Wisconsin Man Found Stabbed After Encounter with Ex-Girlfriend

I'm 2911, what's the address of the emergency? This is Don Siple calling, and I have a young lady that just came to my house, and somebody attacked her, and she needs a doctor, her clothes are all torn, and it's she injured? Yes, she's injured, her father's kind of got them blood around it. She has the outward signs of somebody who has been involved in a physical assault. Can you ask her what her name is? What's your name? You don't know? She's in kind of bad shape, she says she don't know. We had no idea where she came from, was she actually assaulted, was she maybe in a car accident? There's a lot of questions. As the investigation develops, there will be plenty more questions before answers finally start to emerge. There is a whitetail deer antler in the back window of the car, was he stabbed with this deer antler? I've seen a lot of things in my 37 years in law enforcement that's still the most bizarre scene I've ever seen. Can you answer who did this to her? Do you have any idea who did this to you? No, if you can, she's pretty distressed, upset and I can see why. This case begins with a frantic knock on a dairy farmer's door in Wisconsin and he opens the door and there's this young woman standing there and she is bloody. She appears to be barefooted, she's hysterical and she's claiming that she was attacked. So the sites are bleeding from the mouth, do we know what other injuries she has and she looks like she's injured anywhere else? Yes, there's some other bloody marks on her leg a little bit. This is a very strange scene, but to make it even more bizarre, this is happening in the heartland of Wisconsin way out there where all you have are farms and fields. It's a very low crime area, it's a rural farm country. In fact, having a young woman shop at a farmer's door, battered and muddy is virtually unheard of. So this was a very odd circumstance, it's not something we handle every year or all that often. Some police talk to the woman themselves, she isn't much more forthcoming. She was very hysterical, crying, you couldn't really understand what she was saying a lot of times. One of her deputies did note that she was hysterical and sobbing, but he noticed that she didn't actually have physical tears, so that was another odd thing. What's less than you remember, how about we do that? I remember a good example of me getting them, so are we talking like a man? That's just very, very strange, very odd, usually when we go to crime scenes or go to a call, we have some information to work from. They kind of search the area for a road over vehicle, you know, out into the brush or something like that. But police don't find any evidence of a crash or even a car nearby. She's covered in mud. She must have gone through an open field, I don't see anything around here that would match what she's covered in. I was only walked down here, I just wanted to take a look at something because she came from Stummler. That evening, on March 22nd, she was transferred to the hospital. The next day, police interviewer at the hospital in O'Clair, and by now they've learned that her name is Ezra McCandalous. Ezra McCandalous was born Monica K, but when she turned 18, she decided to change her name to Ezra McCandalous, inspired part by Chris McCandalous, who's from Into the Wild. And I think she identified with that sort of free spirit. Officers met with her to try and get some more details, and eventually she had said that she was sexually assaulted or was assaulted by Alex. Alex, it turns out, is Alex Woodworth. This is an ex-boyfriend of Ezra's, and it just so happens, there's a missing person's alert out for Alex. The O'Clair Police Department, which is in another jurisdiction, was investigating a missing person's case. But when police talk to some of Alex's friends, he doesn't seem like the type to assault anyone. What about Alex? The kindest man I've ever known, just a very quirky guy, I just had all the oddest things to contribute, but it was always something different and funny and new. Alex was a bright young man, pursuing Ph.D. in philosophy. He wanted to be a professor in philosophy, it was his future aspiration. Ezra and Alex are both part of this close-knit friend group that meet at this local coffee shop in O'Clair. It's called Racie's Coffee Lounge. All the friends and the major players in this group all had a connection to Racie's. I think free spirited would be a good way to describe them, kind of reminded me of the TV show Friends. Ezra McHandalis was, by all descriptions, that kind of zany spirited person. She's this young amateur artist, she's 19 years old, and just figuring out what she wants to do with the rest of her life. At the hospital, police continue to interview Ezra. Yesterday I got up one morning and to myself, feeling really good today and really confident, like I should go return some stuff that just kind of makes me feel sad. And so I went to O'Clair and I went to Racie's and I seen Jason at the coffee shop. Jason is also a member of the friend group and he's another one of Ezra's Exes. Jason was around 15 years older than Ezra. He was a national guard medic, he really liked being in the service. He was kind of the older person in this very intricate friend group. Strangely, Jason's the one who encouraged Ezra to become friends with Alex, even though Jason and Ezra were still an item at the time. We thought that they shared a lot of interest and would be friends. They started hanging out together and Jason's job would take him out of town for extended periods of time and they started a romantic relationship. As far as this tangled web of relationships in the friend group, it did seem like a lot of drama. Kind of like friends gone wrong. So on March 22nd Ezra bumps into Jason at Racies on her way to Alex's house. They met in the coffee shop. She was going to return painting or something to Alex and meet up with him and take care of that. So we talked about kind of like just life and like how I've been feeling and then that was like every day when I go to like a park and stuff. So then you left and what vehicle did you leave in? It's my car. Ok. And then we were driving and I was talking about stuff. I remember just Alex started getting pretty upset about some stuff. What was he going to upset about? He mostly seemed upset about Jason and I because he told me like that if I proceeded to talk to Jason, he would be very upset. Ok. So then what happened? And then I just kind of remember just trying to explain myself and stuff and then just kind of it's like fuzzy for me. Ok. - You get fallen in monomony. How do you get to monomony? - I don't know, I just kind of felt like I woke up and I was scared, so I was just walking down the road. - How about your car? What do you remember about your car where it was left? - I don't remember much about that at all, actually. I just remember sitting in a chair at the old man's house. - Okay. - And then he called the ambulance and stuff. - And then they took me to the hospital and I've been here since then. - Detectives are striking out with Ezra, so they try a different tactic. Maybe Jason, Ezra's jilted lover, has played a role in this drama somehow, so they bring him in for questioning. - We were trying to make sure that he wasn't involved in this, 'cause he honestly had motive in this whole situation. - I knew what was going on in my life. I knew what was going on, relationship wise. I didn't kick her out. I didn't mean to him, but we were still all friends. - Okay, how long did you guys date for? Let's go out or how everyone would be? - Probably nine months. - Nine months, okay. - Ezra and Jason meet at this coffee shop and by all accounts, it's kind of like electric when they meet. They just gravitated towards each other. They start dating, their romance moves quickly, and despite this age difference, they find a great connection with each other, and they fall in love pretty quickly. - I think they had a very solid relationship. They called each other husband and wife. They seem to be very close. - But it seems they hit a bump in the road when Ezra hooks up with their mutual friend, Alex. - Would it surprise you that her and Alex are going out? Would you have any suspicions? - Yeah, I kind of knew what was going on. - And apparently the affair with Alex isn't Ezra's first time going behind Jason's back with one of his buddies. That includes John Hanson. - Jason and John were good friends, and while Jason was gone again for work, Ezra and John both attended a party with one another and ended up having sexual intercourse that night. - But Ezra claims the sex with John was not consensual. - She had actually reported a sexual assault to the O'Claire Police Department, claiming that John Hanson had sexually assaulted her. - And John wanted me to come over. It just has to talk about everything, we talk about stuff, and he fought wine and things. And if I don't be okay to have some wine, and then I got really, really, really drunk. - He was taking my clothes off, and they let him use me. And it regretted so much that he didn't want that to happen. - I just didn't think it was right. It messed me up, really bad. - I think initially the police take this quite serious and believe Ezra is a victim. But when Jason returns, he sees some text messages that Ezra has on her phone. He thinks some text between her and John Hanson, obviously with her encouraging sexual relationship between the two of them. And I think that was kind of ultimately the demise of Jason and Ezra's relationship. - It seems apparent that Ezra doesn't want Jason to know that she consented. So she's using this as an umbrella to shield her from taking responsibility for her bad actions. - But Ezra's plan to blame John doesn't work. Jason breaks things off with her. Now the question that police have is whether Jason has anything to do with the disappearance of his new rival Alex or Ezra's current condition. Maybe he wanted revenge. - So he wrote his bike over near Alex's house. - He had found Ezra's car there, and it was parked outside, still running. The driver's door was standing open, but he assumed that they were up in Alex's apartment. And so he was kind of lingering outside, trying to listen in on their conversation. - I waited across the road for a while. - Okay, how long you think you waited a fraction? I mean, 20, 30, maybe even 40 minutes. I think at least three cigarettes and a-- - Okay. - I just, for me, thinking that like this, was a situation that was gonna be quick in and out, like where someone leaves their car idling. - Yeah. - It didn't feel right, you know? So they're just getting like, oh shit, like, yeah. Why is she still in there? Like, what is happening right now? And when I approached, I heard, you know, there was arguing and stuff. So I cracked open the door a little bit and yelled in, like, hey, like, is everyone, is anyone in here? - Okay. - Everything okay. - Ezra and Alex go outside and they find police there. Apparently a neighbor saw Jason pacing and called 911. - O'Clar police department got called. Everything seemed to be fine. They said everything was fine. They were just gonna go talk. And eventually left O'Clar and drove into Dunn County. Three to four hours after that contract with the O'Clar police department, she showed up at Don Cipples' house, kind of hysterical, crying, bloody muddy. - The next day police still have no idea what happened between Alex and Ezra or Jason is involved in any way, but first things first, they have to find Alex Woodworth. - They were trying to locate Alex who they felt was a suspect at that point. They couldn't find him anywhere in the city of O'Clar. They couldn't find him at his house. They went back to the farmers to Don Cipples' house and started backtracking from there. - Deputy's searched area. We're not able to locate a vehicle. - But they do find a clue. - They noticed some muddy footprints coming going down a kind of a field driveway that goes kind of up and over a hill. And so they got out and started following those footprints. - As they got to the top of the hill, they saw Ezra's car parked down by a trailer and they could see a human body. The rear driver's side door was still standing open and Alex's upper torso or his head and neck area was kind of hanging out of the vehicle. - Her boots are unseen, full of mud. There's a whitetail deer antler in the back window of the car. It was just very bizarre. Was he stabbed with this deer antler? What does this have to do with it? - It was a lot to try and process and put together as to what exactly happened. - It wasn't until the next day when Alex and the car were found that investigators went back to talk to Ezra and that's when she started providing details of the attack or what had happened. - And what she tells the investigators is that Alex Woodworth violently attacked her. She says that he came after her with a knife and she has cuts on her arms and some other places. - She started carving something in the mirror. I remember like getting in the car and then I started, for some reason, I started feeling a little anxious. - Ezra now picks up the story where Jason Mangle left off. After police checked on them, outside of Alex's house and she and Alex drove off. - And then I kind of want to be in a public face because I'm still kind of uneasy about things that have happened in the past between me and Alex and stuff. - But he's never hired you physically. - Yeah. - Like, never punched you, kicked you, hit you, or done anything physical on those likes towards you. - He's only kind of healthy once when I was uncomfortable. - And then what happens? - Instead of cutting my pants open and stuff, I don't know what to do. And it was really scary. And then you started cutting my shirt off of me. - Gave some cuts on her one of her hands in the palm and then she else had some cuts on her inner thigh and groin area. And she said that Alex had caused those cuts. And initially that's when she also said that Alex had carved the word boy into her arm. - And this really peaks investigators' curiosity. - And so how does your arm get cut up? - Alex, like, he grabbed it and then he kept calling me about being a boy and stuff like that, how frustrating it is. I used to go by masculine pronouns, and I was kind of going through identity things. - Okay. - But now I go by pronouns 'cause that's how I feel comfortable. - What did he use to carve that on you? - I think he grabbed what was in my bill, console. I always keep one of my dads like hopping knives in there just in case they ever need it. - How did you get the knife from it? - I grabbed it. I grabbed it for my minute pull. - What did you grab? - The blade or-- - I grabbed it. - The blade the one time, and that's hurt a lot, okay? - So I tried grabbing the base of it. It was a serious thing I've ever experienced in my life because I've never, ever fought back in my whole life. - She claimed that she had taken the knife from him and started to stab him. - Where were you cutting him? - I just was going anywhere and everywhere I could. Just to get him off of me and get away from me. And then he just kept grabbing me and grabbing me and grabbing me. - Okay, so he kept grabbing you after you were stabbing him. - Mm-hmm. - Okay, when you were stabbing him, were you trying to kill him? - And then why didn't he go away? - How come you didn't tell me this yesterday? When do we talk, Ezra? - Because I think it's too scary. - I know it's scary, but we needed the truth, right? - Some aspects of Ezra's stories though don't ring true to detectives. So they start asking more pointed questions. - Do you remember what Alex was wearing? Did he have a scarf? - He did wear a scarf. - No, yeah. Did you have a scarf on that day? - I had, yeah, I did. - Correct me if I'm wrong. When you went to Don cells, you didn't have that on you anymore. No. - He was following with the scarf, kind of pressed up or wrapped around his neck. We think maybe he had held it there to maybe stop some bleeding. - Where's his cell phone at? - I don't know, 'cause he didn't get grabbed it with my phone on the running. - Okay. - And then I fell a couple times so I know that my phone broke, but I don't know 'cause if his phone broke or not. - You could have utilized the phone to call the police to make a 9-1-1 call, even if you can't unlock it, to make a distress call. That's problematic. So I think she took the phone to prevent Alex from calling for help. - Did all this stabbing take place in the car or outside? - It was inside the car a lot took place and then not that much. That was took place outside of the car. - Ezra has said that this violent attack took place in the back seat. However, the blood is all, most of it, is concentrated on the outside of the vehicle. And then the boy of a car in your arm, okay? The part that throws me off on that is if I'm sitting here and he's gonna be carving it in, it's written perfect with the right hand person like this. Okay, if he would write it in, it would have been reversed. Right? - She's claiming that Alex scratched her cut boy into her left arm from the driver's seat, which he would have had to have carved boy upside down if he would have done it from the driver's seat while she's sitting in the passenger seat. - Soon they start putting all of these pieces together and Ezra's story just doesn't add up. - That's when things changed and they were initially thinking that Alex was a suspect in this assault and then they realized this might not be what they initially thought. And Alex is actually the victim here. - Investigators keep pushing Ezra for more answers. - All right, walk me through Ezra, what happened? Would the truth please? How did boy get put in your arm? He didn't do that to your daddy. You carved boy into your own arm, is that right? - My initial thought was after seeing the photos of her and seeing these superficial wounds, I immediately said they looked self-inflicted. Doctors confirmed our initial suspicion, basically scratches with a knife tip or blade of some sort, nothing really that even barely drew blood. - When the autopsy report comes in, it seems to confirm that Alex was the victim here, not Ezra. - He had a total of 16 stab wounds all over his body. The back of his head, the back of his torso, he also had a stab wound to his groin and he also had three distinct slices or cuts to his neck area. So he was definitely a victim of a brutal attack. - That's not a defensive wound when you stab somebody in the back and you become an aggressor when you stab somebody 16 times, especially because she really didn't have significant injuries that portrayed her as the first victim here. - She was in a rage. She stabbed him everywhere as she could possibly stab him and then the three separate cuts to his neck was more clearly with intention to kill somebody. - Stabbing his personal, it's up close, it's physical. You watch someone suffer, particularly Alex. He was alive through most of this. He was alive through all of this attack. - I believe she was trying to eliminate Alex from her life. So Jason would find it in his heart to take her back. It seems that Ezra had this idea that if Alex was gone and it would be like it never happened and she and Jason could just move on with their lives. - It didn't take much at all to start dismantling her lies from the sexual assault allegations to the actual homicide itself. You just fell apart for her. - All right, I gotta say something. I know it's a little bit of a 180, but you might be watching this during the weekends and when you think about it Saturday nights, holidays with friends, having fun, it always makes the weekend worth it. But if you want to start being intentional about the fun that you have on Saturday nights, our sponsor Zeebiotics has the product for you. 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And if you're not satisfied, they'll refund your entire order. No questions asked. Head on over to zbiotics.com/primecrime. Use code "prime crime" for 15% off your first order. - Ezra McCandless was arrested on April 6, 2018 and she's charged with the most serious crime one can be charged with. And that's first degree intentional homicide. (gentle music) - 18 months after Alex's death, Ezra's trial begins. - Obviously it's a pretty young lady who's a suspect and a very up-and-coming young man with a good education. Who's the victim and this love triangle that they had going on with multiple sexual partners. And so it caught a lot of a local attention and national attention. - This case is about an extreme anger and a twisted form of love. A love so dangerous that the defendant killed Alexander Woodworth in an attempt to recapture the relationship she wanted with Jason Mangle. This is not a case of who done it. The person who done it, the person who brutally killed Alex by stabbing him over and over again, is sitting before you today. The defendant Ezra Mangle. - The prosecution presents a case in which Ezra is becoming increasingly desperate to get Jason back. And the only obstacle, the only barrier is Alex. - And when the state has meant its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant killed Alexander Woodworth, I will ask that you return a verdict of guilty of first degree intentional homicide. - The defense has a completely different argument. Their case rests on the notion that Ezra is a victim of an attempted sexual assault and that she's just this tiny, meek woman who is fighting for her life and that this is a classic case of self-defense and nothing more. - Ezra and her next boyfriend are out in the middle of nowhere. Her car is stuck in the mud. She's on her back in the backseat of a car. Her ex-boyfriend is holding her down with his foot. As he's on top of her, he takes his car. He covers her eyes, then he starts cutting. He has a knife, he's cutting her leg, he cuts her leg. She's terrified. And then it all happens in Russia. She's fighting, she gets the knife. She just stabs anywhere and everywhere that she can. She is terrified. She fought to survive. 'Cause the state did not prove. that she was not actually on something else. We were not true there. She wanted to live, she fought to survive, she's here fighting again to survive, vote not guilty. It wasn't an incredibly defensible case, it's also incredibly easy to prosecute. So you know, it's a real true tug of war among the witnesses for the prosecution is Jason Mangle, Ezra's ex-boyfriend. Her reaction to Jason Mangle walking into the courtroom was really something that stood out to me as she almost got, you know, googly eyed and smiling at him and just this gaze of love. Were you emotionally invested in each other? Yes, very much. Did you say I love you back and forth? Often. Now, between the time that the defendant moved out of your apartment in February of 2018 and up to March 22nd 2018, the date of Alex Woodworth's death, did you continue to have regular contact with the defendant? Yes. How frequently would you communicate with the defendant? Pretty often. Were there messages, if you recall, where the defendant expressed her feelings for you? Yes. Did she tell you that she loved you? Yes. Did she tell you that she missed you? Yes. Did she tell you how much it hurt to be without you? Yes. Did she tell you how much she wanted to be with you? Yes. Did she ever talk about a future together with you, you know? Jason's testimony certainly supports the prosecution's argument that Ezra wanted to get rid of Alex to be with Jason, but on cross-examination, the defense prompts Jason to paint Ezra as the victim and Alex as the aggressor. Going back to something you testified about yesterday, you were asked some questions by the prosecutor about things Ezra McCamless had told you about sex with Alex, right? Uh, vaguely, yes. Yes. And what you said yesterday was, she told you, I'm not going to quote you word for word yesterday, but you know, that Alex did things she didn't like and wasn't comfortable with, right? She voiced that at moments, yes. And she had voiced to you specifically that things went too fast. That they went too fast, yes. And I think the words you used was that there was some choking and boarding. And she told you that when she didn't want to do things, Alex would tell her those things were unfair. That was unfair to him, right? That it was unfair to him. That Ezra takes the stand and the whole tenor of the courtroom changes. Morning, would you state your name and spell it for the record, please? My name is Ezra McCandalis, um, E-M-E-Z-R-A-M-C-C-A-N-D-L-E-S-S. I guess the first question I'm going to ask you is, why Ezra McCamless? Why that name? Why Ezra McCandalis? Well, I have gone through a lot of changes in my life regarding identity and what really fits me. And I tried on a few names, but I found ultimately that Ezra fit perfectly for who I am. When Ezra got on the stand and started smiling and talking about herself seemingly, like, you can tell she likes being the center of attention. And I just don't think that her testimony, I don't think it helped her. All right. Um, and the other thing I want to ask you is, um, what you, your height and weight are. So what's your height, first of all? I'm 5'2", and how much do you weigh? I roughly, I'm sorry. I roughly weigh a hundred and between a hundred and fifteen and a hundred and twenty pounds. The defense attorney made the best case she could make in that you have a woman, and she's a tiny woman as well, who has stabbed a man to death. And I think there's this chance that you could look at it that way. How is this little tiny woman, she planned to stab him to death? That's not really realistic. When you met Mr. Woodworth, were you still living with Jason during this time? Yes. So during this period of time, can you tell us some of the, and, um, I know it's very fun, but some of the details of your sex between you and Alex Woodworth. Alex and I, when we began our relationship, sex was very vanilla. Okay. And during this period of time, was there some progression from the pure vanilla into some differences early now, November to summer? Yes, there were. I encouraged him to explore himself and things he might want. And he started, we started practicing and doing these new things that he wanted to express himself. It turned into a, what at times could be considered a BDSM relationship. What was your reaction to these things, the wax, the chokehold, the knife that one occasion? What was your reaction to these? My reaction, I was very supportive of his dominance at first. I wanted him to feel like he can express himself and I was also exploring. As we should have shown, this is the guy that attacked me. He was sexually into BDSM, kind of things, and that's what this was. This attack that happened to me in this remote location on March 22, was a manifestation of Alex's bizarre personality. It didn't come out that way. In many ways, the jury wants to see someone who's sympathetic. And Ezra is probably the antithesis of that. When the prosecution begins their cross-examination, they focus on Ezra's changing stories. So you never told Detective Prok to that interview that Alex wanted to have sex with you one more time, did you? In that interview, no, I did not. And he went to Mr. Sypil's residence and he asked you based on the 9-1-1 operators request. What happened? You told him you could not remember, correct? I could not remember, yes. You told the deputy shields that you could not remember what happened, correct? Correct. You told officer Reeves you could not remember what happened, correct? Yes, I could not remember. You told the first nurse at the hospital that you met that you could not remember what happened, correct? Yes. And then after Detective Prok confronted you with that, you told him what happened, correct? I told him what had happened to me, yes. And in that same interview, you told Detective Prok you could not get it out of your head what happened. Because it just was scary and I can't get out of my head, correct? Correct. And Ms. McCamless, what's too scary is that you know if you told the truth about what happened that you'd be in fact charged with killing Alex, isn't that correct? That is not correct. She did not come across truthful at all in her testimony and did not speak from the heart. Ladies and gentlemen, Jury, with the defendant, there's always just one more lie. Just one more lie, and that's, ladies and gentlemen, really what this case is about. Her story changes depending on who the audience is. The prosecution has a very strong case, they have a lot of evidence here. And you consider all of the evidence in this case. It is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant sitting there is guilty of first degree intentional homicide. It's time to tell the defendant no more lies. You're not going to get away with just one more lie. Take her take responsibility for Alex's death on March 22nd, find her guilty. She wanted to live. She bought to survive. This is a case of self-defense. That's what this case is. And the state has probably no evidence of how to do anything that we say, but what happened there. The state has not convinced you beyond a reasonable doubt that she had those two beliefs, and you have to find her not guilty of first degree intentional. She's fighting for her life, acting in self-defense. She's innocent. And then the jury begins deliberations. For homicide trial, you'd expect deliberations to take several hours, if not days, but in this case, it was only three and a half hours that they deliberated and came back with a verdict. Mr. Mechanis, please rise. We the jury find the defendant, Ezra J. Mechanis guilty of first-degree intentional homicide as charged in the information. All right, ladies and gentlemen, is this your verdict? All right. I think they pretty much all were on the same page as they went back there. They really, truly didn't buy her self-defense claims. And I think that quick verdict tells a lot. Before sentencing, the statements from Alex's family and friends are heartbreaking. You took a life. You took away a son, a brother, a grandson, and a few a cousin and a friend. Alex was still many, he did not have one ounce of means or anger in him. He was such a kind and loving man that despite him knowing how unstable you were, he was still willing to give you compassion. He left with you that faithful day believing he was going to help you in some way, and instead you took his life. It's been one year, ten months, and sixteen days. And Ezra, while we continue to mourn Alex's passing, it's hard not to notice that throughout the trial, we never saw any sin of sadness, shame, compassion, or the slightest bit of remorse and what you had done. The morning we found out Alex was dead. I knew it was good a thing, didn't I? I don't know how. I just knew. I sat in a living room full of our old friends, my friends, and cried. Your crime was so heinous, so shameful, and so disgusting that I do believe you should serve a life sentence without parole. Then Ezra herself gets one more chance to speak. Thank you. Mr. Candles. Is there anything you can say? I would like to address your honor in the courts and Alex's family, most of all Alex's parents. I want to say how sorry I am that they have lost their son, but sorry it doesn't cut it in my mind. That word is not enough and never will be enough for this loss. I recognize and completely acknowledge this pain, and I'm so sorry. I love Alex very much, and I also feel a great loss, and I'm so sorry, and thank you for letting me say this. And I think just based on that comment that she made that she lost something to, she was bringing it back to be about her again. I don't think she came across very sincere at all. I think it was trying to, you know, get some sympathy or something. What the court saw during the trial was, she did not. There does not appear to be any remorse, does not appear to be any genuine contrition. I am going to sentence Mr. Candles to life and prison, and the Wisconsin prison system, and I'm going to set the date that she would be eligible for petitioning the court for extended supervision at 50 years. It's a long time, but the way I reason this, and Ms. McCannless, if she does what she's supposed to do, follows the rules that she at least has some light at the end of a very long tunnel. This case is one that has just, it is the senseless tragedy, in that there was really no reason why this had to happen. This is one young woman who had what she wanted. She had this wonderful partner in this relationship. She is the reason for her downfall. She creates the drama. She creates the problems. She is the problem. One of the saddest aspects of this entire case is that the victim was young and so determined to follow his dream, and in the end, his family and friends are not only mourning his loss, but they have to think about and contend with what his life could have been, what he could have achieved.