the globe whatever lynn was not convinced and as if that wasn't bad enough lynn knew that there was pretty much nothing she could do to stop her husband because well her stubborn and allegedly even abusive at times husband dougal well he was going to get his way no matter what dougal's oldest son who is named douglas was quoted saying dad was a bit of a tyrant and we lived under his command this uh this dougal guy apparently had a pretty mighty temper and allegedly he wasn't always afraid to use violence to get what he wanted especially not even with lynn but with douglas the son i just quoted from there dougal would routinely hit his son douglas and this left douglas with no choice but to try to kind of just contain his father's rage as much as he possibly could which is a terrible situation to be in when you're you know a teenager trying to grow up like this but at the same time the young douglas still admired his father they butted heads yes they even exchanged punches on a fairly regular basis apparently but the father and son shared the same adventurous spirit and so due to this when dougal announced that the family would be selling their farm to go sail around the world douglas who was in his teens well he was all in this episode is brought to you by txu energy if you're looking for a better way to save on electricity both night and day look no further than txu energy free nights and cool summer it gives you free energy all night every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your txu family so if you're looking for a better way to save on your time use every summer it's the only plan that lets you use free energy to get more savings so all nights are always free summer days are now always discounted with savings like that you'll never look at a free night's plan the same way again learn more at txu.com rep number one zero zero zero four you're listening to a quick ad you know what else is quick selling your car on carvana just put in your vehicle information and we'll give you an offer done no hassle no negotiation no guy from an online listing lowballing 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By the year 1971, the family had rid themselves of their failing farm, and they moved into a 43-foot or 13-meter wooden sailboat named the Loose Set. Literally, the only preparation that they had for this new life at sea was to have their appendixes removed before they left. I mean, can you imagine this? Just like that, the naive family now found themselves sailing across the ocean with nothing in sight except for the occasional jumping fish, of course, and miles and miles and miles of salty water. It would end up taking the Robertsons 33 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean, which just so happens to be the same amount of days that it took Christopher Columbus. But regardless, that's still a pretty good feat, right? 33 days for this inexperienced family to sail across the ocean. And by this point, they were kind of starting to settle in to their life at sea, and this was ramped up even more once they reached the Bahamas, which I hear is amazing. And one day, while they were sailing on the outskirts of Nassau, they came across a fisherman whose engine had broken down. And so without any hesitation, Dougal, who was, you know, the leader of the family, obviously, Dougal decided that they were going to tow this fisherman's broken boat back into Nassau, and they did it successfully. And that sounds cool and all. To us who don't really know anything about sailing, but this was actually a massive deal at the time. It made local headlines, and the public in the Bahamas just found it extraordinary that this measly little sailboat had managed to tow another boat all the way back into safety. This is something that doesn't happen, apparently, or at least, I don't know. It was crazy. And a local dive shop owner in Nassau was so impressed with the family's actions that he actually invited them to pick out anything. Anything from his store to take home for free. But little did he know, well, the Robertson's daughter, Anne, would end up picking out the store owner's son, not an item from the store. She chose the son. Anne basically had fallen head over heels in love with this young man. And at this point, she informed her family that she was going to be leaving the voyage behind so that she could go marry him. Anne wouldn't have known it at the time, but this decision to ditch her family's voyage would kind of accidentally end up being the best decision that she had ever made up to that point in her life. And you're going to understand why very soon. The family spent six months in Miami so that they could save up enough money to continue sailing around the globe. And a little bit of a warning here, it was during this time in Miami that a little bit of a chance for Douglas to make his way back to the United States. The local male nurse began to make some advances, we'll say, on the underage Douglas. Now, the details of this aren't really known. I don't even know if I want to know, to be honest. And Douglas would end up kind of confiding this to his dad. But Dougal responded by basically dismissing his son's emotions. I don't know if he didn't believe him or if he just didn't think it was that big a deal. But regardless, Douglas. Douglas had gone to his father for support and also for protection, and he had received neither of those in response. And so at the beginning of 1972, about a year into their voyage at this point, the family started sailing south, hoping to reach and travel through the Panama Canal. Just before they entered the canal, they stopped in a nearby town to kind of resupply and rest a little bit. And it's there that they met a man named Robin Williams, who had just left his job as a professor in the Boston area in order to hitchhike around the world. OK, that's a bad joke, obviously, but there's actually just a little bit of truth in it. The family obviously didn't meet the Robin Williams, the famous actor from Good Will Hunting and other Hollywood movies and the comedian. You know, we all know him. They didn't meet that Robin Williams, but they did meet a different man who had the same name, which is why I had to make that joke. Now, this 22 year old Robin Williams was actually from the UK. Just like the Robertsons. And he was, in fact, hitchhiking around the world. Dougal allowed this young man to join their voyage for free in exchange for him tutoring the young children that the family had in English and math while they were out at sea. Apparently, Dougal felt a little guilty about pulling the kids out of school, but I digress. So after Robin Williams joined the crew, the family sailed through the Panama Canal. And at this point, well, they had finally entered. The mighty Pacific Ocean. They sailed on for 10 more days, hoping to reach the Galapagos Islands. But while they were in the middle of this leg of their journey, a very significant event took place, though the family didn't realize how significant it was at the time. A giant 50 foot killer whale mistook the Robertsons boat for another whale and basically decided it was time to get freaky, if you know what I mean. Basically, the whale tried to screw the boat, thinking it was another whale. It rubbed itself against the bottom of the loose set before probably very quickly realizing that it had made a very embarrassing mistake and then swimming away. Now, when this happened, the Robertsons thought it was kind of humorous, if not mildly annoying. And, you know, they thought it would make a good story one day. But that's pretty much all they thought about it. They didn't really realize that. Well. This event should have served as a giant warning sign because this one whale mistook the Robertsons boat for another whale. The chances that another maybe less horny and less friendly whale might do the same in the future. Well, those chances were obviously very high. The Robertsons left the Galapagos Islands on June 13th, 1972, blissfully unaware of the danger that they were sailing directly into now their next destination. And that was the Marquesas Islands, which were some 3,000 miles away, but the Robertsons would never make it that far. In fact, they wouldn't even come close. On the morning of June 15th, only two days into their new leg of the journey, the family had just started to enjoy a fresh pot of coffee in the morning when all of a sudden they heard this massive bang on the bottom of their boat. The boat was kind of like. Lifted out of the water a little bit and then they heard another bang and then another bang. Douglas then watched three killer whales, one with its head split open, spewing blood swim behind the Robertsons boat. Douglas then peered down into the hatch and he saw his father standing in water that had risen up to his waist and in that very moment, Dougal screamed what are probably the two most dreaded words that any sailor could possibly hear, which were abandon ship. This all happened so fast, right? So Douglas's brain immediately did, you know, its best to kind of shield him from the nightmare that was unfolding right before his eyes. He started to convince himself that he was actually dreaming. I mean, surely none of this could be real, right? We can't actually be sinking. We can't actually be abandoning our ship. So a few more moments go by and then Dougal screamed at Douglas again. This time telling him to get out the family's life raft, which was again a task that Douglas was not prepared mentally to do. And so instead, as the boat began to sink further and further into the ocean, Douglas started to take down the sails and just kind of do some busy work like that, assuming that he would wake up from this nightmare at any moment, right? And all would be well. But then having been forced out of the life raft. The lower part of the boat, essentially, because it was full of water, Dougal appeared. And once again, he screamed at Douglas telling him to get that damn life raft over the side of the boat and into the water because we need to get off the ship. We're sinking something about this. This last command just caused Douglas to finally regain his clarity. And in that moment, he realized that his life was about to change forever if he even kept it at all. The Robertsons actually had two small emergency vessels on board the Lucette. They had that inflatable life raft that Dougal was screaming about. And then they also had this small dinghy, which is a very fun word to say. I'm going to be saying it a lot. So lucky me. But Douglas immediately launched both of these vessels into the water. And then with literally without a second to spare, he was knocked off the deck by a wave and he was thrown into the depths of the ocean, you know, right around these killer whales. these pissed off killer whales and when he was knocked into the water douglas immediately began swimming towards the life raft of course which was being pushed away slowly by the wind and if he hadn't swam fast enough then it honestly might have blown away for good but as scary as that sounds that actually wasn't even what douglas was thinking about while he was swimming his mind was occupied by something else which was again those killer freaking whales now if you're afraid of the ocean like me this is literally your worst nightmare obviously while douglas was swimming towards the life raft he thought for sure that he was about to be eaten by these whales the very same killer whales that had just attacked their boat in the first place he thought they were going to eat the rest of his family too douglas had heard that if a whale bites your legs you won't even feel the bite and so as he's swimming he's like continuously reaching down touching his legs just to make sure that they're still there i mean can you imagine this like try to put yourself in that place for a second i i can barely even do it it's so scary um but by some miracle douglas was able to make it onto the life raft and at this point he joined the rest of his family and robin to the life raft observe the north american dad 50s great polo collection he enters his vehicle information on carvana an offer appears in minutes remarkable he squints reads it again smiles and says dang that's a good offer the highest form of approval no haggling no hassle no one called him boss he's still on the couch astonishing sell your car today on carvana.com pickup fees may apply starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like shopify they have the tools you need to start and grow your business from designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond shopify can help with everything you need there's a reason millions of companies like mattel heinz and all birds continue to trust and use them with shopify on your side turn your big business idea into sign up for your one dollar per month trial at shopify.com this holiday all plans even unlimited are just 15 a month a holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song like all i want right okay we can afford that you don't forget the music budget we're gonna stick with whatever's in the public domain give it a try at mintmobile.com switch upfront payment of 45 for three months 90 for six months or 180 for 12 month plan required 15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra new customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms shipping billing admin payroll marketing you're managing all the things so why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way mail and ship when you want how you want with stamps.com print postage on demand 24 7 and schedule pickups from your office or home save up to 90 with automated rate shopping that's why over 1 million small businesses trust stamps.com go to stamps.com and use code podcast to try stamps.com risk-free for 60 days some personality quirks are really funny like i talk to my left foot more than i talk to my right you know what's not funny and not a personality quirk ocd although the term ocd is widely recognized it's misunderstood by most people it doesn't mean being tidy or clean it's having obsessive fears thoughts and urges you question your character you question your safety that's breaking the ocd cycle takes effective treatment go to no cd.com to learn more and so as they're they're all just crammed in there now watching the last of their beloved lucette sink below the waterline the young robertson twins began to cry lynn tried to reassure them she tried to tell them that they were going to be safe it was going to be okay but the twins told her that the reason they were crying wasn't because they were scared but they were crying but rather because they knew that they were never going to see the lucette ever again this boat that had been their home for the last two years it was gone that chapter was over and in all the chaos and all the danger that had just occurred that was the thing that got to the twins the most but then again i kind of doubt that these young children really understood exactly how dangerous of a situation it was because if they did they probably would have been crying for you know that reason crying for the fact that the the the family was on the verge of death i mean they were they were kind of just sitting there on the raft trying to face the gravity of the situation that they were in and of course the first step for lynn anyways was to try and get everybody to say the lord's prayer now everyone in the raft was down for this except for of course doogle in his continued stubbornness doogle who did not believe even in what was surely the most dangerous moment of his entire life even while his family's lives were all on the line now douglas who was also an atheist just like his father even tried to reason with doogle telling him that they were likely going to be needing god's help very soon maybe we should just say the prayer but dougal still refused saying god would know if i was faking it anyway so why should i even do it it's just a perfect illustration of this bizarre family dynamic under doogle's life it's just a perfect illustration of this bizarre family dynamic under doogle's life and so after this whole prayer debate was finished the family then looked to doogle and they asked him a very simple question a question that no father wants to be asked ever by the way they asked him if they were going to survive if they were going to make it and as much as doogle didn't want to be asked this question he was even more desperate to avoid giving the the true answer to it i mean as a father as a leader as a leader as a leader as a leader as a leader how do you look your your children and your wife in the eyes and tell them that they're going to die how do you do that i mean i can't even imagine and what doogle decided to do was to basically give this long-winded answer that would kind of eventually wrap back around and reveal the family's inevitable fate and so he began by bluntly kind of laying out the situation that the family was in you know something along the lines of you know you're going to die you're going to die you're the lines of the loose set had sank in a matter of minutes this left them little time to grab supplies before they were thrown overboard they had managed to grab enough food rations to last about 10 days you know they had water that would last about the same amount of time nobody knew that they were out there nobody would be coming to rescue them they were downwind from the galapagos islands and so there was no way that they could paddle back to them you know doogle is kind of putting all of this stuff out for the family and he's ready to finally deliver the news that they were screwed that they were going to die when all of a sudden douglas interrupted him douglas blurted out that the family needed to paddle towards the doldrums if they were going to survive now the doldrums are an area that is essentially a belt around the equator and this area is known for having a lot of thunderstorms and rain and so douglas recognizing that the family's most pressing need was water thought that if they could reach the doldrums they might have at least a fighting chance of survival so he interrupts his father he blurts this out and instead of scolding or even hitting his son for interrupting him as dougal probably normally would have done dougal began to kind of just sit back and think about the idea that douglas had just proposed the father and son pair started kind of going back and forth with each other about how they could survive assessing the resources they had figuring out what they needed to do and eventually they they came up with a plan first they were going to sail to the doldrums and then once they had enough water they would continue on until they finally hit the north american coast and so what had started as dougal trying to tell his family that they were going to die transformed into him telling them that they actually had a chance to make it they had this plan and of course that brought some hope but the reality was it didn't really bring that much of it i mean i don't want to paint the wrong picture here they were definitely still in a very very bad situation and speaking of that i really need to give you the first of many warnings throughout the rest of the story um if the concept of cannibalism makes you squeamish then you might want to skip this next part so the family had their plan but they were still desperate enough that they literally discussed cannibalism amongst each other uh can you imagine having to have this conversation with your with your parents or your your children they have this conversation and they ultimately promised each other that if they started to pass away the living memory of the family would be gone members would not eat them they promised that they were not going to eat each other which might sound obvious to you while you're sitting at home but the harsh truth is that there are a lot of examples throughout history of stranded castaways eating each other at sea out of desperation there's literally a whole thing where sometimes they would deliberately kill one of the party members just to eat them that was not going to happen with the robertsons however they make this promise that no matter what no matter who dies doesn't matter we're not going to eat each other however robin williams was kind of the odd one out here i mean imagine being in in his position he's the only person on the boat that isn't part of this family who's not related to them by blood and so on that first day robin was legitimately worried that the family might eat him thankfully and also much to his relief the robertsons assured him that for the duration of the disaster robin himself was going to be a member of their family and this is obviously a very awkward conversation to put it mildly but everyone came away from it with the assurance basically that you know not only were they not going to eat each other but that that they were going to work together they were going to pool their resources they were going to team up and they were going to fight for their survival they had this loose plan but at the same time the family was really hoping that somewhere along their route towards the doldrums they were going to be intercepted by another vessel who would then rescue them and save their lives of course they were going to do everything they could to reach the coast but they also knew their chances of doing that were very very slim i mean even if they did somehow replenish their food and water supplies the chances of them making it was extremely small i mean there's six people that were stuck between this tiny dinghy that had a a jerry-rigged sail and then this other life raft which was constantly deflating and taking on water pretty much from the moment it was launched and so they know that they need to get rescued they sail for nearly a week you know they they kind of just scrape by and then on day six for a very brief moment the family thought that their nightmare was about to end with the best conclusion possible they're sailing along and then all of a sudden they spot this this ship a few miles off in the distance which isn't really that far of a distance you know when you're on the flat water like that and so the family immediately dipped into their limited supply of flares to try and catch the attention of the ship's captain they set off five flares one after the other and yet the ship sailed right on by them the family watched as it dipped below the horizon and just like that their best chance possibly their only chance at rescue was gone now this could have been the event that kind of broke the family this could have made them just give up and lose all hope or try to end their lives even but in a weird inspirational way this this defeating crushing moment actually seemed to reignite the family's will to survive as they watched this the ship sail out of sight the family realized that they could no longer hope to actually get rescued it wasn't even in the cards for them anymore they had to survive until they got themselves out of this situation until they got themselves to safety that was the only option and so they they put rescue out of their mind and they got busy catching turtles i mean you heard that right uh turtles turtles and fish would be the main sources of sustenance for the robertsons and it's at this point that i need to give another warning here because things are about to get a little graphic and so if you really like turtles and animals i would probably skip this next part okay so douglas was the one that actually caught the very first turtle and he kind of like hit it over the head with a paddle trying to kill it the turtle's eyes then filled up with blood but unfortunately it didn't die the turtle was gravely injured but it was able to kind of escape and swim off and this of course caused douglas to reassess his tactics he's like this turtle's gonna die anyway so the fact that it still swam off and we wouldn't be able to eat it and use it as a resource well that was a great tragedy of course and so the robertsons knew that they had to get smarter if they were gonna catch these turtles for real they managed to catch another one shortly after this but that one too got away but folks they say the third time's the charm and that's true so when the third turtle came along douglas and dougal they managed to get it into the dinghy and at this time they slid its throat and as they began to take stock we'll say of this dead turtle they realized that they had just accidentally stumbled upon basically a miracle for them in their situation they realized that they could sustain the entire family on these turtles i mean not only was the meat good to eat but the female turtles often had eggs that almost resembled grapes you know grapes of the sea you could say and in addition to the food that the turtle supplied they also supplied something that could work to quench the family's thirst and that brings me to yet another warning because this part is pretty nasty i'm not gonna lie so you good you good okay you sure okay so the family realized that they could drink the blood of the turtles that they captured so after killing each turtle dougal would kind of pump the turtle blood into a jar and then they would pass the jar around kind of like they were passing around a joint until the jar was was finished apparently the last person to get the jar would have to like stir the blood around to kind of loosen it up because it would kind of like harden as time went on this is what it takes to survive folks i mean just brutal so the dinghy and especially this inflatable life raft were constantly taking on water which meant that the family was always sitting and even trying to sleep in salt water essentially and this predictably began to wreak havoc on their bodies they started to break out in these boils and sores the the family's clothing began to erode day after day which of course left their skin exposed to these brutal sunburns and so after two weeks everyone was naked essentially i mean it was more comfortable on their skin with all these boils and stuff to just not wear clothing anyways and by the way this is also around the time that the life raft finally gave in this raft had been slowly disintegrating basically from day one it was in constant need of bailing and to be reinflated and so by day 17 the family decided to just ditch it this meant that now all six of them were crammed into this tiny dinghy and space was so limited that everyone kind of just stayed in their assigned spot and there was no room to even stand up or move around i mean they were sleeping on top of each other they were trying to go to the bathroom in this situation i mean can you imagine you're trying to go to the bathroom and your mom is like two feet away from you cramped on this dinghy with you oh and also this this dinghy was way less stable than the inflatable life raft and so if one big wave came along or if somebody stepped in the wrong spot at the wrong time they were going to capsize their situation is just going from bad to worse and by this point they had reached the doldrums which was good news to a degree because they were able to replenish their water supply but you know in order to to get that water that rain that meant they had to make it through these massive massive thunderstorms the only thing that scares me more than the ocean is lightning and so this is i've probably said this like three times but this is literally my worst nightmare being trapped in the ocean in this tiny boat with lightning crashing all around you with waves crashing into the boat i mean dude this obviously sucked big time but the family also found it difficult to complain about this because if it wasn't for the rain that these violent thunderstorms brought then they probably would have already died and this brings me to the biggest warning that i've given so far in this video if you thought the turtle blood thing was bad then wait till you hear this and especially skip this part if you're eating right now which you you probably tapped out already if that was the case because this is a nasty one but anyways so after getting all this rain and of course from all the salt water kind of spilling over the sides of the boat the bottom of this dinghy was disgusting it was filled with you know just excess water turtle blood of course they're like sitting and their gross bodies and feet are kind of mixing up with the water at the bottom of the boat i'm telling you the bottom of the boat was just a mixture of nastiness that would instantly poison you if you tried to drink it however lynn didn't want this water to go to waste again they've gotten some rain water but they still need more right and so lynn had actually worked as a nurse before the robertsons began their voyage and due to her experience she knew that this nasty water at the bottom of the boat could be used to hydrate the family without poisoning them if it was taken rectally you heard that right um lynn created this makeshift enema tube from a ladder rung that the family had and she started to administer this nasty water to everyone in the enemas except for robin who apparently politely declined so yeah that's absolutely disgusting um and it's yet another example of how desperate the family was to survive in a weird way you almost i mean you have to kind of respect it right but while they weren't administering dirty enemas or drinking turtle blood the family actually had quite a bit of downtime while they were just sailing along and this downtime was incredibly difficult for them because those were the moments when their minds would just start to wander to you know the worst places imaginable and thus they started to come up with some creative ways to pass the time to keep their minds from wandering like this robin williams was known not only for declining the enemas but also for being a talker and while in normal life this might have been kind of annoying you know the the classic person who just won't shut up right it actually proved to be a huge asset for the family while they were crammed together on the dinghy i mean robin could just talk for hours he could just go and go i mean he would have been the perfect candidate to start a podcast if those existed in the 70s and he would have been the perfect candidate to start a podcast and so robin's non-stop chatter and talking and stories this provided some crucial entertainment for the robertsons while they were just floating along now that we're done talking about enemas and turtle blood let's talk about food so this this was something that was always on everyone's mind because believe it or not raw turtle meat gets pretty old after a while and so they actually created this fictitious restaurant called google's cafe and i'm telling you they would talk for hours about what kind of food this cafe would serve and how they would prepare it what the menu would be like you know they just went super super deep into this and they also started playing the game i spy though this proved pretty challenging because everything outside of the dinghy you know the sea the sun the sky well all of those things started with the letter s the family floated through the pacific ocean for 17 days before they finally lost that life raft and then they spent an additional 20 days crammed inside of this tiny dinghy but then on day 38 since the original sinking of the lucette the family was in the middle of a conversation about the doogle cafe that they had made up when all of a sudden doogle himself casually kind of looked over his shoulder and announced oh hey look there's a there's a ship over there he said oh hey look there's a ship over there he said oh hey look he said those words and then he turned back and returned to the conversation about the cafe as if nothing had happened astonishingly it took a few more moments before doogle's eyes kind of lit up realizing that they had just been presented with another opportunity to potentially be rescued there was literally a ship a mile off in the distance i mean the family had become so obsessed with this idea of self-rescue not relying on anybody else that they had almost forgotten that there was actually still a chance that they might run into another ship and so when doogle first noticed the ship off in the distance he didn't even like think twice about it you know he didn't even put it together that they might actually be able to get rescued by this one but of course eventually you know after a few seconds he did kind of come to and he stood up and immediately began setting off what remained of the family's flares doogle burnt through the first flare and then he tried to shoot off the second one which didn't work and then he lit the third and final flare and held it up he held on to this flare for so long that it actually began to kind of burn his hand when it got to the bottom and then he tossed it up into the air and out of the dinghy from a mile away the captain of the japanese tokamaru 2 saw the ark of this discarded flare and at first he speculated that this small vessel might be occupied by pirates however this didn't last very long he quickly realized that they were actually castaways and so within 10 minutes the fishing boat pulled up alongside the robertsons and tossed them this dirty smelly rope that marked the moment where they officially realized that they were saved i mean i don't know what's going on here at this point they're so dehydrated that they hadn't peed for you know over a week their bodies were so destroyed that if they had been thrown overboard at this point they probably wouldn't have had the strength to even climb back into the dinghy and so surrounded by sharks each one of the robertsons plus robin himself carefully climbed out of the dinghy and onto the tokamaru 2 marking the very moment after 38 days at sea the robertsons and see that the family nightmare was finally over the fact that nobody died during those 38 days is both a miracle and also a testament to the strength and resilience of the robertsons and robin williams and yet while the family did somehow survive the ordeal doogle and lynn's marriage unfortunately did not they would end up getting divorced just after the ordeal and they would end up getting divorced just after the ordeal a year later though lynn did apparently come back to care for doogle in his final days before his 1991 death both doogle and lynn were apparently never able to forgive themselves for what the family had gone through and i imagine you know this is just speculation but doogle himself because it was kind of his idea and he was the leader well i imagine that he probably felt the worst out of the two doogle and douglas's relationship after this ordeal is just as complicated as doogle and lynn's marriage frankly and so douglas obviously still resented his father for his tough and sometimes violent upbringing but he also admired his father greatly and he even credited him with leading the family through those 38 harrowing days at sea which is something that's kind of difficult to wrap your head around right because if it wasn't for doogle the family probably wouldn't have ended up in that horrible situation in the first place but yet at the same time if it wasn't for doogle they also probably wouldn't have survived now i want to show you guys a couple photos that absolutely blow my mind so when i was researching for this story i didn't truly understand how cramped it was inside of the dinghy until i saw this photo right here as you can see there's literally no room for them to move around and again they would have been eating going to the bathroom killing turtles and trying to sleep while confined in this tiny space for 21 days now obviously this photo was taken after the disaster you know when all the the press started writing about it of course but i don't know despite the fact that they're smiling despite the fact that they look you know well dressed and healthy in this photo just the fact that they're crammed in there like that i just think it's so so incredibly disturbing shaq here what's it like to buy a car from carvana 100 online and get it delivered to your door let me tell you your car is here mr 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