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people going to look at me like a monster I'm not a monster I'm just an addict I was so out of my mind and it
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was like I was out of character and I got what I got coming and I deserve it
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I will write a formal apology to her family that they probably don't want to
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hear but I will do it anyway I just want I don't want a surus made out of this I
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just want to go to court and get it over with I don't remember what I did I just
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remember when I came through that it had happen
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and just disgusting it was the evening of January the 26th 2017 in Cleveland
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Ohio the sun was setting employees were driving home and the family Alana def freeze were desperately searching for
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their daughter who had failed to return home after supposedly being at school now I say supposedly because Aliana
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actually never made it to class that morning it's just that her school failed to tell her parents about this and while
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this was only the beginning of a long series of mistakes welcome or welcome back to Coffee House crime folks my name
1:06
is Adrien and before we begin today please do consider subscribing to see more True Crimes strange and dark
1:11
stories and now with that said please grab yourself a coffee pull up a seat and get ready for the Deep dive this is
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the case a Alana to [Music]
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freeze it was on the evening of January the 26th 201 17 that the city of Cleveland became aware of some rather
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disturbing news it was on that day that 14-year-old Aliana def freze failed to return home after a day out at school
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now this was immensely worrying for her parents however it was only after calling the school that they learned of
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some even more disturbing details Aliana had never actually turned up that morning you see the school had actually
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forgotten to tell her parents that she never made it into class that day and now she'd been unaccounted for for more
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than 9 hours so where could she have gone and why did she disappear so abruptly well according to her parents
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this must have been against her will Aliana was not the type of person to do this so before we talk about Aliana and
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what happened to her that day it is probably worth me setting the scene and talking about where all of this happened
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because Cleveland does provide some context you see Cleveland has seen better days in the early 1900s the
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City's population exploded before eventually reaching the 1 million fig Mark between the 1930s and the 1950s now
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this was mostly thanks to becoming a major Industrial and Commercial destination through America's great
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manufacturing era big car makers at the time were situated here including Peerless Chandler and winon in fact back
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then a lot of money was pumped into Cleveland and it was known as America's sixth largest city however by the 1960s
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Cleveland's economy began to slow down and residents increasingly sought new housing in the Sou suburbs eventually
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restructuring in the manufacturing industry pushed many jobs away from the city and unfortunately as housing
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discrimination and red lining became more prominent violence surged in the area and the Great Depression further
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eroded the city's economic base by the year 2010 the City's population was just
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a third of what it was in the ' 50s and as you can imagine this was not good for
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its economic health as a result by the year 2015 the city council reported that
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there were more than 12,000 abandoned homes in Cleveland in some areas the place essentially feels like a ghost
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town and a dangerous one at that back in 2017 that 12,000 figure was thankfully
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declining but even still officials were reporting upward of more than 5,000 empty homes in the city homes that act
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as opportunities to conceal all sorts of crime and bad behavior I'm talking drugs
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violence assault murder nobody felt safe around them to be honest and although
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the numbers may have been down for anyone living next to one of these well it was still one too many we will come
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back to these abandoned homes soon for a very good reason but for now let's focus
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our story on Aliana def freeze born on June the 12th 2002 to her parents donda
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freze and donesha Cooper the small family began their life together in the city of Detroit found across the Waters
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of Lake Erie while alyana was still a baby her parents decided to relocate to Cleveland to make a better future for
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themselves and although her parents didn't stay together throughout her entire childhood they would try their
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hardest to ensure that their relationship did not affect aliana's upbringing moving forward she lived with
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her mother but her father was still always in the picture and supporting his daughter in the many ways that a dad
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should things like taking her to school fun trips out together on weekends and acting as a moral compass together but
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apart Tesha and Damon raised Aliana with as much love and care as possible but
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sadly as the time passed by they would notice that their daughter began to trail behind on her school work quite
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significantly this leading her school East prep and Village Prep Woodland Hills to suspect a disability now
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although Aliana did have her disability she would never let it hold her back she would also have a very happy childhood
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surrounded by a loving family including a younger half brother Aliana was what you would call a girly girl her favorite
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color was purple and she enjoyed playing with baby dolls well into her teenage years her mother would go on to say that
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she was enthusiastic to help around the home and that furthermore she was a sweet and happy go-lucky girl now due to
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the extra support that she sometimes needed aliana's parents were naturally more worried about her safety placing
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them on the more protective side I mean to be honest I do kind of understand this I mean Nero isn't even human and
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I'm always worried about his health and safety it was at the age of 14 that they decided to let their daughter make her
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own way on the bus and it did make perfect sense too because that bus stop was right in front of a police station
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so naturally they assumed she was safe in addition to this they were also comforted by the fact that her school
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were well aware of her roote and her condition and so if she ever failed to make it to class they promised to call
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her parents and unfortunately this takes us to the beginning of our terrible story which happened on January the 26th
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2017 and as you know this promise was broken this day was a very usual
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Thursday with nothing out of the ordinary desesa helped alyana prepare for school as she had an early tutoring
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session at 7:00 a.m. that morning after getting dressed in her school uniform that being tan pants and a white shirt
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the pair then walked to the nearest bus stop for her to be dropped off at 6:45 a.m. Danesha kissed her daughter goodbye
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and watched her board the bus Which by the way was located on East 149th Street
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just north of kinsman Avenue no surprise but denesa and her mother expected Alana to walk through the front door later
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that afternoon the women had plans to spend the dinner together as a family but strangely enough as 400 p.m. passed
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by just as silently as it arrived there was still no sign of Aliana this was
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very concerning information it wasn't like her to be late trying to keep calm daesha called Eep school to see if she
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was still there however when reception picked up the phone she was told that Not only was Aliana not present but that
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furthermore she never even made it to school that morning well this was news
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to denesha and in a panic she informed the police immediately with Aliana being a minor the authorities quickly sprang
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into action as a result a Citywide search began with initial investigations conducted on the bus that she alighted
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at East 149th Street now thankfully this bus that she boarded did actually have a
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surveillance system installed into it Aliana could be seen getting on the bus before then making her journey all the
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way to East 93rd and Kinsman Avenue where she was then due to change buses
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now rather conveniently this particular bus stop was located in a builtup area
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with plenty of businesses around and so the only next logical step was to check
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all surveillance cameras surrounding that bus stop from here Aliana could could be seen crossing the street at
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93rd as she had every other school day it seemed that the surveillance footage
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was actually doing a very effective job at tracking her movements unfortunately
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at least for a while things would go dark after this and she failed to show up for her usual connecting bus for now
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the only other thing that the authorities could do was request surveillance footage from all businesses
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surrounding these two bus stops now what I will say here is it looks like Cleveland has a very very good community
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and the reason I say that is because after hearing about a disappearance the public did seem very keen to help the
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authorities find Aliana public tips would come in Fast and heavy after this
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and a local church known as the true Gospel Baptist which is found along East 93rd Street would in fact come back with
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a reported sighting of the young girl the worrying thing here is that although the footage was relatively unclear and
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almost out of view of the camera detectives could finally see that somewhere along her route Aliana was no
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longer alone the surveillance footage taken from this church would show her talking to what seemed to be a man now
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it is worth noting here that this was recorded slightly before 700 a.m. this means that at the time Not only was the
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day already brightening up but people were also awake and already commuting to
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work in addition to this footage an eyewitness claimed to see the pair walking together along 93rd Street
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apparently they seemed quite comfortable together and the man had his hand on her shoulder assuming that the two knew each
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other this eyewitness thought absolutely nothing of it until seeing the news report the next day I mean after all
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this interaction could have been as innocent as a father walking his daughter to school but of course if that
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really was the case I wouldn't be here telling you this story today this surveillance footage shows the unknown
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man talking to Aliana before she then takes a step back from him and decides Dees to walk away despite this he then
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calmly walked after her before taking her shoulder before then leading her down Fuller Avenue which is a side
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street just off of the main road unfortunately this is where the surveillance footage of the two
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officially ends and these grainy images show the last known sighting of Aliana
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while she was still alive honestly it is chilling to imagine what may have been going through her mind while this
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stranger pulled her away now we can all theorize what we would do in this situation whether that's run away kick
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and scream for help or even fight our asant however nothing can truly prepare you for such an instantaneous
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predicament and we also have to remember that Aliana she was only 14 years old
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made extra vulnerable through her own conditions so who was this guy and why
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did he pull her to the side and what were his [Music]
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intentions detectives realized that he was pacing around the area where he abducted Aliana for several hours prior
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now you have to remember that this was in the early hours of the morning before anyone else was around you can clearly
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tell that he was looking for something or someone despite learning these terrifying details authorities Were None
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the wiser about who this man was or where Aliana could be found this of
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course leaving her parents absolutely distraught with fear and unfortunately the hours would tick by eventually
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turning into days grainy images of the suspect were shared around the city with
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detectives hoping for help from the general public in the meantime physical sweeps and searches were made along
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Fuller Avenue which of course was the road that Aliana was led down through Google Maps and news reports you can see
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that this road had issues and while it did pave the way for a few beautiful homes others lay abandoned or even
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non-existent at all with several open plots of land where homes once stood before being torn down during this time
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frame officers went door too asking all neighbors if they witnessed anything shady on the day that Aliana disappeared
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and for those houses without any residence well they decided to take a look inside once they had a permit and
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that's when they came across 9412 Fuller Avenue this one was a rundown and
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abandoned property with boarded windows and decaying Timbers from the roof and
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although it was a abandoned it did actually belong to a contracting company so unfortunately the authorities could
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not simply walk in and look around after three long days of waiting authorities
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were finally able to ascertain a search warrant and so unsure of what to hope
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for or even expect they began to search the home on January the 29th 2017 and
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tragically this is where they would find Alana three officers entered the
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property prepared for whatever may wait them beyond the building's battered exterior curiously the rear door of the
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property was already wide open as if at some point in time it had been battered
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from the outside there was no electricity to this residence and so they used a flashlight to look inside
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instead detectives were immediately hit with the smell of blood and at their feet was a crimson red Trail leading
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from what they assumed to be the dining room and into another room nearby that
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is where they noticed the blood trailing beneath the closed door prepared for the worst they entered the room and after
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following the blood trail they would find her Aliana was crumpled on the floor and in a pool of her own blood
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clothed in only a pair of socks all hope was immediately dashed from their minds
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her identity was soon confirmed by a medical examiner using her dental records forensic teams determined that
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she had been dragged and thrown into into the room hence the trail of blood that led to her Discovery her blood
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stained clothes and her backpack still prepared for school were also located in the property it was evident that Aliana
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had suffered severe trauma not only to her head but her body too she had four
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puncture wounds to her cheeks and a further sustained piercing wound to her forehead one that was strong enough to
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penetrate her skull it was also noted that her neck had suffered a deep laceration and unfortunately a a lot of
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the details here have to be admitted as they are simply too terrible to share due to the extent of her injuries it
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could not be determined What specifically caused her death as sadly it could have been multiple injuries or
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a combination of any of them however it was noted that some of her wounds did show initial signs of healing meaning
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that she was alive for several hours after they were inflicted a more comprehensive search of the home would
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reveal what tools her killer had used to inflict such cruelty found on the dining room table was a handheld drill a
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screwdriver and a box cutter it was concluded that the
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injuries noted in the autopsy report did in fact match these instruments and to
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make matters even worse DNA was found inside her body now this DNA would prove
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vital to catching her killer because as we all know previous sex offenders are all kept on a registry with their DNA
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saved on the system and this is precisely how they would catch a killer now you would have thought that he would
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have been a little less stupid than this but after running that DNA through the system it would come back with one
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conclusive match the man's name is Christopher Whitaker and you can probably assume this but he was already
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known by officers for all of the wrong reasons as a 43-year-old man from Tennessee he didn't have one but several
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previous convictions convictions which paint a very troubled and turbulent history in the year 1998 he was charged
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with robbery grand theft and burglary along with one charge of aggravated and felonious assault now despite this being
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a very heavy offense the case would eventually be dismissed fast forward to the Year 2005 and Christopher was
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charged with sexual battery and felonious assault against a woman it all started when he invited her into his
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home to use his bathroom only to then proceed to threaten her with a pair of scissors stab her in the neck and then
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choke her before assaulting her thankfully he would be sentenced for these crimes but but he would only serve
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4 years for the attack he was then released in the year 2009 and officially
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registered as a sex offender finally in the year 2012 he was once again charged
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with aggravated theft but he wouldn't serve any time for his offense in prison leaving him free for the next 5 years
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into the year 2017 where he would then commit one more offense with this information at hand combined with the
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evidence both at the crime scene and on surveillance footage Christopher would go on to be arrested on February the 2nd
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that being only 3 days after police discovered aliana's body while in the interrogation room it was noted that
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Chris's testimonies were murky and full of excuses however based on all of the
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evidence available this is what we believe happened to begin with Aliana did successfully make it to her first
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bus stop however she was then intercepted by Christopher before she could reach the second this surveillance
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footage shows Christopher a approaching her outside of the true Gospel Baptist Church it appears as if she got a bad
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impression of him evident as she backed up and then tried to walk away but you see Christopher had already been pacing
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the area for several hours prior it seems that he was not prepared to go home empty-handed so instead he
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intimidated her to get her attention he then led her through a field towards Fuller Avenue where the abandoned house
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sat vacant I won't go into great detail about what happened happened inside the house as you can probably make an
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educated guess based on the autopsy report but after he was done he then dragged her body deeper into the house
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before fleeing the scene so sick monster asides what was
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Chris's motive and did he have an excuse well his answer may surprise you Chris
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claimed that he was outrageously high on cocaine at the time so high that he blacked out and couldn't remember a
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thing now I won't disagree that blacking out can happen when you're ridiculously off your face however at least to me
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these just sound like the words of a coward who refuses to look at the consequences of his actions and after
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leaving her body all alone in that abandoned house Chris then went on about his day as if absolutely nothing had
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happened in fact he would then go down to his local Baptist Church and help out his Pastor to make matters worse the
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pastor described his behavior as normal if not a little calmer than usual how someone can do something so sick and
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depraved and then just act totally fine is honestly Beyond me it became very clear that Chris has absolutely no
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regard for human life and how one can claim they blacked out yet then be cognizant only a few hours later that's
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just irrefutably a lie while being interrogated Chris tolds
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detectives that he couldn't have been the killer as he was actually working on a job in the area at the time apparently
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he was working on drywall but the problem is that he had no alibi or contract to prove this I can also
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Imagine That working on dry wall and also doing copious amounts of cocaine is not a typical mixture I mean considering
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how dumb this guy was I would argue he would be more likely to mix the two substances by accident Chris would
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regularly change his story too muddling events and information yet denying any
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involvement in her murder that would go on for a while until eventually he realized that he had no chance in
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getting away with her death and so that is when he would partially confess to officers claiming that he had diminished
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responsibility after snorting a whole bunch of the white stuff and I'm talking about cocaine here not the drywall
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apparently he blacked out just after punching Aliana he then went on to say that he would have never committed such
20:46
a crime if he had been sober in fact this is what he had to say people going
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look at me like a monster I'm not a monster I'm just an addict I was so out of my mind and it was like I was out of
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characters and I got what I got coming and I deserve it
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I will write a formal apology to her family that they probably don't want to
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hear but I will do it anyway I just want I don't want a circus made out of this I
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just want to go to court and get it over with I don't remember what I did I just
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remember when I came through that it had happened
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and was just disgusting with so much evidence pointing towards Christopher as her killer it is kind of obvious how his
21:32
trial would go however it is what happened after his trial that made this case quite different but before we get
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to that let's talk about his fate Christopher's trial began on February the 1st 2018 his defense team were well
21:46
aware of the evidence against him and so they didn't even bother to try and deny his involvement instead they
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acknowledged his crimes but they would also insist that the drugs made him unable to control his pulses or follow
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the law of course the prosecution called [ __ ] instead assistant prosecutor
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Mamud aala stated the evidence does not Point towards a drug induced frenzy and
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does not Point towards a blackout instead it points towards the fact that he knows what he was doing this was very
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evident in the vast selection of tools he had already at his disposal and the surveillance footage showing him
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prowling the streets for several hours prior to add this we have all seen a methhead on the streets before and quite
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honestly they simply do not shut up however those who saw Chris all claim that he was very calm and collected and
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what's more the precise placement of her wounds all indicate that he was methodically trying to kill her this was
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a very calculated and brutal attack during his trial his defense team called no witness to the stand probably because
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he had none whereas the prosecution had many to go with and so only 2 days after
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his trial began Christopher Whitaker was officially found guilty on 10 counts including the kidnap assault and murder
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of Aliana def however this would be where his defense team placed all of their eggs in
23:07
one basket as some of you will know capital punishment is still a thing in Ohio and they were desperately trying to
23:14
avoid this for Christopher his defense team argued that his drug usage plus the fact that he confessed should therefore
23:20
mean that he should avoid the death penalty however after only 6 hours of deliberation the jury suggested that
23:27
despite his defense team's best efforts Christopher Whitaker should in fact receive the death penalty and although
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the judge could technically have sentenced him to life and prisonment instead she decided to agree with the
23:39
jury as a result Chris was sentenced to death alongside a 48-year sentence
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including a sizable list of other crimes comprised of aggravated burglary sexual assault felonious assaults obstruction
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of justice and gross abuse of a corpse quite understandably the final verdict
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came as a relief aliana's family knowing that the man who took her away would now spend the rest of his numbered days
24:04
behind bars but of course the pain and anger that they felt could never truly be paid for after his sentencing
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aliana's mother would go on to say I appreciate the jury for their judgment and recommendation but death is too good
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for him I won't believe he has any remorse until he suffers like my daughter suffered his apology means
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nothing to me her father would have similar sentiments saying when you get where you're going you're going to get
24:31
what you got coming before you get the gas or lethal injection my baby didn't have a chance during the penalty phase
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of his trial Christopher would go on to provide an unofficial statement to her family he told them that he was
24:44
genuinely remorseful and instructed his lawyers not to contest his charges at trial however it is worth noting here
24:50
that his reasoning was so that this case would quote not become a circus in my opinion these were Hollow words that
24:57
still gave an of diminished responsibility and to me sounded like he wanted to avoid being painted as a
25:03
monster to the public as an additional relief Christopher sentence was also welcome news to his assault victim from
25:10
the Year 2005 who quite understandably was also in full support of his death
25:15
sentence she believed that Chris would never stop as a free man and believed that he should remain behind bars for
25:21
the rest of his life and despite telling his lawyers not to contest his charge well he would go on to change his mind
25:27
and try to appeal in the year 2022 to everyone's relief here the Ohio Supreme Court decided to reject this appeal he
25:34
is now imprisoned on death row at the chilot correctional institution in chilot Ohio the loss of Aliana def
25:41
freeze was felt throughout the entire Cleveland Community and a memorial garden was erected in her place at her
25:47
school by her classmates as for her family well quite
25:53
understandably they harbored a lot of anger and grief it became quite clear throughout the week and then months that
25:59
there were many opportunities for other people to reduce the likelihood of her death now quite obviously there was a
26:05
lot of criticism towards her school and that's because despite promising her parents that they would call them if she
26:11
ever failed to turn up to class they didn't do this on the precise day that she was abducted and the company that
26:16
owned that abandoned property well they were also in very hot water here and that's because they had failed to board
26:22
it up correctly therefore providing an environment that was ripe for terrible crimes as as a result both entities were
26:30
targeted in a lawsuit with the city of Cleveland included for not effectively monitoring abandoned properties and
26:36
thankfully this lawsuit ruled in favor of aliana's family Who as a result
26:41
received $1 million compensation and this came as a great relief to aliana's mother in particular who throughout the
26:47
trauma and grief stopped working eating and even sleeping as a result of Alana's
26:53
death her Governor John K signed a new law that required schools to call parents within 2 hours of the start of
27:00
their school day if their child failed to attend without prior notice this law which is aptly named the Aliana alert
27:07
became effective as of April 2019 her family have also begun a nonprofit foundation in her name named the Alana
27:14
def freeze let's make a change Foundation this organization aims to address the issues surrounding abandoned
27:20
homes and it further tries to help children obtain safe roots to school and address domestic violence in family
27:26
homes it is obvious to see that Aliana is missed dearly by her family friends peers and the public at large she truly
27:34
was a cheerful happy and bubbly young girl who was simply making her way to school on an average day in the morning
27:40
sun her mother describes her as a happy go-lucky girl with not a badge bone in her body one who loved her family
27:47
especially her little brother if she were still alive today Aliana would be 22 years old and her family can only
27:55
wonder where her life would have taken her with a drive to help others they have no doubt that she would have grown
28:00
to be a warm light to anyone who knew her but sadly she would never be able to experience adulthood or the rest of her
28:07
life all of this was taken by a monster who valued a few minutes of his sick urges over an entire life the only
28:15
comfort that we have is that Christopher's life is also now over and as for the abandoned homes found across
28:21
Cleveland well they are also slowly disappearing too in a desperate call for action against 9412 for Avenue the
28:28
council finally agreed to tear it down videos of the horrific home being ripped apart have now surfaced online and her
28:36
family can finally take comfort in the fact that the dark walls their daughter saw in her final moments are now well
28:42
and truly gone forever and thankfully many homes of a similar nature are
28:48
following
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suit this one was an incredibly painful story that left me feeling deeply sad to
28:58
the def family I really do hope that you're managing to find peace and good on you for taking action against the
29:04
homes Council and school with that said I think I'll leave the story here today folks but before I go I'd love to know
29:10
what you think about this one to begin with do you think that Chris received the punishment he deserved and also what
29:16
do you think about Cleveland's Issue with abandoned homes before I sign off today I'd like to remind you that I do
29:22
have a patreon where you get early access to my videos and additional content with the move and everything
29:27
I've now kitted out a brand new studio and so any donations on my patreon will go directly towards creating more
29:33
content I do also often post my social media most notably my Instagram Nero
29:39
seems to get a lot of camera time over there so if you want to see more of him please do check me out it's at Coffee
29:44
House crime and that is all I have today folks thank you so much for being here I really do appreciate it and I'll see you
29:50
again very soon for another video Until That moment arrives though remember to look after yourself look after each
29:55
other and as always stay stay safe thank you and goodbye