0:00
Can I ask you something? What is
0:01
obsession to you? Is it that fleeting
0:04
spark that lingers longer than it
0:05
should? A harmless affection that
0:07
quietly twists into something darker? Is
0:10
it longing? Or is it control that is
0:12
dressed up and masquerading as love? And
0:15
at what point does admiration become
0:18
fixation anyway? And what happens when
0:20
someone you consider a friend stop
0:22
seeing you as a person and start seeing
0:24
you as their property? When no becomes
0:26
an insult? And when your boundaries
0:28
aren't just ignored, but routinely
0:31
violated, what do you do in that
0:33
situation? For a young woman named
0:35
Phoenix Nets, this was not merely just a
0:37
philosophical question, but actual
0:39
reality. One that crept closer, tighter,
0:42
and more dangerous as time went by until
0:45
that line between discomfort and danger
0:47
finally snapped. Welcome, or welcome
0:50
back to Coffee House Crime, folks. My
0:52
name is Adrian and today we're diving
0:53
into a story filled with lust, fixation,
0:56
and escalating obsession. And I have to
0:58
say this is one of the most gruesome
1:00
crimes that I have ever covered. And as
1:02
you'll soon realize through the sheer
1:04
amount of surveillance footage covered
1:05
in this video, her obsessive killer may
1:08
as well have vlogged her entire cover
1:09
up. I have to say she is definitely not
1:11
the smartest cookie. By the way, Copy
1:13
House Crime is run by two good friends,
1:15
Nero and myself. We're just a small team
1:17
dedicated to sharing real stories told
1:19
properly with respect. And after last
1:21
week's video, I just wanted to say thank
1:23
you to all of you who support the
1:24
channel, listen to our sponsorships, and
1:26
show interest in what's behind the
1:28
camera. It's kind of crazy to think that
1:30
this channel is almost 5 years old,
1:31
because honestly, it still feels like
1:33
half a year ago to me. Trust me here,
1:35
but so many things have changed since
1:37
this channel's beginning. And now that
1:38
I've hit my 30s, moved country, and
1:40
become a homeowner, it is kind of
1:42
obvious that I'm entering a new stage in
1:44
my life. But don't worry, I'm not going
1:46
anywhere. This is just a reflection.
1:47
Renovating in the daytime and working in
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the evenings and nighttime has reminded
1:51
me how tiring taking extra work on can
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be. And it's also taught me how
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important health is. Because if that's
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off, everything is. And that is
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folks for listening. I really do
3:00
appreciate it. Now, I believe we have an
3:02
important topic to discuss here. And so,
3:04
on that note, please grab yourself a
3:06
coffee and let's caffeinate while we
3:08
investigate. This is the case of Phoenix
3:10
Nets.
3:21
The date was May the 12th, 2020, and
3:24
it's a time that none of us want to
3:25
remember. As you know, lockdown had
3:27
smothered most of the world into
3:29
silence, especially England. Roads which
3:32
were once filled with cars were now long
3:34
empty concrete corridors. In fact,
3:36
entire cities were starting to feel
3:38
abandoned, and they were almost as quiet
3:40
as the rest of England's many fields and
3:42
forests. I mean, just seeing or hearing
3:45
a car drive by was now much more
3:47
noticeable no matter where you were. And
3:49
deep in the forest of Dean, someone
3:51
noticed something quite unusual that
3:53
evening. It was on a narrow road just
3:56
outside the town of Culford that a local
3:58
resident saw a lone car driving through
4:00
the darkness. The strange thing is it
4:02
wasn't just passing through either and
4:04
it seemed to be circling around the area
4:07
as though the driver was searching for
4:09
something. Feeling uneasy and perhaps a
4:11
little bit nosy, the local resident
4:13
decided to contact the police. And after
4:16
running a quick license plate check,
4:18
officers realized that the car was
4:20
registered to an owner who lived in
4:21
Wolverampton, nearly 80 miles away.
4:24
Okay, in hindsight, it did sound a
4:26
little bit ridiculous. I mean, imagine
4:28
the authorities getting all bent out of
4:30
shape because the car dared to be 80 mi
4:33
away from its registered address. It
4:35
feels almost dystopian and kind of like
4:37
something straight out of the Hunger
4:39
Games. However, at least at this point
4:41
in the pandemic, traveling that far was
4:44
strictly against the rules. Everyone was
4:46
meant to stay put while we tried to
4:48
figure out this whole CO situation. And
4:51
so, when a lone driver is seen
4:53
zigzagging and circling around the
4:55
country in the middle of the night,
4:57
well, yeah, you could say that eyebrows
4:59
started to levitate. When police
5:01
officers intercepted the driver, they
5:03
recorded this moment on body cam. And as
5:06
you can see, the driver stepped out,
5:08
seemed quite visibly anxious, and
5:09
insisted that he was merely waiting for
5:12
a friend. So the police officers
5:14
reminded him that this was still the
5:16
middle of a lockdown. And unless his
5:18
friend was in a medical emergency, he
5:20
had no reason to be here. With no
5:22
evidence of a crime and nothing
5:24
immediately illegal in sight, they just
5:26
merely issued a warning to him and then
5:28
told him to head home. But as the car
5:30
faded into darkness, something about the
5:33
encounter didn't quite sit right with
5:35
them. Less than an hour later, those
5:37
same police officers were once again
5:39
patrolling the same stretch of road.
5:41
Apparently, a gut feeling had brought
5:43
them back there, and that is when they
5:45
realized they saw more headlights caught
5:47
in a strange silhouette by the entrance
5:49
to Stooffield Quarry. It turned out to
5:52
be the same car that was now pulled over
5:54
with its engine turned off. And beside
5:56
it was a lone figure who was standing
5:59
next to two large suitcases. The body
6:02
cam footage from that moment shows it
6:04
all. Whoever this woman was, she seemed
6:07
to be both concerned and defensive. And
6:09
as the police officers edged closer
6:11
towards her, she would become even more
6:14
erratic. At the time, nobody knew what
6:16
she was hiding. But it became quite
6:18
clear to officers that she was desperate
6:20
to keep the contents of those suitcases
6:22
a secret. Almost like she was maybe
6:24
hiding a body in there. Spoiler alert,
6:27
she was.
6:28
You knew your property.
6:30
He's trying You're trying to stop us,
6:32
which is which is now really concerning.
6:34
Wait, wait. Just listen. Just listen.
6:36
You're going to get you're going to get
6:36
arrested for obstructing police.
6:38
All right. I don't want to I don't want
6:40
to stop you guys.
6:41
You are you are stopping. You are
6:42
stopping us.
6:43
Okay. Can I just could I just explain
6:45
because as I said before
6:48
as I said before like I don't I've
6:52
had issues with that before. Step away
6:54
please. Just stand there.
6:55
Okay.
7:05
What the
7:07
cuz that that's a that's a person.
7:13
You are under arrest.
7:14
Yeah.
7:16
That's a [ __ ] person.
7:19
507. SGE. Can we get you down in ASAP,
7:21
please?
7:22
Urgent.
7:41
Inside the first suitcase, officers
7:43
found human remains. And as for the
7:45
second one, well, that held even more.
7:48
It is no surprise to learn then that
7:50
both the woman standing there and the
7:51
driver were arrested immediately and
7:53
then taken down to the local station for
7:55
questioning. But the thing is that would
7:58
only raise more unsettling questions. I
8:00
mean, it kind of leaves us with a few
8:02
rather enormous ones actually, doesn't
8:04
it? To begin with, who precisely was
8:06
this woman? And why was she standing in
8:08
the darkness with a dismembered body
8:10
zipped up into two suitcases? And just
8:12
to throw another one out there, why was
8:14
she 80 mi away from home during a
8:16
national lockdown with luggage that you
8:19
definitely would not take on a holiday?
8:21
Well, whatever you're imagining right
8:23
now, the truth is actually far darker
8:25
than anyone expected. But let's start at
8:28
the top here and first talk about our
8:30
first suspect, Garisa.
8:33
Her full name was Gerisa Konita Gordon
8:36
and she was a Jamaican national who was
8:38
28 years old at the time of her arrest.
8:41
Born in Jamaica, she spent her first few
8:43
years under the sun. However, everything
8:46
would unfortunately change for her when
8:48
she was only 7 years old. Imagine living
8:50
in a bright, colorful, and warm country
8:52
and then being uprooted to England. For
8:55
Gerissa, that was her reality. And
8:57
before she knew it, she was flown across
8:59
the Atlantic Ocean to live with her
9:01
aunt. She was suddenly dropped into a
9:04
new world with new accents, new weather,
9:06
new rules, and new expectations. And it
9:09
was only later that her mother actually
9:11
followed her. And even then, the family
9:14
never quite fit together the same way
9:16
after that. She then moved to North
9:18
London and attended an allgirl state
9:20
secondary school. And although her early
9:22
years in the UK did appear ordinary from
9:24
the outside, her late teenage years
9:27
would sadly take a terrible turn.
9:29
Somewhere along that path, Karissa
9:31
became entangled with an older man who
9:33
exploited her and then forced her into
9:36
sex work. She became trapped in an
9:38
abusive and exploitive relationship. And
9:40
by adulthood, Karissa was a woman who
9:43
was now shaped by trauma. Psychologists
9:46
would later diagnose her with a
9:48
personality disorder with a low
9:50
tolerance for frustration and intensely
9:52
struggled with rejection. And of course,
9:55
this is a dangerous combination when
9:57
left untreated. Fast forward to 2020 and
10:00
Grisa had escaped London and was hopeful
10:03
for a better life. That is when she
10:05
ended up in a refuge for vulnerable
10:07
women in the Lozelle's area of West
10:09
Birmingham. A place that is designed to
10:11
give people stability and most of all
10:14
safety. And it was inside that refuge
10:16
that she met another resident, someone
10:19
who was also trying to rebuild her life
10:21
and someone that Garissa took quite a
10:24
fond liking to and her name was Phoenix
10:27
Nets.
10:29
Born in the early 1990s in Cuddon of
10:32
South London, Phoenix was the only child
10:34
of her parents Mark and Saskia. They
10:37
described her as supportive, loving, and
10:39
a fantastic daughter. Until the age of
10:42
11, Phoenix attended the Parish Church
10:44
Junior School in her hometown. It's one
10:46
of those classic South London primary
10:48
schools where everyone knows everyone
10:50
and where childhood feels like one long
10:53
blur of classrooms, playgrounds, and
10:55
inside jokes. Her classmates remember
10:57
her as bright and articulate. She loved
11:00
drama, adored performing, and for a
11:03
short while was even a keen horse rider.
11:05
She was one of those kids who had the
11:07
kind of spark that suggested a very
11:09
bright future ahead of her. It's a shame
11:12
that unfortunately that would never
11:14
materialize. By her late teenage years,
11:17
Phoenix was ready for her independence.
11:19
In 2009, she left her home to move to
11:22
Kent, where she then enrolled into
11:24
Canterbury Christ Church University.
11:26
This was all part of her plan because
11:29
Phoenix dreamed of becoming a paramedic.
11:31
She was driven, compassionate, and
11:33
someone who was genuinely wanting to
11:35
help others. However, somewhere between
11:38
her first and second year, her path
11:40
slowly began to fracture. Unfortunately,
11:43
Phoenix left university before
11:45
completing her degree. And although we
11:47
don't quite know why, there always is a
11:50
reason. Those closest to her say that
11:52
she struggled with depression,
11:54
occasional drug use, and general
11:56
pressure to succeed. Despite all of
11:58
this, Phoenix and her parents always
12:00
maintained a very strong bond. They
12:03
always remained supportive to her, and
12:05
in return, she loved them deeply for it.
12:08
After dropping out of university,
12:10
Phoenix then traveled northwest to the
12:13
city of Birmingham, a place that, Lord
12:15
knows how, she somehow grew to love.
12:17
However, by late 2019, cracks
12:20
unfortunately began to appear again. Her
12:22
situation became much more fragile, and
12:25
that is how she found herself in the
12:27
same refuge as Gerisa. The building
12:29
functioned as shared accommodation. It
12:32
included communal kitchens, narrow
12:34
corridors, and small private rooms that
12:36
branched off from one another. It was
12:38
not glamorous by any means, but it was a
12:41
safe place that provided both support
12:43
and stability for vulnerable women,
12:45
which is precisely what we need more of
12:47
in this world. And at least in theory,
12:50
it was temporary. And Phoenix certainly
12:52
saw it that way, too. Although she was
12:54
just settling into the refuge, her mind
12:57
was already drifting back towards home.
12:59
She planned to return to London and move
13:02
back in with her parents as soon as she
13:04
could. But of course, that had to wait
13:06
until all pandemic restrictions eased
13:08
up, and only then could she legally
13:10
travel back. However, as the lockdown
13:13
loomed and dates shifted back again and
13:16
again and again, well, that escape plan
13:19
kept falling behind. And while Phoenix
13:22
waited for the moment to arise, that is
13:24
when she crossed paths with Gerissa. and
13:26
that connection would turn into one of
13:29
nightmares.
13:33
By early 2020, both Phoenix and Garissa
13:36
were living in neighboring rooms inside
13:37
that refuge. So, of course, over time,
13:40
the two got speaking to one another.
13:42
Now, from what we know, it looks like
13:44
they were not actually the most
13:45
compatible of friends, and they weren't
13:47
even that close. Their bond had
13:48
definitely formed more out of proximity
13:50
than choice. But as winter slowly bled
13:53
into spring, the atmosphere between them
13:55
began to change. And by February,
13:57
Phoenix had started telling her friends
13:59
that things felt off with Gerisa. And
14:01
when I say off, I'm not talking about
14:04
small arguments from across the table.
14:06
I'm talking about Gerisa repeatedly
14:08
asking Phoenix for sex. This wasn't
14:10
romantic interest or even misguided
14:12
affection either. It was just this weird
14:14
and obsessive fixation from her. And for
14:17
Phoenix, it was deeply unwanted. The
14:20
imbalance was quite stark though.
14:21
Phoenix was polite, kind, and wanted to
14:24
keep the peace. Meanwhile, Geresa became
14:26
this increasingly volatile and horny
14:28
goblin. And then came April 11th, 2020.
14:33
It was on that night that Gerisa phoned
14:35
the Samaritans, both drunk and
14:37
distressed. She spoke to the operator
14:40
about liking another woman and wanting
14:42
to have sex with her. And in her own
14:45
goblin words, she told the operator that
14:48
quote, "Her loins were hot." Just a
14:50
quick side note here, but please can we
14:52
ban that phrase from ever being said
14:54
again. It was on that night that the UK
14:57
then entered strict lockdown. Visitors
14:59
were not allowed, movements were
15:01
limited, and support services, which
15:03
were already stretched thin, were then
15:05
suddenly reduced. Staff at the refuge
15:08
were rotated in and out, too. Isolation
15:11
seemed to hit everyone differently, but
15:13
for Phoenix, it made her situation
15:16
exponentially worse. The lockdown meant
15:18
that she could no longer leave, and it
15:20
also meant that she could not put any
15:22
physical distance between herself and
15:25
someone who was now beginning to scare
15:27
her. Instead, she was now trapped with
15:29
the very person that she feared,
15:31
separated only by a thin bedroom wall.
15:34
They used the same shared kitchen,
15:36
passed each other on the same narrow
15:38
hallway, and shared the same bathroom,
15:41
too. And of course, while all of this
15:43
was happening, that tension was
15:45
building. Now, Phoenix was trying to
15:47
stay positive, and she was texting her
15:50
friends to say that she planned to leave
15:52
as soon as restrictions eased. But over
15:55
time, you could tell that her messages
15:57
grew more anxious. For example, in one
16:00
text message which was sent on April the
16:02
7th, she said, "There's a girl here who
16:04
keeps asking me to be sexual. I think
16:06
I'm going to have to move back to
16:08
London. It's scaring me. Laugh out
16:10
loud." Meanwhile, Karissa's behavior
16:12
became even more erratic. Her fixation
16:15
deepened. Her emotional state grew more
16:18
unstable. And with every passing day,
16:20
Phoenix found herself with fewer places
16:22
to retreat, fewer opportunities to get
16:24
away, and fewer people physically
16:27
present to intervene. And in the early
16:28
hours of April the 16th, 2020, the
16:31
relationship had reached its tipping
16:33
point.
16:35
It was early that morning that Phoenix
16:37
was still awake. She was on her phone to
16:39
a friend, again, emphasizing that she
16:42
wished to return home as soon as
16:44
lockdown was over. However, shortly
16:46
after that phone call, Gerisa barged in
16:49
through the bedroom door, stabbed
16:50
Phoenix four times in the chest, and
16:53
then left her in a mortally wounded
16:55
state. The most haunting thing about
16:57
this is that this was not a quick story.
17:00
Phoenix was left there to die alone for
17:02
several hours, unable to make any phone
17:04
calls because Garissa had stolen her
17:06
phone. One of the most frustrating
17:09
things here is that all of the other
17:10
women in the refuge heard strange noises
17:13
coming from Phoenix's room in the hours
17:15
after, and this included banging,
17:17
scraping, and even the faint sound of a
17:19
woman crying. In fact, several of them
17:22
would even claim that they heard her
17:23
saying, "Help me." For several
17:26
heartbreaking and grueling long hours,
17:28
Phoenix must have felt ignored as she
17:30
faded in and out of consciousness,
17:32
wondering why nobody was coming to save
17:34
her. Between 10:04 p.m. and 3:07 p.m.,
17:38
Garissa then used Phoenix's phone to
17:40
make several desperate searches. This
17:42
included how to fix a punctured lung,
17:44
internal bleeding, and can someone
17:46
recover from getting stabbed. It was
17:49
later that afternoon that Phoenix's
17:50
friend tried to call her mobile phone,
17:52
but received no answer. Now, at first,
17:55
she wasn't too concerned. However, as
17:58
the hours passed by, worry slowly began
18:01
to creep in. And the horrible thing is
18:03
that while she was fighting for her
18:05
life, Karissa was already beginning to
18:07
plan how she would get rid of her. By
18:09
the morning of April the 17th, 2020,
18:12
Karissa had shifted fully into coverup
18:14
mode. Seen here in the surveillance
18:16
footage, she bought a 45lb circular saw
18:19
on Gumree, then having it delivered
18:21
directly to the refuge after it arrived.
18:24
Shortly before 11:00 a.m., Garrisa then
18:26
began to dismember Phoenix's body. What
18:29
followed was total erasure of Phoenix's
18:31
room. The mattress had vanished. Her bed
18:34
frame had now disappeared, and both the
18:36
carpet and its underlay were ripped up.
18:39
Everything was thrown out, and the floor
18:41
beneath was scrubbed down so vigorously
18:43
that the room stank of bleach. She also
18:46
hired several people to remove the
18:48
evidence, branding it as waste. As seen
18:51
from these nearby surveillance cameras,
18:53
you can see two men carrying rolled
18:55
carpets and heavy black bags out of the
18:57
house. Both completely unaware that they
18:59
were actually helping clear the
19:01
aftermath of a murder. With the room now
19:04
stripped away, Gissa turned her
19:06
attention towards Phoenix's mobile phone
19:08
and social media. She began to
19:10
impersonate her, sending text messages
19:12
to her housing support manager, her
19:14
friends, and even her parents. Garissa's
19:18
text messages mimicked everything
19:20
perfectly from her emojis to her
19:22
abbreviations right down to the number
19:24
of kisses that she would use. Most
19:27
people genuinely believed that Phoenix
19:29
was all right. And that is when her
19:31
deception escalated even further. And
19:34
she did that by combining homicide with
19:36
AI. Gerissa downloaded a voice editing
19:38
app and then began to craft new audio
19:41
messages using Phoenix's voice from old
19:43
recordings. Apparently, the results were
19:46
eerily real. So, I guess you could say
19:49
that although Phoenix was already gone,
19:51
Gerisa was keeping her alive online.
19:54
Meanwhile, Phoenix's remains had already
19:56
been wrapped and then packed into two
19:58
large suitcases. And in the days after,
20:01
surveillance cameras all across
20:03
Birmingham would unknowingly record
20:05
Gerisa's strange and frantic movements.
20:07
One clip would show her cycling through
20:10
quiet residential streets with a heavy
20:12
suitcase. Later on, she appeared at a
20:14
police station, agitated, unsettled, and
20:17
clutching her phone. She claimed that
20:19
she needed to charge her iPhone and was
20:21
meant to meet a friend in the area. But
20:23
when police officers asked her for ID,
20:26
Karissa seemed both panicked and
20:28
hesitant. The following day, another
20:30
camera captured her entering a home
20:32
bargain store where she bought cleaning
20:34
products and a sleeping bag. She paid in
20:36
cash and then left abruptly. She then
20:39
booked a taxi the next morning where yet
20:41
another surveillance camera would
20:43
capture her stepping out of the taxi at
20:45
a petrol station. Sensing that something
20:47
was rather off about the situation, the
20:50
taxi driver would even abandon her. Of
20:52
course, this left Karisa both stranded
20:54
and panicked. And in a moment of pure
20:57
genius level stupidity, she then decided
20:59
to do the one thing that you absolutely
21:01
should not do while trying to hide a
21:03
body. She called the police. Geresa
21:06
claimed that the taxi driver had stolen
21:08
her bag. But when the officer asked what
21:11
was inside so they could track it, she
21:13
then backpedled immediately, claiming
21:15
that the driver had actually returned it
21:17
after all. By now, even the surveillance
21:20
cameras were probably thinking, "Bless
21:22
her, she's trying." The following day,
21:24
CCTV caught her yet again. This time
21:27
boarding a train towards Culford to the
21:29
forest of Dean and finish what she had
21:31
started. She then made several searches
21:34
on Phoenix's phone, including, "How do
21:36
killers get caught? Can bodies burn to
21:38
ashes with petrol?" And, "What happens
21:41
when you burn a body with petrol?"
21:43
Proving once again that criminals don't
21:45
get caught because the police are
21:46
psychic, but instead because they make
21:48
ridiculous Google searches as if they
21:50
are literally auditioning for prison.
21:54
When she eventually reached the forest,
21:56
Geresa then camped beside the suitcases,
21:59
literally sleeping right next to
22:00
Phoenix's remains without any thought
22:03
whatsoever. For multiple days, she then
22:05
wandered around the quarry's paths, both
22:08
exhausted and disheveled. For whatever
22:10
reason, it looks like Karesa could not
22:12
bring herself to bury the remains.
22:14
Burning the body didn't seem to work
22:16
either, because without a strong
22:18
accelerant, the suitcase never caught
22:20
fire in the way that she imagined. After
22:23
leaving the forest, another camera
22:24
captured her journey back towards
22:26
Birmingham. A petrol station camera
22:28
recorded her filling plastic jerry cans
22:30
with fuel. The footage showing her
22:32
standing rigidly over the nozzle,
22:34
watching the containers fill, and then
22:36
walking back into the city through
22:38
Gumree. She then hired a man named
22:40
Mahesh Soretier, paying him to drive her
22:43
from Birmingham to the rural outskirts
22:45
of Kulford. At 5:00 p.m. on May the
22:47
12th, 2020, Mahesh then picked Gerisa up
22:50
and drove back towards Glosters. She
22:52
asked him to stop near the entrance of a
22:54
quarry, said that she needed to retrieve
22:57
something and then told him to come back
22:59
later. The thing is that Gerisa would
23:01
never actually return. And because she
23:04
essentially disappeared, Mahesh grew
23:06
anxious over her safety. Because he was
23:08
anxious, he then started to circle the
23:10
area to find her. And because he was
23:12
circling the area, a watchful neighbor
23:15
called the police. And of course, that
23:17
is exactly how our story unraveled,
23:20
which leads us to this body cam footage
23:22
where they found Gerisa and a suitcase
23:25
full of human remains.
23:33
What the
23:36
is that? That's a That's a person.
23:40
We can do the first.
23:41
You are under arrest.
23:42
Yeah,
23:44
that's a [ __ ] person.
23:47
507, can we get you down in ASAP,
23:50
please?
23:50
Urgent.
24:09
When police officers finally opened
24:11
those two large suitcases, the black bin
24:13
bags found inside would confirm their
24:15
greatest fears. And so, surprise,
24:17
surprise, both Garissa and Mahesh were
24:20
arrested immediately. They were then
24:21
processed, photographed, and placed in
24:23
an interview room. And apparently, all
24:25
of Gerissa's answers seemed to
24:27
contradict each other. At first, she
24:29
claimed that she was meeting a friend.
24:30
And then she said she was traveling for
24:32
no reason at all. And then she even
24:34
claimed that she had no idea what was in
24:36
those suitcases. Meanwhile, Mahesh was
24:38
busy blabbering everything he knew, and
24:40
it became quite clear early on that he
24:42
had no role in Phoenix's murder. He was
24:44
merely just a driver that was hired off
24:46
Gumree. You could say he was merely in
24:48
the wrong place at the wrong time. But
24:50
thankfully, he would not have to pay a
24:52
hefty price. But for Gerisa, well, that
24:55
was a very different story. And being
24:57
honest with you, it was not looking
24:59
good. I mean, if it wasn't for all the
25:01
surveillance footage that was already
25:03
going to screw her over, it would be the
25:05
countless Google searches she made on
25:07
Phoenix's phone. And if that wasn't
25:08
enough already, when they finally
25:10
searched her bedroom back in Birmingham,
25:12
they would find a hacksaw with Phoenix's
25:14
blood all over it.
25:20
In April of 2021, Karesa's trial finally
25:23
began. The prosecution laid out all of
25:25
the messages, Google searches,
25:27
surveillance footage, and forensic
25:29
evidence. And the jury was horrified to
25:31
learn that Phoenix could have survived
25:33
for up to 12 hours after the attack if
25:35
anyone had stepped in to intervene. The
25:37
surprising thing here is that Greece's
25:39
defense did not try to claim that she
25:41
was innocent. Instead, her lawyers spoke
25:44
of mental health struggles, PTSD, and a
25:46
life defined by trauma and exploitation,
25:49
including being forced into sex work by
25:51
an older man years prior. He also
25:54
described his client as volatile,
25:56
damaged, and unable to regulate herself
25:58
under pressure, which of course wasn't
26:00
an excuse, but instead an explanation
26:03
for the instability beneath her crimes.
26:06
But one thing that definitely did not
26:08
help Garisa was a letter from her very
26:10
own mother where she described her
26:12
daughter as quote a ticking time bomb
26:15
who never received the support that she
26:17
needed. In fairness, she did insist that
26:19
Gerisa was not inherently a bad person,
26:22
but instead was someone who was failed
26:24
repeatedly by the system. Throughout
26:26
court proceedings, Phoenix's family gave
26:28
multiple victim impact statements. Her
26:31
father said that their lives had been
26:33
irreversibly changed and that their
26:35
anguish was indescribable. And her
26:37
mother described herself as forever
26:39
devastated and forever empty. The judge
26:42
called Garesa a very dangerous woman and
26:45
described the crime as callous,
26:47
calculating, and evil. After that, she
26:50
then sentenced Garrisa to life in prison
26:52
with a minimum term of 23 years and 6
26:55
months. In the aftermath of this case,
26:58
housing providers across Birmingham
27:00
reassessed their safeguarding procedures
27:02
because being honest, they quite clearly
27:05
needed to. In parallel to this,
27:07
charities also reviewed how risk is
27:09
identified in shared accommodation and
27:11
the publicity around this case also
27:13
sparked calls for better communication
27:15
between mental health services and
27:17
housing providers.
27:23
Now, what I think is most heartbreaking
27:24
about this case is how avoidable
27:27
Phoenix's death really was. What I think
27:29
is horrifying and despicable is that
27:31
even after being stabbed, she lay there
27:33
on that bedroom floor crying out for
27:35
help for 12 gruelling hours. And despite
27:38
several neighbors even hearing her,
27:40
nobody stepped in to intervene. As for
27:42
Gerisa, well, she clearly became fixated
27:45
on Phoenix for reasons that we will
27:46
never fully understand. And although we
27:49
don't know the why or the how or the
27:50
moment it all began, we do know that
27:52
over time those feelings intensified. It
27:55
is very clear that Garissa had no idea
27:57
what to do with those feelings. And left
27:59
unchecked, they twisted into something
28:01
unstable and then something obsessive
28:03
and then something dangerous. What
28:06
really bothers me here is how all of
28:07
this happened inside a refuge, a place
28:10
that is meant to be a last resort where
28:12
safety is guaranteed. For Phoenix to
28:14
have that final sanctuary fall apart
28:16
must have been nothing short of
28:18
devastating. And I do truly hope that
28:20
her family are finding a path towards
28:22
healing. And with that said, I think
28:24
that pretty much wraps up our case
28:25
today, folks. But before I go, I'd love
28:27
to know your thoughts on this one.
28:29
Because of course, Garissa's trauma and
28:31
mental health do certainly muddy the
28:33
waters a little bit. On that note, do
28:35
you think Garissa deserved the
28:36
punishment she received? Or maybe do you
28:39
think she deserved higher? As always,
28:41
share your thoughts down below. And it
28:43
turns out we're getting very close to
28:44
Christmas now. So, merry Christmas to
28:46
you, your family, and your friends. And
28:48
happy holidays to you wherever you are
28:50
in the world. Thank you so much for
28:52
being here so close to the festive
28:54
season. And hope you have a great time
28:55
off no matter how long or short it is.
28:58
Oh, and thank you to Zdo for sponsoring
29:00
today's video. Go to zdoc.com/
29:02
coffeehouse crime or click the link in
29:03
the description to find an instantly
29:04
booker top rated doctor today. Man, I'm
29:07
getting really good at saying that
29:08
quickly. Anyway folks, thank you so much
29:10
for watching today and as always, I'll
29:12
see you again very soon for another
29:13
video. Until that moment arrives though,
29:15
remember to look after yourselves, look
29:17
after each other, and merry Christmas.
29:19
Thank you and goodbye.