1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,160 Hello! Hello! I'm Kenna and I'm Koelle and welcome back to another episode of...Diagnosing A Killer 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:34,520 of the day! There's only so many different ways you can say that. I know I had someone 3 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,820 recently, I don't remember who it was, it might have been Jesse I think and he was saying like, 4 00:00:37,820 --> 00:00:42,800 Kela Kela, Kela Kela. He was like doing like a little bee and I was like, oh my gosh, that's so funny. 5 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:48,740 Well, thank you guys for joining us again for another episode. I have looked up a case this 6 00:00:48,740 --> 00:00:54,620 time around, someone that I kind of knew about but didn't know details and hoping it's someone 7 00:00:54,620 --> 00:00:58,240 that you maybe don't know enough about or maybe you do because you know everything about true 8 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:05,200 crime. I'm excited. But either way, we're gonna do this episode and it is going to be another two 9 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:12,360 part. We don't shock her. We have so many of those. Yeah, we don't have enough. We don't have enough. 10 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,120 But then again, it's like, you know, would you rather have a three and a half episode or two 11 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,560 part? You know, it's the same thing. Yeah, it is the same thing. At least you can break it up. Right. 12 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:24,760 You feel a little bit of sense of accomplishment when you finish one episode. Exactly. There you go. 13 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,080 And then you don't have to feel like you're stopping in the middle of an episode. So we'll do it 14 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:35,040 for you. So I'm just gonna go ahead and get right into it. Today, I am going to be talking about 15 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:43,320 Robert Burdella, Jr. Burdella. Burdella. Ring any bell. What about the Kansas City Butcher? Okay, 16 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:51,800 I think I know that guy. I think I know that guy. All right. On April 2, 1988, it was a quiet night 17 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:57,640 in Hyde Park, Kansas City, Missouri. Through the eerie darkness, a man wearing nothing but a dog 18 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:03,280 collar around his neck seemed to appear out of nowhere. The man ran towards a parking meter 19 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:08,360 attendant after jumping out of a second story window. What? The parking attendant grabbed the 20 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:14,480 man, later found out to be Christopher Bryson and called the police. The police arrived to the scene 21 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:21,520 where Bryson led them and found something out of a horror film. Human remains, large bloodstained 22 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:27,720 barrels, multiple personal belongings of various victims. Bloodstained barrels? Yes. And perhaps the 23 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:35,680 most gut-wrenching of all, a stack of some 300 Polaroid photos depicting naked men being sexually 24 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:43,640 assaulted and tortured, some of which were no longer alive. What? This happened in the photos? 25 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:50,760 They're no longer alive? Yes. This was the home of one Robert Burdella, later becoming the infamous 26 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:56,400 Kansas City butcher. Who else used to do that? Somebody else used to do that. Was it a, I was 27 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:04,560 gonna say Tom Brady, a Ted Bundy? Tom Brady, if you're listening. We love you. Well, my mom 28 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:10,000 doesn't like you, but we like you. Not that guy, the other guy, Ted Bundy. Yeah, I think Ted Bundy 29 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,240 did that, right? He did. I want to say it was like Green River or someone like weird that did 30 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:19,600 Polaroid. No, it wasn't Ted Bundy, it was Dahmer. You know, they all kind of blur together in my 31 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:24,640 mind now. I had to be focusing and researching one case to just know. So I'm not even gonna say 32 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:28,840 yes or no. Every time I think of Dahmer, I think of this one picture where somebody had a super 33 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:34,160 imposed emo glasses on him. Okay, that's curious. And it was just, it was ridiculous. One of the 34 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:38,920 biggest things I know about Dahmer was that he was an alcoholic at the age of 12 in school. Like, 35 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:44,200 he would frequently be drunk like in school. Like fall asleep at his desk. So I'm gonna bring it 36 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:51,240 way back to when Robert Bridella Jr. was born. So Robert Bridella Jr. was born on January 31st, 37 00:03:51,240 --> 00:04:01,000 1949. And what I assume to be called Choyahoga Falls, Ohio. Choyahoga? It's Ohio, so. Trish. Trish. 38 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:08,160 Hello, Ted here. To Robert Andrew Bridellis, Sr. and Mary Louise Bridella. He was the first of two 39 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:14,880 sons born to the family, a family which was ran by a devout Roman Catholic, his father. And they 40 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:19,520 were of Italian descent. Not that that really matters to the story, but I figured pepper it in 41 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:24,120 there. Well, you know, yeah, Roman Catholic, yeah, that makes sense. The family regularly attended 42 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,960 mass growing up. And both of the sons were regularly known to attend religious education 43 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:34,640 courses like extra. So obviously a very religious based family. It was very clear that that was 44 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:39,440 what they were all about. Now, while it counts, Robert was a very intelligent child, but he was 45 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:44,640 also very much a loner. He rarely played outside of his home. He very seldom had friends come and 46 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:50,040 visit. Just wasn't really a big social dude. He also had a speech impediment, like a pretty 47 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:54,760 distinguishing one. And he wore really thick glasses, which is funny that you say that about 48 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,960 Dahmer from the age of five years old on because he was super nearsighted. So he had like really 49 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:03,720 corrective lenses. He's got all the like things working against him. Yeah, exactly. Well, all 50 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,240 those uncomfortabiliies that you like experience as a kid. Exactly. And like a kid, we always say 51 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,640 this, like feel bad for the kid, like he didn't do anything wrong yet, you know, so I kind of 52 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:16,520 feel bad for him. On top of this, he was also diagnosed with high blood pressure for which he 53 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:23,600 took several medications as a child as a child. Yeah, as a baby. I know. All in all, he was very 54 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:30,160 unathletic, not popular and kind of an outsider in his community. I know. On the other end, his 55 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:36,080 younger brother Daniel was very involved in this. Oh, no, here we go. Early age. The staunch 56 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:41,960 contrast. He was seven years younger than Robert, and he kind of seemed to be like the star child 57 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:47,960 of the family. Right. Their father, Robert senior idolized athleticism and even praised Daniel 58 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:53,360 for getting into sports at such a young age, where he kind of saw Robert Jr. as a failure of 59 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,880 sorts for not being interested in sports or anything athletic, right? He kind of medically 60 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:09,440 can't, though. He's got high blood pressure. Do you want me to like die? You want me to die? You want me to die? You want me to die? You want me to die? You want me to die? You want me to be an athlete? You want me to be athletic and die? Try? Honestly. This being the case, their father, 61 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:25,680 Robert senior would constantly compare the two of them, and he would like frequently be known to talk negatively about Robert Jr. I hate that so much. It's like, dude, you're the adult idol. It's so messed up. Like you picked a favorite. Like honestly, it's very clear. It's very clear. It's not even the one that's named after you. Yeah. 62 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:41,680 I just got you all home sorry. He just named some Robert again. Right. You're Robert 2.0 now. He's like, you know what name revoked? Figure it out. Sorry. I was taking a sip. 63 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:55,640 Now throughout school, while Robert performed very well academically, his teachers noted that it was kind of hard to teach him due to him being super aloof, and he was also, again, really distanced from other children. So he very rarely was 64 00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:09,640 found like emotionally interacting with his peers or even at all. And because of this, he was not only isolated through his peers, but also through the education system with the teachers. They were kind of just like, well, that kid's like a lost cause. Yeah. 65 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:25,360 Adding to the already difficult time he had growing up, when he began to go through puberty, he discovered that he was gay and immediately decided it best to keep it a secret. Obviously, he has all these things working against him. This is the early 60s. Yeah. Like it's obviously not, especially with that 66 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:53,360 dad of his, that darn dad of his. Yeah, the darn dad. Now he did not become open about his sexuality until many years later, and he actually dated females like well into his early adulthood. Well, by his mid teens, Robert's attitude towards others and his own self confidence began to change like a lot. He actually started to showcase like an arrogance almost and he would frequently react to others as like rude or condescending. Like they were noticing that he started getting this ego of sorts. 67 00:07:53,360 --> 00:08:20,360 He was rude and condescending. Yes. Oh, I thought you meant that he was getting upset because he thought other people were rude and condescending. No, no, he was the one. Oh, I see. Now this was especially true for the females in his life. It was at this time he also began to learn about like cooking and art and he kind of developed somewhat of like a showmanship attitude, which honestly, if you are struggling your whole life to fit in and you finally gain this confidence, it almost makes sense to like over, you know, emphasize it. 68 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:25,360 This is good. I am cooking. Good. I am an arting. Arting. 69 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:37,360 Now we're going to fast forward to this is Christmas Day 1965. The Bridella family traveled to Canton, Ohio to visit some relatives. I only know that name because of the Candy Apples from Dance Moms. 70 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:53,360 I saw that. I was like, oh, Canton. The Candy Apples. Yeah. So the evening that they got to Canton, it was Christmas Day. Like I said, Robert Bridella Sr. had a heart attack at the young age of 39. What? The family. 71 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,360 The family. The blood pleasure. 72 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:08,360 He gets his Robert Carter vote. Right. Now two days later, Robert Jr. returned back home by himself. I guess that his family had stayed behind. Maybe he had some prior commitment or whatever he came home. 73 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:17,360 But when he arrived home, he had received a phone call from his family that his father had actually died because of the heart attack. 39. Yeah. Yeah. 74 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:24,360 What? I know. Isn't that awful? Well, it's traumatic. Yeah. I was gonna say, you know, stand up guy. It's all that football. 75 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:33,360 Now, after his father died, Robert sought comfort in his religion because that was what he was raised to believe, even reading up on many different faiths to try to get answers. 76 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,360 But ultimately, he became cynical about all religion. Yeah. 77 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:45,360 Well, in 1965, the same year that his dad had died, Robert actually saw a film adaptation of the novel The Collector by John Fowles. 78 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:55,360 I'm not a reader. And if you're not familiar with the movie, which I was not, the plot revolves around a man who stalks and abducts a young woman whom he finds attractive. 79 00:09:55,360 --> 00:10:04,360 Then he holds her captive in his windowless basement. Then he views her as more of an attractive person and decides to kind of keep her as like a slave of sorts. 80 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:11,360 This is the movie. But that was the intention of killing her. And then I guess he like kind of falls in love with her. Yeah. 81 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:15,360 And then apparently after several... Reverse Stockholm syndrome or something? 82 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:25,360 Apparently after several weeks of being held captive in the movie, the woman dies of an illness despite the abductor's efforts to keep her alive. Right? 83 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:27,360 It's like, it's kind of gross. 84 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,360 And what is this? The Collector? 85 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:35,360 It was a film adaptation of that novel. So that's what the name of the film was or if that was the name of the novel. 86 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:41,360 Is he really a collector of things if he only collected once? 87 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:48,360 Well, Robert took this and ran with it. Took the name Collector to a whole new level. 88 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:49,360 That's mine now. 89 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,360 My name is no longer Robert. It is the Collector. 90 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:54,360 The Onesler. 91 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,360 The Onesler. 92 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:03,360 Well, Robert would later state that this movie had lasting impressions on him, obviously. 93 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:07,360 Now, shortly after the death of his father, Robert's mother actually remarried. 94 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:15,360 Because of the swift action by his mother to get remarried, Robert began to resent her, kind of seeing it as like an active betrayal. 95 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:20,360 It was clearly quick enough that this is an issue. You know, just like a couple years later, you know? 96 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:21,360 Yeah. 97 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:30,360 So as a result of his feelings towards his mom, Robert became increasingly withdrawn and threw himself even further into the activities that he had enjoyed up until that time, which was... 98 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:31,360 Cooking up a storm. 99 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:33,360 Yeah, cooking, painting. 100 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:34,360 Arting. 101 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,360 He actually decided to start collecting coins, like foreign coins and stamps, which is really cool. 102 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:39,360 He is the collector. 103 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:43,360 Yep. And he actually started writing to pen pals from across the country. 104 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:44,360 That's cool. 105 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:48,360 I tried to do that a few times on the Internet, just to be like, oh, pen pals, which you can find. 106 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:53,360 It's so cool, but mostly it's just like bobs and vajín propositions. 107 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:58,360 Especially now, too. It's very hard to find someone that's genuinely trying to connect with another person. 108 00:11:58,360 --> 00:11:59,360 Right. Just want to connect with someone. 109 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:00,360 Yeah. 110 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:08,360 And Robert would later claim that because of the amount of time he spent writing to his pen pals, they were in countries such as Vietnam, Burma, and, you know, et cetera. 111 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:15,360 And the amount of things that they would send him for his collection, it actually developed his interest in primitive art, photos, and antiques. 112 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:24,360 So beginning in 1965 and on, he was avidly collecting all of these and would later become inspired to open his own antique business in 1982. 113 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:25,360 Wow, how quaint. 114 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:26,360 Right? 115 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:27,360 Yeah. 116 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:28,360 And it's like, this guy seems like an unabout dude, right? 117 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:34,360 He keeps taking some time, but he's like adjusting honorably for the most part. 118 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:38,360 Other than being obsessed with trying to collect women. 119 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:42,360 This is not funny at all, but like I was looking, I was like, oh, there's all these great things that he's doing. 120 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,360 Let me read down to this like content warning and all caps of my notes. 121 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:46,360 I'm like, oh great. 122 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:47,360 Where's the poop? 123 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:48,360 Where's the poop? 124 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:54,360 Now, in the summer of 1967, Robert graduated from Quayhoga Falls High School. 125 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:55,360 Again, don't know how to pronounce that. 126 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:56,360 Good stuff. 127 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:04,360 Due to his excellent grades and display of potential in high school, in 1966, one teacher had actually placed him in an independent study program. 128 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:11,360 So shortly after graduation, he ended up moving to Kansas City, Missouri, where he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute. 129 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,360 And his aspirations were to become a college professor. 130 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:15,360 Like that's what he wanted to do. 131 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:16,360 Good for him. 132 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:17,360 Yeah. 133 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:21,360 In his first year of college, he was considered a talented and attentive student. 134 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:27,360 But by his second year, he actually became a super anti-authoritarian to the point of being vocal about it. 135 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:29,360 Like it was like a 180. 136 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:31,360 Like, oh, that's so great. 137 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:33,360 I want to get all these amazing things done. 138 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:34,360 Yeah. 139 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:35,360 It's like, fuck you. 140 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:39,360 I'm going to be a college professor, but I'm only going to have one point of view. 141 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:40,360 Yeah, exactly. 142 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,360 Which is not the way any college professor should be. 143 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:48,360 This is interesting to me because usually if you're going to get involved in a bad crowd, it's in high school, right? 144 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:50,360 It happened to him in college. 145 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:58,360 He ended up becoming involved with a group of students that would actually sell him drugs, and then he would resell the drugs to more students for a profit. 146 00:13:58,360 --> 00:13:59,360 Oh, well. 147 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:02,360 He pretty much became known as like a small time drug dealer on campus. 148 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:09,360 On top of this, he frequently began abusing alcohol and actually engaged in acts of animal torture on at least two occasions. 149 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:10,360 In college? 150 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:17,360 Which is interesting because yes, in college, usually animal abuse or torture starts happening early. 151 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:19,360 Like before you're 10. 152 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:20,360 Yeah, 6, 8. 153 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:26,360 And yeah, in college was the first time that we're seeing something like this, or at least knowing about it. 154 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:29,360 You know, who knows who's to say that he didn't do that before. 155 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:30,360 Content warning. 156 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:31,360 So interesting. 157 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:32,360 Yeah. 158 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:39,360 During one of these instances of animal torture, he actually decapitated a duck in the presence of his peers. 159 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:40,360 Odd. 160 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:47,360 And during the second instance, he experimented with sedatives and tranquilizers on a dog. 161 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,360 So, you can see where this is going. 162 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,360 Did you just like grab a duck and snap its head? 163 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,360 Apparently he was gonna like eat it. 164 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,360 So he was like, oh I hunted this. 165 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:00,360 Crack. 166 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:02,360 Like you would torture the animal if you're gonna eat it. 167 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:03,360 Right. 168 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:13,360 So at the age of 19, on top of everything else that he's done already, he was arrested for attempting to sell meth to an undercover police officer. 169 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:14,360 Wow. 170 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,360 I don't know. 171 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:23,360 We have like two different, like there's like two forks in the road as like escalating quickly. 172 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:27,360 Snapping the heads off of birds and dealing meth. 173 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:31,360 Like that just sees both of those are in weird opposite directions. 174 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:33,360 But it's also like, okay, doing great in college. 175 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:36,360 Oh by the way, I'm gonna go sell some meth and then kill animals. 176 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:38,360 Like that doesn't make any sense. 177 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:41,360 Yeah, that's so bizarre. 178 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:45,360 He ended up being released after posting a $3,000 bond. 179 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,360 Today I looked it up because I like the conversion rate. 180 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:49,360 It would be $23,000. 181 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:50,360 Wow. 182 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:52,360 And he would actually later plead guilty to the offense. 183 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:56,360 So he was handed a five year suspended sentence. 184 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:58,360 So probation rather than prison time. 185 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:00,360 I had to look it up because I was like, what the hell is this? 186 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,360 I've never been arrested if you can't tell. 187 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:10,360 However, one month after his first arrest, Robert and two other students were actually arrested for possession of marijuana. 188 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:12,360 And LSD. 189 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:13,360 Okay. 190 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:18,360 This time he could not post bond and he spent an entire five days in jail. 191 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:19,360 Oh. 192 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:23,360 Although some of the charges would ultimately be dropped due to lack of evidence. 193 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:24,360 Of course. 194 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,360 This is where Ohio canceled. 195 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:29,360 This is where Missouri. 196 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:30,360 Where are we? 197 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:32,360 Where are we, LA? 198 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:33,360 Yeah. 199 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:38,360 Now in 1969, Robert voluntarily withdrew from KCAI, which is that college. 200 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:45,360 After receiving a lot of criticism from administrators for killing and cooking a duck for the sake of art. 201 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:48,360 Like, what is that sentence? 202 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:49,360 Like. 203 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:50,360 Content warning. 204 00:16:50,360 --> 00:17:00,360 I've seen a woman take a turkey baster and put spaghettios inside of her own vagina at like one of those art installation places. 205 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,360 That's a great way to get an infection. 206 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:03,360 Yeah. 207 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:05,360 It was something about corporate America or something. 208 00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:06,360 Oh my God. 209 00:17:06,360 --> 00:17:11,360 To kill an animal for the sake of art? 210 00:17:11,360 --> 00:17:13,360 I don't understand. 211 00:17:13,360 --> 00:17:14,360 And then cook it? 212 00:17:14,360 --> 00:17:15,360 No. 213 00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:16,360 He was just being a weirdo. 214 00:17:16,360 --> 00:17:19,360 I think he just thought that, oh, for the, it's for the sake of art. 215 00:17:19,360 --> 00:17:20,360 I can't keep that up. 216 00:17:20,360 --> 00:17:21,360 He had a lot of stuff. 217 00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:22,360 Yeah. 218 00:17:22,360 --> 00:17:25,360 What a great way to start experimenting. 219 00:17:25,360 --> 00:17:32,360 Now, during this time after he left college, he actually began working as a short order cook in various restaurants around Kansas City. 220 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:39,360 In part to help pay for the lawyer and fines from his arrest, but also because he wanted to keep collecting antiques and building his business. 221 00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:43,360 He had sold a number of items that he collected over the years. 222 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:49,360 He had actually established contacts in Africa, Asia, South America, and various Pacific Rim countries. 223 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:51,360 So he had like a pretty good like, kind of going. 224 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:53,360 He knows where he's getting this stuff. 225 00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:54,360 Like he's actually getting legit shit. 226 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:55,360 Yeah. 227 00:17:55,360 --> 00:18:02,360 So he would initially operate this kind of antique sale as a side business from home while he was working in the restaurants. 228 00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:09,360 And by the mid 1970s, he actually began working as a senior cook at several well renowned Kansas City restaurants. 229 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:10,360 Yeah. 230 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:13,360 I mean, you can clearly like, you know, process his own bird. 231 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:14,360 Yeah. 232 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:24,360 He actually joined local chefs associations and actually started helping establish a training program for aspiring chefs at a local community college. 233 00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:26,360 Like, stand up dude. 234 00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:27,360 Right. 235 00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:28,360 Yeah. 236 00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:29,360 Everyone's on it. 237 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:36,360 Although he left college and because he was flourishing at this time, he decided to stay in Kansas City rather than going back home to Ohio. 238 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:44,360 And in September of that same year, he moved to an address within the Hyde Park District, 4315 Charlotte Street. 239 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:47,360 Now that becomes a really big deal, like that address. 240 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:55,360 Now at this point, he had been openly gay for several years and had been spending much of his time with male prostitutes, drug addicts, petty criminals and runaways. 241 00:18:55,360 --> 00:19:02,360 He was known for frequently befriending these types, trying to free them from their drug addictions and criminal lifestyles. 242 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:08,360 And he was adamant about the fact that throughout most of the 1970s, he never had any physical contact with these individuals. 243 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:11,360 He was just giving them a place to stay, trying to get them back on their feet. 244 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:18,360 It wasn't like relationships or prostitution, he just kind of clung to that society, I guess, or that community, if you will. 245 00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:24,360 He would even go so far as to say that he felt like somewhat of a foster parent to the youths in his neighborhood. 246 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:26,360 Those two youths. 247 00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:31,360 By the early 1980s, many of his older acquaintances had ceased any form of contact with him. 248 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:35,360 So it kind of left him relying on these young men for like companionship and friendship. 249 00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:42,360 He would recall later that he would frequently get frustrated with them when they would ignore his efforts to help steer them away from self-destructive behavior. 250 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:54,360 Despite later claims, Robert would often engage in sexual relations with several of these individuals and would establish a degree of control over them by loaning the money or allowing them to live rent-free, like, at his place. 251 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:58,360 So he's over here saying, I never wrote any content with them blah blah blah, well it turns out, that's wrong. 252 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:01,360 And then he's like holding it over their heads. 253 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:03,360 Exactly, blackmailing almost. 254 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:10,360 So to his neighbors, Robert was considered a nice guy, helpful and civil, despite his unkempt property and somewhat arrogant attitude. 255 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:17,360 So he was kind of a messy person, kind of like cocky, but decent, you know, community asset, I guess. 256 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:27,360 Yeah, I wonder if that's also part of that whole sense of control, is like, the sense of control is also being allowed to not be in control or something. 257 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:31,360 So like, him not doing yard work and stuff like that is still a sense of control. 258 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:32,360 Yeah, that's true. 259 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:37,360 Because he doesn't have to and nobody can tell him what to do because it's his property, you know? 260 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:47,360 Well on top of assisting the youth in the area, beginning in the late 70s, he would actually assist in the South Hyde Park Crime Prevention and Neighborhood Association, 261 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:52,360 and would eventually become their chairman in the early 1980s. 262 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:54,360 Man, they're really good at selecting people. 263 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:57,360 He would encourage neighborhood watch patrols. 264 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:03,360 He actually remained active in the association until the mid 1980s when he relinquished his position. 265 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:08,360 Also, not to mention, he would represent his own neighborhood and fundraising events as well. 266 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:09,360 Sounds like Dexter. 267 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:12,360 Super, literally though. It literally reminds me of Dexter. 268 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:16,360 It's like super, like, community involved, super, like, big figure, you know? 269 00:21:16,360 --> 00:21:18,360 Everyone look at me, I'm a great dude. 270 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:21,360 They love stuff like that though, don't they? Like, BTK? 271 00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:28,360 They want to be involved and they want people to look at them, like, and it's even more of a satisfaction when they can fool everyone around you. 272 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:29,360 Yes, exactly. 273 00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:33,360 Which is, I think, silly because you're just drawing more attention to exactly how helpful. 274 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:39,360 You can still be like a staple in the community and then still commit these crimes, but like, you do it on purpose. 275 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:40,360 This is a straight cover. 276 00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:43,360 Now this is when the antique business starts to soar. 277 00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:50,360 So in 1982, Robert began renting his own booth at the Westport Flea Market, and he aptly named the store Bob's Bazaar Bazaar. 278 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:55,360 So Bazaar being like the market and then Bazaar being like weird. 279 00:21:55,360 --> 00:21:56,360 Okay, okay. 280 00:21:56,360 --> 00:21:58,360 Alright, that makes it like a weird market. 281 00:21:58,360 --> 00:21:59,360 Yeah, yeah, okay. 282 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:08,360 He primarily sold and traded primitive art, jewelry, and antiques, and although this was a good business, it was not enough money to make ends meet by itself. 283 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:16,360 So he actually began buying like extra items to sell for profit and also allowing people to now rent a room at his place to make extra money. 284 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:22,360 Instead of letting people stay for free like he was before, he's now like leasing out like an area of his house, right? 285 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:23,360 So it's not too weird. 286 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:24,360 Yeah. 287 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:26,360 Otherwise it's just weird. 288 00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:32,360 Now while working the booth, over time, Robert became acquainted with a fellow merchant named Paul Howell. 289 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:35,360 He operated a booth that was like adjacent to Robert's. 290 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:41,360 Now soon after meeting Paul, Robert became acquainted as well with Paul's younger son, Jerry Howell. 291 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:47,360 Initially, Jerry and his friends would constantly tease and taunt Robert over his homosexuality. 292 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:54,360 And according to Robert though, Jerry would later confide in him that he and his friends would like occasionally earn money as prostitutes. 293 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:55,360 Wow. 294 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:56,360 Do you know how old they were? 295 00:22:56,360 --> 00:22:59,360 Publicly, they were in their late teens, early 20s. 296 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:01,360 So Jerry was. 297 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:04,360 But so the dad was probably what, 40, 50? 298 00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:05,360 Yeah. 299 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:08,360 And how old do you think Robert was at this point? 300 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:09,360 About the same age as the dad. 301 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:11,360 They made just the dad. 302 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:14,360 I mean, he was born in the 40s, so it's the 80s, probably 45. 303 00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:15,360 Oh, I see. 304 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:16,360 Okay, okay. 305 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:18,360 So maybe a little younger than the dad, but older than the kid. 306 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:19,360 Yeah, definitely older than the kid. 307 00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:22,360 But yeah, so it was almost weird to read that. 308 00:23:22,360 --> 00:23:28,360 It was like, okay, so Jerry, this person that's much younger than Robert, is like teasing him and taunting him for being gay. 309 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:34,360 But then he's looking into him as like a father figure of sorts, and he can confide in about maybe being gay himself. 310 00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:35,360 Interesting. 311 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:41,360 Paul Howell had actually relocated his business from the currently market to like a store of sorts. 312 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:45,360 And him and his family had actually moved into an apartment above their new shop. 313 00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:54,360 And despite, you know, Jerry and Robert's kind of odd relationship, Paul like maintained his friendship with Robert after he left like the booth and everything and he moved. 314 00:23:54,360 --> 00:24:04,360 Their relationship was casual, but it was really known that Robert would actually offer like legal and financial advice to Paul, like should Jerry ever get in trouble? 315 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:08,360 So he was kind of giving him that like companionship like, okay, I've been in trouble with the law. 316 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:12,360 Like if Jerry ever gets himself in a situation, like here's what you should do. 317 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:13,360 Okay. 318 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,360 That's a little, I don't know. 319 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:17,360 Like kind of, well, it made it seem like it was out of the blue. 320 00:24:17,360 --> 00:24:22,360 Like he randomly like mentioned that, but maybe that was just something that was adamant like later on. 321 00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:23,360 Yeah. 322 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:31,360 Now on July 4th, 1984, Robert picked up Jerry Howell with the promise of driving him to a dance contest in Merriam. 323 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:37,360 So I guess Jerry needed a ride to go compete in this dance competition and Robert offered to drive him. 324 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:44,360 According to Robert, he supplied Jerry with alcohol, Valium and acid promane, which I looked it up. 325 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:51,360 It's an animal tranquilizer, both in the car and then also at Robert's house until he became unconscious. 326 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:53,360 Complete 180. 327 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:54,360 God. 328 00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:55,360 All right. 329 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:56,360 There's the poop. 330 00:24:56,360 --> 00:24:57,360 Okay. 331 00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:03,360 So he's this nice guy that's giving like financial and legal advice and then all of a sudden he's drugging this child. 332 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:08,360 So it's unknown whether Jerry took anything willingly or was drugged without his knowledge. 333 00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:18,360 However, when he became unconscious, I guess that's when they kind of, he was maybe going in and out and that's when kind of Robert lured him to his house rather than going to the actual competition. 334 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:25,360 Robert actually injected Jerry with a heavy tranquilizer before binding him to his bed. 335 00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:26,360 That's so scary. 336 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:28,360 And I mean, at this point, Jerry's unconscious. 337 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:31,360 So like he doesn't even realize what's going on. 338 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:34,360 Now again, content warning for this whole next section. 339 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:39,360 Jerry was restrained to Robert's bed for approximately 28 hours. 340 00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:40,360 Yeah. 341 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:48,360 Throughout this period of captivity, Robert repeatedly drugged, tortured, raped and violated Jerry with foreign objects. 342 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:53,360 During this time, Jerry was in and out of consciousness because of course he was so heavily sedated. 343 00:25:53,360 --> 00:26:02,360 Although while he was awake, it was noted that he would frequently ask questions as to why he was being treated like this and pleading to be let go as one would. 344 00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:03,360 As one would. 345 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:05,360 One more time, content warning. 346 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:19,360 According to Robert, at around 28 hours into this, Jerry quote, either asphyxiated on vomit or the combination of the gag and medicine were too strong for him to be able to catch breath. 347 00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:29,360 Robert would later say that it was at this point that he attempted to perform CPR upon Jerry before giving up realizing that he was deceased and then dragging his body down to the basement. 348 00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:30,360 That's so horrible. 349 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:32,360 Like, I don't give a fuck if you tried to perform CPR. 350 00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:33,360 You put him in that position. 351 00:26:33,360 --> 00:26:34,360 Yeah. 352 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:35,360 You know what I mean? 353 00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:36,360 Like, that's horrible. 354 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:37,360 It gets worse. 355 00:26:37,360 --> 00:26:38,360 After 28 hours. 356 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:40,360 This is another content warning. 357 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:53,360 After Jerry's body was in the basement, Robert had actually suspended him above like a large pot and he had made like several incisions to his elbows and like his jugular in order to pretty much drain him of blood. 358 00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:54,360 Yeah. 359 00:26:54,360 --> 00:27:09,360 The following day he dismembered Jerry's body and kind of wrapped up, I guess, sections in a newspaper and trash bags and then put them in the big trash bins to go to the landfill, which is terrifying, especially if you're a garbage man. 360 00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:10,360 I know. 361 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:15,360 Could you imagine taking something like that up and not even realizing until like way later, like what it was? 362 00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:19,360 I feel like it would be heavy, like even some parts. 363 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:33,360 But clearly, so part of the whole, I don't even know if you can call it an MO at this point, but I'm guessing that that might be an MO of his that he kind of sticks to because we see that pattern often, that he knows how to process an animal. 364 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:35,360 Yeah, exactly. 365 00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:45,360 Now, when Robert was later questioned by authorities, he stated that he did indeed drive Jerry to the dance as promised and that they had parted close to the destination. 366 00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:48,360 He had claimed that he had not seen him since that time. 367 00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:49,360 Bullshit. 368 00:27:49,360 --> 00:27:51,360 This couldn't have been farther from the truth, obviously. 369 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:53,360 How many days was this afterwards? 370 00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:54,360 It doesn't say. 371 00:27:54,360 --> 00:28:00,360 It's actually a while afterwards because he, when he gets caught, he gets caught for everything. 372 00:28:00,360 --> 00:28:02,360 He doesn't get like suspected. 373 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:03,360 Yeah. 374 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:07,360 Okay, it's not an Andre Ticatillo situation here. 375 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:08,360 Well, I mean, we'll kind of see. 376 00:28:08,360 --> 00:28:10,360 It's similar, but not really. 377 00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:30,360 In fact, if Robert had, you know, a little bit trouble remembering or maybe he just, you know, forgot somehow what he had done, that's still bullshit because he actually kept detailed logs of each murder in which he documented each act of sexual and physical torture inflicted upon his victim. 378 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:32,360 That's horrifying. 379 00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:33,360 What is wrong with this dude? 380 00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:34,360 It just escalates. 381 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:35,360 It escalates so quickly. 382 00:28:35,360 --> 00:28:36,360 It did. 383 00:28:36,360 --> 00:28:43,360 He would recall that, like the other victims, Jerry had repeatedly pleaded for the abuse to stop throughout the period of his capture. 384 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:49,360 Although Robert would ignore the pleas, he would actually even like taunt the victim or threaten them, and he would write all this down. 385 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:51,360 And this is way later, obviously, he's admitting this. 386 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:52,360 So this is how he knows. 387 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:59,360 And this is like, that's why the account is so detailed is because he knows it because he wrote it and he... 388 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,360 Yeah, so again, this is later on when he starts to explain like what's in the journals and stuff. 389 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:04,360 Right. 390 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:06,360 And it's like detailed. 391 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:26,360 And we're going to definitely get more into the journals later on, but just for right now, one thing that was really, I think important to add at this point was that later on, whenever he was being questioned by authorities, he actually confessed that there were occasions where he would stop making additions to the logs 392 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:31,360 because he assumed that the victim would not quote be able to make it much longer. 393 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:33,360 So he would like log everything in detail. 394 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:43,360 And when he realized that they were close to being deceased, he would stop logging because he's like, well, no point in that, you know, literally. 395 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,360 So there would just be like some logs were just stopped. 396 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:47,360 Yeah. 397 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:48,360 Oh my God. 398 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:49,360 Yeah. 399 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:51,360 Ugh, this guy. 400 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:56,360 Now, we're going to move on to April 10th, 1985. 401 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:58,360 Okay, so the following year. 402 00:29:58,360 --> 00:29:59,360 Yes. 403 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:05,360 20 year old Robert Sheldon arrived on Bridella's doorstep asking if he could stay at his house for a short period of time. 404 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:10,360 For this one, I'm going to refer to him as Bridella and Sheldon, obviously, since both of them names are Robert. 405 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:27,360 According to Bridella, although Sheldon was responsible for paying rent, he considered him quote an inconvenience. And although he was not physically attracted to him, he made the decision to drug and hold him captive on April 12th when he returned home from work to find Sheldon already intoxicated. 406 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:31,360 So he had been staying with him for two days and he came home. He's like, oh, well, he's already drunk. 407 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:32,360 He's already drunk. 408 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:33,360 He's already drunk. 409 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:34,360 Like, yeah, who thinks like that? 410 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:41,360 Well, who thinks like this time I get drunk is going to be, you know, the time that the serial killer decides to take me. 411 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,360 And I've already been in his house for two days, unharmed. 412 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:45,360 Yeah. 413 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:56,360 Now, Bridella was adamant that he had held no animosity for Sheldon, but saw him as an individual that he could quote, express some of the anger and frustration that I had toward other people on. 414 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:57,360 So he knows. 415 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:03,360 So this guy literally didn't do shit and Bridella is saying this guy didn't do shit to deserve this. 416 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:06,360 I was like, fucking like, just like, like that mindset. 417 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:10,360 I'm not trying to say that so casually like that is baffling. 418 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,360 Well, what's interesting is that he, like I said, that he's aware of it. 419 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:20,360 He knows what, why he wants to, which is sometimes lost on on some serial killers. 420 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:21,360 Yeah. 421 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:24,360 Now, this next part is a big content warning as well. 422 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:32,360 Sheldon was drugged with sedatives and held captive in the second floor bedroom for three days and during forms of torture, including the swabbing of drugs. 423 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:35,360 The swabbing of drain cleaner in his eyes. 424 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:36,360 Oh my God. 425 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:42,360 The insertion of needles beneath his fingernails, which literally makes me cringe. 426 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:43,360 Nope. 427 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:49,360 And the binding of his wrists with piano wire. 428 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:53,360 The intention behind this was to permanently damage the nerves in his hands. 429 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:55,360 That's the last of that. 430 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:56,360 Oh, hold on. 431 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:57,360 There's one more. 432 00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:58,360 Oh, wait. 433 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:06,360 So, like, um, Vardella actually filled his ears with caulk to like reduce his hearing. 434 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:09,360 This is like, this is like, this is beyond. 435 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:15,360 This is, isn't that like who thinks of that? 436 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:25,360 I remember I was telling Casey that I was researching this case and I said something about the drain cleaner and Casey was like, oh yeah, I heard about some guy that filled, you know, someone's ears with caulk. 437 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,360 And I was like, this is the guy and he was like, oh my God, that's so terrifying. 438 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:29,360 He's like, I work with caulk every day. 439 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:30,360 I'm like, I know, like, 440 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:35,360 The call of the void in case he's just looking at the caulk like, 441 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:37,360 Better watch it. 442 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:38,360 Seriously. 443 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:39,360 Go get your ear. 444 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:40,360 So awful. 445 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:54,360 Now, after three long days of being held captive and tortured on April 15th, a workman actually had come by the house to perform some work on Brunella's roof, leading to Brunella choosing to fatally suffocate Sheldon. 446 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:56,360 Because there was someone coming up. 447 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:57,360 Yeah. 448 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:05,360 He had chosen to end Sheldon's life by suffocation by like a bag over his head. 449 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:11,360 He then later dissected Sheldon's body on the third floor bathroom similarly to Jerry. 450 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:12,360 The following June. 451 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:18,360 So another year later, Robert came upon a young man by the name of Mark Wallace. 452 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:27,360 He vaguely knew Mark when he helped him with some yard work in the past, but it was at this point that he found Mark hiding in his tool shed because there was like a big thunderstorm coming. 453 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:31,360 So Mark was trying to like seek shelter, but I guess he was transient or something. 454 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:33,360 He didn't have somewhere to go. 455 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:42,360 So as he had done in the past, Robert invited Mark into his home and immediately offered to inject him with some chlorpromazine. 456 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:44,360 Like he was like, oh, are you a little anxious? 457 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:45,360 I have something for that. 458 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:50,360 Yeah, and this is used as an anti-anxiety medication or sometimes it's actually used before surgery to help you. 459 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:51,360 It's like the cocktail, right? 460 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:52,360 Yeah. 461 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:53,360 So that was Robert's reasoning. 462 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:54,360 I'm going to help you calm down. 463 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:55,360 I'm going to help you relax. 464 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,360 You're clearly super tense by being out in the storm. 465 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:03,360 And he knew that this guy was had struggled with depression in the past and so he knew he had taken it before. 466 00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:04,360 Interesting. 467 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:11,360 Now Mark willingly accepted this offer and 30 minutes later, Robert decided, oh, perfect opportunity. 468 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:12,360 Let's hold him captive. 469 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:13,360 So awful. 470 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:16,360 So this is victim number three, the three. 471 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:17,360 Okay. 472 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:19,360 Content warning again for this next part. 473 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:25,360 Mark was then carried to the second story bathroom where he endured almost an entire day of captivity and torturing, 474 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:34,360 including the application of alligator clips to his nipples to give him an electric shock when he would begin to pass out. 475 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:36,360 To like keep him away. 476 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:37,360 That's... 477 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:39,360 Oh, so fucked up. 478 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:48,360 According to Robert, one hour after his quote, experimenting with hypodermic needles by inserting them into various muscles in Mark's back, 479 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:54,360 Mark died through a combination of quote, the drugs, the gag and the lack of oxygen. 480 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:55,360 That was a quote from Robert. 481 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:59,360 And obviously, you know, hypodermic needles is like a needle that has liquid in it. 482 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:00,360 Yeah. 483 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:01,360 It's the sorts. 484 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:08,360 He even noted in the log his victim's time of death as being quote, 7pm on June 23rd. 485 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,360 He wrote that down. 486 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,360 Like a surgeon. 487 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:13,360 Like a doctor. 488 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,360 Like what have said time of death, like this time. 489 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,360 Do you think he's like doing these experiments in his mind? 490 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,360 Like he thinks that he's this like mad scientist type dude? 491 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,360 I think that he's fucked up in the head. 492 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:25,360 Yeah. 493 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:30,360 I don't like, I don't, there was no, like, I feel like some people in the past, we can kind of like speculate on like, 494 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:36,360 okay, maybe like, this is why they felt they need to do that, or this is why I can't put it, like I can't put my thumb on it. 495 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:37,360 Yeah. 496 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:47,360 Like, yeah, I definitely, I had watched a documentary recently, and it's about a guy who was abducted at a young age by a man who just wanted a child. 497 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,360 And how unique it is for a man to just want a child. 498 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:52,360 Yeah. 499 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,360 And, you know, women, we hear about women stealing babies all the time. 500 00:35:55,360 --> 00:36:04,360 Maybe not all the time, but you know, it is certainly rare, but it was the first one that I had heard where he actually just wanted to care for this child. 501 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:06,360 He did abuse the child. 502 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:13,360 But, you know, in his mind, he thought he was providing a real life and even allowed him to go to public school and all this stuff. 503 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,360 Like, yeah, like he wanted to raise this child. 504 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:23,360 It's really interesting, like the psyche in those cases, like, right, when you start to dissect like why that person did what they did exactly like, 505 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:27,360 but in this case, I just can't think of a reason for any of this. 506 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:28,360 Right. 507 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:35,360 Like, and it, that's what I'm saying is like, it's, it's, it goes and it doesn't, it's not like he just abducted someone because he wanted to abduct someone. 508 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:36,360 And then see how that went. 509 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:37,360 Yeah. 510 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:42,360 And then escalated to killing people or escalated the severity of the torture. 511 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,360 It's just 100% all of a sudden. 512 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:47,360 100% from the get. 513 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:48,360 Yeah. 514 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:57,360 Like that's just, it was like, yeah, I'm heading neighborhood watch and now I'm going to kidnap this child that I've known for years and, you know, have my way or whatever. 515 00:36:57,360 --> 00:36:58,360 That's very unusual. 516 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:07,360 Now on September 26th, 1985, Robert answered a phone call from an acquaintance named James Ferris who asked if he could stay at his house for a little while. 517 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:14,360 This time Robert accepted with the intention of kidnapping him, who he arranged to meet at a bar that same evening. 518 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:24,360 Despite the brutality of the torture inflicted on the first three victims, Robert explained that James was the first victim that he intentionally inflicted torture. 519 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:31,360 So the other ones, like, maybe it wasn't intentional, maybe he wasn't like thinking about it beforehand, but this time he was like going into it, like with the intention. 520 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:32,360 With a plan. 521 00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:33,360 Like this is what I'm going to do. 522 00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:34,360 Oh, God. 523 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:44,360 Robert brought James home and drugged him with crushed tranquilizers that he had concealed in a meal and then tied him to his bed before torturing him for about 27 hours. 524 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:45,360 This guy's room's got a smell. 525 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:46,360 Awful. 526 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:48,360 Now this is a big content warning as well. 527 00:37:48,360 --> 00:38:00,360 The torture included repeated administering of 7700 volt electrical shocks to the shoulder and testicles for up to five minutes at a time. 528 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:02,360 Five minutes? 529 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:05,360 I don't think we actually can appreciate how long five minutes is. 530 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:06,360 That's a long fucking time. 531 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:07,360 That's a long time. 532 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:13,360 And this also included acupuncture via hypodermic needles to the neck and the genitals. 533 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:31,360 James eventually became delirious due to the torture and the substances being injected into him, but this did not stop Robert from continuing his physical and sexual assaults until it was noted in his log that James was, quote, unable to sit up more than 10 to 15 seconds. 534 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:36,360 The next entry read, quote, very delayed breathing. 535 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:44,360 And finally, Robert noted that James died with just the entry, quote, 86. 536 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,360 What? 537 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,360 He was a chef for a very long time. 538 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:57,360 In the restaurant world, 86 has a number of different meanings, but it usually means we're out of something or something else. 539 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:58,360 Oh, it's 86. 540 00:38:58,360 --> 00:38:59,360 Expired or? 541 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:02,360 Yeah, interesting. 542 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:10,360 So he would later explain that this term, quote, meant anything from throw it out to stop the project. 543 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,360 The project? 544 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:15,360 This guy, he thinks he's a doctor. 545 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:17,360 Like seriously. 546 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:30,360 Todd Stoops was a 23 year old drug addict that would occasionally engage in prostitution and had lived briefly alongside his wife at Robert's house on two different occasions in 1984. 547 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:42,360 After Todd and his wife moved out of Robert's home for the second time, Robert did not see him again until a random encounter at Kansas City's Liberty Memorial Park on June 17th, 1986. 548 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:45,360 So he was already used to, like, trusting Robert. 549 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,360 He has been over-insated at his house with his wife on two separate occasions. 550 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:51,360 Stayed the night or like stayed? 551 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,360 Like, gave him a place. 552 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:54,360 Yes. 553 00:39:54,360 --> 00:40:06,360 Robert invited him to his house with an offer of lunch and with an added incentive of sex as Todd stated that he was short $13 for the drugs that he was wanting to purchase while he was there. 554 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:15,360 Robert later admitted that he was extremely attracted to Todd, one of the main reasons that he decided to make the decision to kidnap him that day when he came over. 555 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,360 Content warning. 556 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:27,360 Robert held Todd for two weeks. During this time, he gradually increased his terror to make him a cooperative and incapacitated sex slave. 557 00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:39,360 Robert used electrical shocks through Ted's eyes in an attempt to blind him and injected drain cleaner into his larynx to try to stop him from screaming. 558 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:41,360 This is horrifying. 559 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:43,360 This is horrifying. 560 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:52,360 During the second week of his capture, Todd had asked Robert for a soda and a sandwich to which Robert refused to give him and it caused Todd to burst into tears. 561 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:57,360 I mean, obviously, like I would be like emotionally everything exhausted. 562 00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:09,360 During this time, and I'm going to say this as delicately as I can, but it is important for later, Robert also violated Todd anally and he caused permanent damage because of it. 563 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:16,360 Now, during the end of his capture, Robert tried to feed Todd ice cream and soup kind of like liquid stuff, I guess. 564 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:21,360 But according to the logs, he, quote, wasn't able to keep anything down. 565 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:29,360 By the final day of his captivity, Todd was so weak that he was unable to breathe in a sitting position, according to Robert. 566 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:41,360 And on July 1st, 1986, Todd ultimately passed away. A forensic pathologist later determined that the damage I spoke of earlier that was inflicted caused sepsis and he became fatal. 567 00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:45,360 Yeah, I was going to ask if that was in relation to the damage he experienced. 568 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:47,360 Yeah, it definitely was. 569 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:54,360 In the spring of 1987, Robert became friendly with another 20-year-old named Larry Wayne Pearson. 570 00:41:54,360 --> 00:42:02,360 The friendship began when Larry entered Robert's antique shop because that's still happening during all this. He still has the antique shop. 571 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:08,360 And he actually struck up a conversation about his interest in witchcraft and wizardry as a child. 572 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:12,360 Both of them had like a common, I guess, interest. 573 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:20,360 Now, shortly after this meeting, Larry temporarily stayed with Robert and willingly performed chores around the house as a means of paying rent. 574 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:22,360 Robert let him stay like he has with multiple people. 575 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:24,360 Yeah, I'm sure it's more like death, but yeah. 576 00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:34,360 According to Robert, he did not initially intend to capture Larry, but formed the plan to do so on June 23rd when he actually had to bail Larry out of jail. 577 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:38,360 And I guess Larry had gotten into some trouble for something, I guess not so crazy. 578 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:48,360 But when Robert went to pick him up, like, I guess he was asking him what happened and Larry jokingly, like, said that he had been robbing gay men in Wichita. 579 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:52,360 And I think that Robert took offense because he's gay, obviously. 580 00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:58,360 So yeah, that was when he decided, well, here's my next victim. 581 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:10,360 Content warning. That evening, Robert made sure that Larry became intoxicated and then injected him with chlorpromazine and moved him down to the basement where he bound his hands above his head. 582 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:20,360 He then linked that rope that he had used for this purpose to abrick call him so he was like real stuck. And then he injected his larynx with drain cleaner as well. 583 00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:24,360 So I assume that he found out that that worked and that's why he was going to do that again. 584 00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:28,360 He then brought an electrical transformer down to the basement. 585 00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:34,360 According to Robert, Larry was the most cooperative of all the victims he had had up until this point. 586 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:50,360 On the fifth day of captivity, he had endured countless shocks to his body via the transformer at this point and also several of his bones and his hands were broken with an iron rod in an attempt to, like, render him submissive, kind of. 587 00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:58,360 So on this day, Robert made the decision that he had Larry's trust and that he could begin to kind of relax a little bit. 588 00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:11,360 In a ward of sorts, if you will, Larry was moved to the second floor, but not before Robert told him that if he had continued to cooperate, he would not be physically or sexually assaulted as much as he had been before. 589 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:23,360 By the sixth day, Larry had even trained himself to sleep without moving in an attempt to make sure that Robert didn't get upset and in return hurt him even more or move him back down to the basement. 590 00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:43,360 After six weeks of being held captive, Larry had just about enough, obviously, and during one of Robert's many sexual assaults, Larry was noted as screaming that he could not continue to tolerate his poor treatment, and then he bit very deeply into Robert's penis. 591 00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:45,360 Bad bitch alert! 592 00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:47,360 Bad bitch alert! 593 00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:48,360 Love that. 594 00:44:48,360 --> 00:45:01,360 Content warning. In response, Robert began to beat Larry into unconsciousness with a tree limb, not sure where he got that from, but it was there, and then proceeded to suffocate him with a bag and a ligature. 595 00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:07,360 After Robert was sure that Larry was deceased, he drove to the hospital in order to take care of his own wound. 596 00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:09,360 Oh, are you in pain? 597 00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:11,360 Oh, my God, I'm so fucking desy. 598 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:13,360 We need to get a penis transplant. 599 00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:17,360 Just cut it off. Just cut it off. 600 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:27,360 When Robert arrived back home from the hospital, he later dismembered Larry's body, initially storing his head in a plastic bag in the freezer, but eventually burying it in the backyard. 601 00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:31,360 He killed him and then he left him there, went to the hospital, and then came back and was never done? 602 00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:33,360 Jesus Christ. 603 00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:45,360 At 1am on March 29, 1988, Robert would abduct his last victim, a 22-year-old prostitute named Christopher Bryson, the one from the beginning. 604 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:50,360 Robert had met him and lured him back to his house with the promise of payment for sex. 605 00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:51,360 Content warning. 606 00:45:51,360 --> 00:46:03,360 When they arrived at the house, Bryson was knocked unconscious with an iron bar and then bound to Robert's bed, where he performed similar methods of sexual and physical torture as he did with his previous victims. 607 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:07,360 There was a distinct difference in this victim, however. 608 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:15,360 It was noted that Robert repeatedly swabbed Bryson's eyes with ammonia and he was said to have exclaimed, quote, 609 00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:20,360 The only things you need to think about are you, me, and this house. 610 00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:22,360 So Robert told that to Christopher. 611 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:29,360 After several days of being held captive, Robert explained to Bryson that he had began to, quote, trust him. 612 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:37,360 Although he was willing to discuss physical abuse and torture moving forward, the sexual abuse was not up for negotiation. 613 00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:41,360 Robert was noted as finishing this discussion with the quote, 614 00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:48,360 I've gotten this far with other people before and they're dead now because of mistakes they made. 615 00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:49,360 Whoa. 616 00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:50,360 And that's where we're going to stop. 617 00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:51,360 No! 618 00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:52,360 What? 619 00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:53,360 No! 620 00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:54,360 Full body heaps. 621 00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:58,360 That's so fucking scary. 622 00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:03,360 I want to make sure that this is very known and I know that people don't know us as well as we know each other. 623 00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:08,360 If I ever sound like I'm laughing or trying to make light of something, I'm really not. 624 00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:09,360 I'm just uncomfortable. 625 00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:10,360 It's the suspense. 626 00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:11,360 Yeah. 627 00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:15,360 It's nothing to do with, there's obviously full respect to the victims and everything, 628 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:18,360 but I just want to make that clear because I feel like even listening back sometimes, 629 00:47:18,360 --> 00:47:22,360 I notice that I kind of sound like I'm cheerful and I'm really not. 630 00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:23,360 It's just, it's just... 631 00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:24,360 It's just... 632 00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:25,360 It's just... 633 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:26,360 It's just... 634 00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:27,360 It's just... 635 00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:33,360 So that is part one of Robert Bridella's crazy fucking life. 636 00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:34,360 What an asshole. 637 00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:35,360 Right? 638 00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:38,360 And then in part two we're going to talk about Christopher's escape. 639 00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:43,360 We're going to talk about the capture and the trial and everything that happened afterwards. 640 00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:44,360 Wow. 641 00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:45,360 Yeah, so... 642 00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:46,360 Man, fuck that guy. 643 00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:51,360 Yeah, so until then we're going to have probably another mental breakdown posted before part two. 644 00:47:51,360 --> 00:47:53,360 So we're going to make you guys wait again for part two. 645 00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:54,360 We will. 646 00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:57,360 And then we will come back with part two in a couple weeks. 647 00:47:57,360 --> 00:48:00,360 In the meantime, you're definitely welcome to reach out to us via Gmail. 648 00:48:00,360 --> 00:48:02,360 It is diagnosingakilleratgmail.com. 649 00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:07,360 We do have a Twitter at killerdiagnosis and then our Instagram is at diagnosingakiller. 650 00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:13,360 You can also join the Patreon if you would like and that is patreon.com slash diagnosingakiller. 651 00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:14,360 Anything else? 652 00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:15,360 No, I'm just... 653 00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:16,360 Ugh. 654 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:17,360 Gotta wait. 655 00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:18,360 Alright, love you guys. 656 00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:19,360 Love you guys. 657 00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:26,360 Bye.