transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Hi everyone, so I have some great news. True Crime With Kendall Rae was nominated for a Webby People's Choice Award under the Crime and Justice category, and it would mean the world to me to have your vote. Voting is super simple, it only takes a minute. The link to vote will be in the description box and show notes and also a pinned comment. Thank you so much for all you have done to make this possible and for supporting this show while I'm on maternity leave. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime With Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you're new to the show, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you here, and I hope that you enjoy this episode. Okay, guys, today we're going to be talking about the murder of Patrick De La Cerda, who was really at such a peak in his life when everything changed. And right off the bat, I just have to say that the heartless bonehead who killed him was so unbelievably stupid, but the worst kind of stupid, because he was one of those people who thought he was a pretty smart cookie. He has a very inflated ego, thinks he's a genius, but in reality, he's a burnt ass ugly cookie who's very, very stupid. And we love that on my show, right? Because dummies get caught every time. And I want to just go ahead and jump in today because I have so much to say, and I really do mean jump right in, because this is one of those cases where unfortunately, there's not that much information available about Patrick's early life. But I do want to spend some time talking about him from what we do know, because he seemed to be quite an amazing guy, at least in his adulthood. And what I can tell you is Patrick Kane De La Cerda was born on June 4th, 1992 in Miami, Florida to his parents, Patricia and Max. And he also had a brother named Bryce and a half brother named Justin. And I learned that he was a pretty extroverted type of guy, full of life, kind, charismatic, definitely a romantic at heart. And he really lived his life very fully. I was actually on his obituary page trying to learn what I could about him. And I found a video that I'm assuming his family had put together. And it was a slideshow of images from the time he was a baby up until he was an adult. And it was really cool getting to see his life through photos. And I think you can really see in these photos, Patrick's personality shining through. You can see what was most important to him in life, which was really living life to the fullest, getting out there, doing things. He was very active. And also you can tell just how much he loved his family, his friends, and how much people around him truly mattered to him. And because I wasn't able to learn too, too much about him personally, I wanted to try and share as many of these photos as I can. So you can see what a full life he was able to live. He seemed to be very involved with his family, which is something I find to be very valuable. He seemed to be very dedicated to those around him, and very loyal as well. And I also wanted to read something directly from his obituary page, because I do think it sort of shines a light on how Patrick was seen by others. Quote, I will cherish our memories forever. Your presence filled the room full of light, love, and laughter. You were the life of the party. Nothing will ever pair the void in our hearts and in our souls. You were God's angel, a true hero, a most beautiful soul. You were so full of life, love, and happiness. You light up the room with an undefiable charisma. Your presence was like a bursting ray of sunshine, and you would fill our hearts with your warmth and light. You always had such a captivating and beautiful smile, and always brought a smile to everyone's faces. Those words, I think we can all agree, really help give some good insight into who Patrick was. I do believe that you'll get to know him a little bit more, and what he was all about as I go through this episode. So, let me start by setting the scene. It was February of 2018, and Patrick was living in Deltona, Florida, on a nine-acre property with his dad, Max. And from what it sounds like, his parents weren't together anymore, so that's why it was just the two of them. And he and his father seemed to be very close. I think him and his mother were very close as well. However, Patrick actually was planning on moving to the West Palm Beach area very soon with his fiance, Jessica Devnani. Now, Jessica had been living in Orlando about 45 minutes away, and considering they were engaged, they were ready to be living together. I believe Patrick's mom was also living in West Palm Beach, so that was probably part of the appeal for them to go there as well, I'd imagine. And they were also just very ready for a fresh start in a new place. And that will make more sense as I get into things here shortly, but the story of them falling in love is definitely pertinent to the case, so let me explain. So going back to June of 2017, so just a little less than a year prior, Jessica and Patrick met, as so many people do these days, on a dating app. Now, Jessica had just gotten out of an eight year, super, super toxic, horrible relationship and was finally ready to move on, ready to meet someone else. And she was so glad she did because when she met Patrick, she said it was basically just love at first sight. Jessica described him as Movie Star Handsome, the extrovert to her introvert, and as someone who really had the whole package. She says he was romantic, funny, he loved kids. And even from early on in their relationship, they were already starting to sort of map out their future and what they wanted out of life. In fact, the first time that he and Jessica went to visit his mom, he told her that she was the one. I think in a lot of cases, sometimes you just know, right? I think some of us out there may have experienced that. I know I did with my husband very early on. I knew he was the one like senior year of high school. We were already starting to map our future out. So I totally get that and I really do personally, I believe in love at first sight. So I just had a baby and that means I have barely any time for self-care these days and that's okay. I know it's temporary, but let's be honest, if a routine is going to take me longer than five minutes, it's just not happening. That's why Merit Beauty believes great makeup should be effortless. 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Speaker 1:
[09:24] And those feelings that Jessica had were definitely reciprocated. Patrick and Jessica had only been together for six months when Patrick popped the question. And I thought this was so sweet, but he did it when the two of them were just cuddling in bed. I think you so rarely hear about chill engagements like that, that are more intimate and sweet. And I just love that. I'm sure it was a very special moment between them. And, you know, it wasn't captured on camera or film, which is cool too. But I think there's something special about it being so simple and just part of an everyday routine. Now, as for the ring, he ended up buying her sort of a temporary ring situation because he wanted to design something custom for her. But obviously custom jewelry can take a few weeks, at least normally a few months, honestly. And he didn't want to wait any longer before he asked her to marry him. So between this proposal and February 27th of 2018, the two of them were, I can imagine, on Cloud 9. However, obviously the reason that I am talking about her story today is because on the 27th, everything changed and Patrick never got the opportunity to even give her that ring. Now that morning in February was a Tuesday and it was supposed to be a completely normal day. In fact, it started like every other day. Patrick actually worked in construction with his dad, but his dad was out doing a job without him that day, about 90 minutes away. So Patrick was home alone that morning and Jessica worked as a bank teller. So she got up that day as normal. And what about her typical morning routine? She woke up to a really sweet voicemail from him from the night before, saying that he loved her and that he would call her in the morning. And I guess Patrick liked to call her in the morning when she was on her way to work and sort of just check in, you know, let her know that he loved her and also just to make sure that she made it to work safely. So when Jessica left for work that morning, she was expecting to hear from him. But there was no call that day. And at first, she's like, okay, no big deal. She's not concerned or anything, but she decides to call him. But there was no answer, which, okay, a little weird, but not the end of the world, right? Well, not totally. Because right off the bat, Jessica does get this really sort of sinking feeling that something is wrong, because it just wasn't like Patrick to be that unresponsive. But then something happens that leads her to believe that maybe things are not okay, and caused her to believe that her worst fear might have just come true, because she got not one, but two calls from her ex, which I'm going to have to just have you keep in the back of your mind for now, and I will explain why that was so concerning a little later on. But yeah, just to recap, she has two missed calls from her ex and no response from her fiance. So she at this point is actually totally panicking and ends up leaving work to drive over to Patrick's place and see if he's okay. And on her way there, she's on the phone with Patrick's father, Max, hoping that maybe he had heard from his son that day. But Max told her that he hadn't heard from him at all. And it wasn't for a lack of trying. Because earlier that morning around 7:20 a.m., he had tried calling his son because he had gotten a call saying that there was someone trying to deliver a package. And the way that their property was set up, they had a gate and in order to bring packages in, you'd have to call the number on the sign. And the number on that sign was Max's. And according to him, he had gotten two calls from two unknown numbers that morning. And they were from a guy saying that he was there to deliver something for Patrick. So when he called Patrick to let him know, and Patrick didn't pick up, he went ahead and just sent him a text saying, quote, there is a package at the gate for you. Man is waiting. Then he sent another saying, did you get package? And then he sends another saying, are you working today? But he didn't get a reply from Patrick to any of those messages. So he follows up a few hours later with, are you okay? And then another saying, call Jessica. But here's the thing. They do believe that Patrick had received those earlier messages about there being a guy trying to get him a package. And they believe that because he was found right by the front door. Let me explain. When Jessica got to the house, she was in such a hurry that she just actually jumped the front gate. And from there, it didn't take long before she saw him. It was Patrick lying face up in a pool of blood right inside the door. And my heart really just breaks for Jessica in these moments. I mean, clearly she knew something bad had happened and having to be the one to see him like that, this guy, your entire future, that you were so excited about, who you cared about so much in that condition. I mean, I'm sure she'll never be able to get that image out of her brain. And to paint a better picture of their house, there was a set of stairs right inside the entrance and his legs were still up on those stairs, suggesting that the person waiting for him didn't waste a moment before opening fire. And so of course, Jessica frantically calls 911 and detectives and first responders arrived and they could see that he had been shot multiple times in what they were calling an ambush style attack. And whoever did this shot right through the glass of the front door and then proceeded to shoot at Patrick as he was walking down the steps, which means that he had likely gone downstairs trying to get this package after seeing his dad's texts. And what's heartbreaking is everyone believes it's really the only thing that makes sense is that Patrick went to the door thinking that he was getting Jessica's ring. It was supposed to be delivered that week. So when he saw his dad's text that someone was trying to deliver a package, they think he ran downstairs super excited to get it. And you know, you've all been in a situation like that where you have something very special coming in the mail and you're just waiting for it to get there. And he was probably so filled with the joy and excitement, having no idea what he was actually walking into. And obviously the ring was not what was waiting for him. It was a gunman waiting and detectives could see as clear as day that this was not some random attack. Now as for Jessica, she was in such shock, as you can imagine, that she was escorted to sit in the back of a patrol car while the investigation began. And truth be told, they weren't sure if the shooter was still on the property or not. So they had teams of men with guns combing through the property in the event that whoever did this was still there lurking around. They were quickly able to clear the property, realized that the killer was no longer there, and they not only had an investigation to handle now, but they also had a manhunt. But thankfully in this case, finding this idiot did not take long. 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Speaker 1:
[19:19] While they were processing the scene, detectives were able to see that Patrick was shot four times with a high-powered weapon. And they believed it was an AR-15 or something similar because at the scene, they managed to recover two shell casings from 300 blackout ammunition. Now from what I understand, this is a really unique type of ammo and it's commonly used in AR-15s. So that alone tells them a lot about their killer. This is someone who had access to a very dangerous weapon and this is someone who had a personal vendetta against the victim. And they could also tell that Patrick was shot at very close range because the shell casings were found right near his body. However, and I know I've said many times already that this killer is an idiot and I stand behind that, but they knew right away that this was someone at least smart enough to clean up after themselves. And they knew that for two reasons. For starters, they had determined that six shots had been fired, but only two shell casings had been found. And two of those shots went into the wall, and the other four, as we know, were fired at Patrick. So this person did take the time to pick up the casings in an effort to conceal their identity. And then the other thing that this person cleaned up was the digital evidence. When detectives started processing the scene, one of the first things that they noticed was the security cameras that had been installed on the outside of the house, which sounds like good news. But when they went upstairs to find the DVR, they saw that whoever did this took the time to come inside and steal it. And considering nothing else had been taken, they were positive that this wasn't some random robbery style shooting. So obviously at this point, the question everyone wanted to know was who and also why. And right off the bat, after they spoke to Patrick's father, Max, investigators had what they thought was a pretty solid lead because it turns out that this wasn't the first time that someone had tried to shoot his son. I guess a year earlier, in 2017, Patrick had gotten into a dispute with their neighbor regarding the property line. There were some trespassing allegations and the whole thing, I guess, got pretty heated. And it all came to a head when this neighbor took out his gun and started shooting towards Patrick. Now, luckily at this time, he wasn't harmed and the police got involved, so it was all seemingly taken care of. But as you can imagine, when detectives hear that, they're thinking, hmm, it was probably this neighbor, and they definitely wanted to follow up on that lead. But they quickly realized that the neighbor couldn't have done it because he had already been locked up for something else. He was in jail. Although thankfully, it didn't take very long at all for a new person of interest to emerge. And that person of interest ended up being someone that they learned about through Jessica when they brought her into the station for an interview. And as you may expect, they wanted to know about her and Patrick's relationship and if there was anyone that she thought may be responsible. And that's when she explained the story of her and Patrick's relationship, but also the story of her prior relationship. And when she began speaking about her ex-boyfriend, it was pretty clear to them very quickly that this was not your typical ex-boyfriend, that this guy was a major problem. Which brings me to Greg Bender, okay? And Jessica and Greg had dated for eight years, and there is no other way to say it. Greg Bender is a total fucking lunatic. And not only is he a lunatic, he's also a total creep. Because he, at the time when he met Jessica, or I should say prayed on Jessica, was 42 years old and she was only 19. And for any of the, it takes two to tango commenters, let's not forget that at 19, your prefrontal cortex is not fully developed. So even if she did take interest in him in the beginning, she didn't have the life experience or knowledge to really see that it was strange of him to take such an interest in her. Now, Jessica has said that when the two of them met in 2009, she thought he was a super smart, really driven guy. And let's be honest, it can feel really special when someone like that takes an interest in you. Someone who is well off and successful in life. And the truth is, or at least what I would argue, is he was manipulating her as a young woman and essentially trapping her into this really toxic situation. The way that I've heard her describe it is she felt like she couldn't get out because he would threaten her if she ever tried. She just felt stuck. And before the two of them even started officially dating, she was also seeing this other guy. And when Greg found out, he stalked the dude. He literally told Jessica that he knew where this guy lived and that he was going to tie him up and hurt him, which is obviously terrifying to Jessica. And she says that she never felt like he was capable of hurting her, but she was very frightened about the idea of him hurting another guy. So out of a place of fear, really, and probably a little bit of hope that maybe it would get better and he would change, she stayed with him. And Greg sort of dangle this really nice life in front of her. He had the luxury cars and the big house, and it was understandably really appealing to her, especially at a young age. Greg was this pretty successful hedge fund manager, and he lived in a really nice suburb of Orlando. And it sounds like she thought that he could really end up being her person. And at one point, he actually proposed to her, and she did say yes. But that ultimately came to an end, because Jessica found out that this motherfucker was married. Yes, he was married. And the way that she found out, oh my God, it's like out of a movie. I guess he had gotten some type of procedure done. And when she went to the hospital to visit him, there was another woman in the room. And so she sees this woman, and the woman sees her, and they're both kind of like, um, who are you? And come to find out that this woman was his wife. And as we know, Jessica was his fiance at this point. So I don't know how he thought he was gonna pull that one off. It certainly failed. I think Jessica was surprising him in the hospital and he didn't even think it was possible that the two of them were gonna run into each other. And I'm sure he was hoping that they never did. But yeah, his wife asks her, who the hell are you? And she goes, I'm his fiance. And the wife responds and is like, well, I am his wife. But of course, Greg had an explanation for this, right? He tried to tell Jessica that this woman, and her name is Damara, and we love Damara, was basically only his wife in a transactional way. And this is one of the most painfully dumb lies I've ever heard a man try to utter. But he basically said that Damara's son, she was trying to get him into a school district where he lived, so he just agreed to marry her for that reason alone. Which yeah, that makes sense dude, totally logical. She knew that this was a lie, and she ended up telling him that you have until the end of the year to divorce her or I'm out. Now as a reminder, this was in 2016, and obviously we know that she did end up leaving him. And then in June of 2017 is when she met Patrick, so that was sort of the succession of things. Now circling back to what I said earlier about Jessica getting those two calls from her ex that morning, it makes a lot more sense why she started freaking out more at that point when she can't get a hold of Patrick and now suddenly Greg is calling her. And I'm sure you've already figured this out based on the fact that Greg was already threatening other guys in her life. Greg was also threatening both her and Patrick for months leading up to Patrick's murder. Jessica was very aware of this, very concerned about it, and so she had been really careful to keep their relationship off of social media, just out of fear of Greg. But she says that Patrick didn't want to hide her. So he posted a photo of the two of them, which Greg ended up finding. And this picture became the start of the harassment. He would message the two of them saying that he knew where they lived and how he was going to hurt them. And he even said that he knew where Patrick's family lived and would hurt them too. And other times he would leave these cryptic voicemails for Jessica saying things like, I'm giving instructions and I'm going to have my plan put into action. Apparently he even told Jessica that he was going to hire a hitman to kill Patrick or that he was just going to do it himself. And it got so bad and so scary that they ended up filing a restraining order against him. Now, I'm not sure why. I mean, I've gotten a restraining order against someone myself and it is a pretty difficult process but I don't know the exact reasons that they weren't able to get one for Patrick but they were able to get one for Jessica. Either way though, Jessica did have an active restraining order against Greg and he was absolutely under no circumstances allowed to contact her. So of course when she gets these calls, knowing his previous threats, she's freaking out immediately. And not only that but he was also ordered to relinquish his firearm collection but as you can probably guess, that never happened and truth be told ever since that protective order was put in place, they thought that they were safe or at least safer. Jessica said that since he was a hedge fund manager, she assumed that he would be super careful to have a clean record for the sake of his job and whatnot. And at first the order of protection seemed to work and they felt much more at ease because the constant calls and texts had just stopped from Greg and they felt like they were finally able to move on with their lives and start their future together. But the whole thing with Greg is definitely part of the reason why they were looking to move in the first place because they wanted to just get a fresh start and be as far away from him as they could. And so as she's explaining all of this to detectives and she's talking about how when she got those two calls, which she did not answer by the way that morning, that she was freaking out. And so were detectives at this point. I mean, they're thinking, wow, okay, we have a serious suspect here now. And red flags are going off left and right. And of course, they'd also been speaking with Max. And they heard the story about the so-called delivery driver, which given everything else, didn't seem like a coincidence. And one detail that I thought was particularly interesting was the fact that when Max was on the phone with this guy, he said something like, hey, I'm gonna call my son and let him know you're here. Can I call you right back? And the guy was adamant that he couldn't call the number back, which sounds bizarre to detectives. I mean, what kind of delivery driver is like, no, you can't call me back. So of course it's sounding to detectives like, this guy, Greg, finally just snapped and he used a ruse to get Patrick to come to the door where he fatally shot him. But rather than just go right to Greg's house and beat down his door, detectives wanted to try something else first. They thought, you know, why not have Jessica call Greg back, return his phone calls from earlier, and hope that maybe he would confess to her or she could at least get some information from him. And it was definitely worth a shot. So she calls him back. And what do you know, this loser answers because of course he's obsessed with her. But he unfortunately didn't confess. He ended up telling her that he was sorry for her loss because he saw what happened on the news, but he would not budge on being responsible. Jessica even reminded him of his previous threats and just flat out asked him if he was responsible. But of course he denied any involvement. And he even had this bullshit story about how he had called her on accident because he thought that he was calling a coworker and so he accidentally called her twice. Okay dude, no one believes you. A total load of shit just like him. And he also had the audacity to be like, hey, we should meet up. As if her fiance dying that day would suddenly make her available to him. Well, newsflash dick breath, she's not. And she's definitely not interested in you. And what sucked for everyone here is it was so, so painfully obvious that he was lying. I mean, even I think he knew to a degree it was obvious he was lying. His tone just sounded super rehearsed and it was almost like he knew that she would call him and have the police on the other line. Like he very much I think knew what was going on. So yeah, that attempt was a bit of a failure, but again, it was worth a shot. Support from today's episode comes from Square, the system that fixes one of the biggest headaches in running a business. 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Speaker 1:
[33:28] Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. The good news though is they were still able to go and arrest him, but not for murder. I mean, not quite yet. But they were able to go and arrest Greg for violating the protection order because of the two phone calls he had made to her that morning. So for the night, they at least had their number one suspect behind bars while they worked to collect evidence against him. And that evidence practically just ended up finding them. Because remember how I told you that Greg was married to this woman named De Mara and how we love De Mara? Well, his now ex-wife, De Mara, had seen what had happened on the news. And she had information that she knew detectives would want to hear. And I'm so glad that she came forward because she made this a lot easier for everyone involved. So De Mara gets in contact with her lawyer who gets in contact with the police. And then they all meet up in this parking lot just outside of town. And it was understandably a very stressful situation for her. She was very nervous about Greg finding out. So the whole meetup was almost like out of a movie. She did everything very cautiously. It was pouring rain. And they met in some deserted parking lot to exchange the information. But it didn't matter how they got this information. It just mattered that they did. Because this info that she had on Greg blew the whole case open. DeMara explained that she and Greg had gotten divorced in December of 2017. And around that time, she came across one of his notebooks. And this notebook, my friends, oh my god. This is why I said that Greg is one of the dumbest out there. I mean, this is... I cannot believe he actually did this. Because the notebook that she found appeared to be... I mean, it straight up just was a murder plan for how Greg was going to kill Patrick. Like, this dumb fuck had written it all down. And it's not just like a I want him dead kind of like, you know, putting out his thoughts on the paper. No, no, no, no. I'm talking specifics on where he lived, how he was going to get there, the entire plan, how he was going to do it, alternate plans. If something had gone wrong. I mean, he had everything mapped out. He had written it all out in a fucking notebook and just left it lying around his house. And guys, you would not believe this. There was even a map that he had drawn out of his property, which mentioned that he had a gate outside of his house. And Amara actually knew who Patrick was already, since I guess Greg couldn't keep his mouth shut about Patrick dating Jessica. So she told detectives that she was obviously quite worried. I mean, super concerned actually, when she found this notebook and she decided to go ahead and confront Greg about it, which I thought was pretty brave of her after seeing something like that. But he tells her not to worry. He said, this is just a fantasy, you know, it's just kind of venting. I'm just, I would never actually do something like this. Just writing, just getting it out onto paper. Insane. Anyways, Amara, I guess sort of just forgot about it because nothing ended up happening. And of course, once she saw what had happened on the news, she knew she just had to come forward. I'm really, really thankful that she did because I would be scared if I were in her shoes. But you know, when you know something like that, you just, you have to come forward, right? But yeah, this was like hitting the jackpot for investigators. And that wasn't all. When they had arrested Greg, they had a team canvas the area around his house to try to look for, you know, any type of clue. And that's when they learned that a neighbor had a security camera, okay? Super, super valuable. And they had found a video of Greg's car leaving his house an hour before Patrick's murder. And mind you, it's a 45 minute drive to Deltona where Patrick was living. So he would have had plenty of time to get there, call Max and then make his way to the front door. Now, unfortunately, the results of the preliminary autopsy came back by this point and they weren't able to find any kind of DNA on his body. And not only that, they also came up negative on DNA or fingerprints from those shell casings. So this lack of physical evidence is obviously disappointing, but it's not the end of the road because the circumstantial evidence was piling up at this point. And they only got more of it when they searched his home. Now, the search of his home took place on February 28th, which was literally the next day. And they went there hoping to find his notebook that laid out the entire murder and his whole plan and map and everything. They were also hoping to find the murder weapon and any ammunition that could link him to the scene. And they found two of the three plus a little bit more. So upon entering his house, they had multiple people fanning out to see what they could find. And one person ends up finding his phone. So that gets tagged and set out to be forensically examined. Now that of course does take some time to get results from. So we can kind of just put that on the side for now. But another thing that they found tucked into Greg's primary bedroom closet was a gun safe filled with tons of guns. And what a coincidence, a bunch of 300 blackout ammunition. And if you forgot, that is the same kind of ammunition that was found at the scene. And then they went into Bonehead's office and they literally could not believe how easy it was to find that murder plan because dummy had crumpled it up and thrown it into the trashcan. And it was just sitting there in plain view. And it contained exactly what DeMara had said it did. A detailed plan into how he was going to kill Patrick. It was so specific and detailed. I mean, what a gift for investigators. They could not believe how easy their job was going to be trying to prove that he did it. I mean, how? It's like about as good of evidence, circumstantial evidence as you can get. In his plan, he mentioned switching out his license plate to avoid detection, bringing multiple changes of clothes and using burner phones. And part of it read, put duct tape on the bottom of a second pair of shoes. So no tread prints, surgical tube for tourniquet, needle preloaded, lighter, useful to have GPS, not on your phone. Now I'm sure you're a little confused about the part where he says the needle needed to be preloaded. Well, in this version of the plan, he had planned on killing Patrick with a fatal dose of heroin and fentanyl. And then if that didn't work, he wrote that he was going to suffocate him to death. And in one part, he talked about the fact that Patrick owned a dog, but the note said that the dog was slow and old. Now, of course, like I said, this is still technically considered circumstantial evidence, but it was damn good circumstantial evidence regardless. And that wasn't it. Just by chance, they ended up opening a drawer and it was filled with a bunch of random junk. Now if they weren't looking closely, they probably would have missed it. In that drawer, they happened to see a gold shell casing. And more specifically, as you probably already guessed, it was a 300 blackout shell casing. Now, of course, they can't tell right off the bat if this was shot from the same gun as the other ones from the crime scene, but they were holding out hope. But in the meantime, luckily they had enough at this point to go ahead and arrest Greg, this time for murder. And luckily for them, he made it easy once again because he was just standing outside while they were executing this warrant because he had posted bail the night before and when he went home, he was probably pretty freaked out when he realized they were currently executing a search warrant on his house. So he was just waiting out there while they finished and yeah, that's when he was arrested. They obviously did have to get a new arrest warrant for the charge of murder, but a judge signed off on it really quickly. So as soon as he was out, they threw his ass right back in. And to nobody's surprise because he's a little bitch and also because he's very, very wealthy, he goes ahead and lawyers up and doesn't cooperate at all. He doesn't want to talk. And luckily they don't really need him to cooperate very much because the evidence is just speaking for itself. And the evidence that I have gone over so far isn't it? Because there's still digital evidence that I haven't even gone over yet. It took some time to get that data, but they were ultimately able to link the burner phone that had called Max to a burner phone that belonged to Greg. So they pulled the data from the burner phone and they found out that it had only called one other number besides Max and it was Greg's. Like how stupid can you get? And not only that, they were able to trace that phone and see that it was at Greg's house for weeks leading up to the murder and it only left on the day of the murder. And his personal phone was still at home though and I don't think it's that hard to guess where the burner phone went. The trace got lost sometime that day which ultimately coincided with their theory that Greg dumped it along with the murder weapon in a lake somewhere after fleeing the scene. But even without finding the murder weapon, Jessica did say that she remembered at some point in their relationship she saw an AR-15 at his house. So at this point, it's time to bring this to a jury. It's time for the jury to decide. Was it Greg, duh, or was this all some huge misunderstanding? Hmm. So Greg's trial starts in May of 2021, and Jessica was the first to take the stand for the prosecution. It took a lot of courage for her to get up there knowing that the defense was going to try and rip her apart after everything that she had been through. But she did it anyway because it was the right thing to do for Patrick. Without retelling the whole thing, she basically walked through the events from the morning of February 27th, 2018, and the details of her relationship with Greg, and discussed how he had been stalking and harassing her and Patrick for months. Now, her testimony was definitely impactful, but she certainly got some serious backlash from the defense, okay? Listen to this. So during her relationship with Patrick, Greg had hired a private investigator to follow her, and I'm sure you're guessing that they were following her and Patrick. But no, that's not the case. He wanted the private investigator to follow her with him, as in Greg. Apparently, some of his threats were working. Jessica was getting freaked out, so there were a few occasions where Jessica ended up meeting up with him. And he hired someone to follow and take pictures of them so he could send them to Patrick and try to convince him that Jessica was cheating on him. Now, I'll be honest, at first glance, these photos definitely look weird. He can be seen getting pretty cozy with her out at a restaurant, and there was even one of her leaving his house. But I think you have to keep in mind that Jessica was so fearful of him, and he was trying to play this whole I'm your friend, let's be friends situation, so I really don't think there was any mal intent on her part. Obviously, I don't actually know what happened, but she said that she distinctly remembered feeling that it was so strange that Greg was being so touchy-feely with her. That's mainly because even when they were dating, he never displayed any public affection, I mean, no PDA at all. Also, it's important that you know that these photos that were taken actually came from stills from a video clip. In the actual video clip, she's pulling away from him. You can sense in her body language that she's very uncomfortable. And of course, she's scared of him. And now in hindsight, of course, she realizes that he had hired a private investigator, and it made a lot more sense about why he was being all touchy-feely PDA with her. And he was clearly only doing that to make it look worse for the camera. But yeah, he did end up sending it to Patrick, and it caused a very big argument with Patrick when he first saw them, understandably. And they even broke up for a few days because of it. But she said that the two of them were able to work it out, that after a few days of discussing it and him having some space to think, that he realized that it was just Greg trying to get under Patrick's skin. And obviously, Jessica is just trying to keep this lunatic from hurting one of them. And if trying to be his friend was going to do that, it was something that she was going to at least try. And obviously, that didn't work. So, she shut that door and locked it with a restraining order sized key. Now, that wasn't the only outrageous claim made by the defense. It gets much worse. They tried to say that Patrick's own father could have been responsible for what happened. And it's so offensive, but they went as far as suggesting that he was attracted to Jessica. But Max, very angrily and very rightfully so, shut this idea down when he took the stand and he was seriously so pissed. And another big testimony came from the ex-wife, Daymara. She helped lay out everything that she found in that murder plan, which we can't deny is truly the real nail in his coffin. And the defense was obviously just so desperate at this point because it looks so bad, but they were really trying to just play up the, it was a fantasy, you know, he was just getting his emotions and thoughts out. Like, okay, you really expect anyone to believe that? And then on top of it all, we can't forget about the shell casing that they found in his drawer. Well, they did end up determining that it came from the same gun that shot the shell casing that they found at the scene. So if the jury didn't think he was guilty by that point in the trial, they definitely did now. And after only a few hours of deliberation, that is the consensus that they came to. Guilty of first degree murder, which in the state of Florida comes with an automatic sentence of life in prison. So Greg was sentenced right away. And just before that, though, they did let Patrick's loved ones speak. And as you can imagine, it was very, very emotional, to say the least. Poor Jessica, man. After everything that she had been through, I'm sure that was a very, very scary moment. And she understandably wouldn't even look at Greg when she spoke. But she said, in part, I just want to say Patrick was the most loving, caring, beautiful soul. He was the life of the party and larger than life itself. He lived every day to the fullest and loved me unconditionally. Patrick and I were going to build a life together. We were going to have the fairy tale dream and live happily ever after. But this dream never became a reality because it was taken away by this man sitting in the courtroom today. And then his father, Mack, spoke. And oh my God, you guys, it really got me. Both of his parents speaking were, it's hard to even put into words. It is so, so heartbreaking. His mother has done interviews and seeing her speak as well, it's just, just horrible. But Mack, you can just tell, loved his son so much. And the way that this has destroyed him is, yeah, pretty unbearable to see. He broke down crying as he was speaking in court so lovingly about his son. And he addressed Greg directly, saying he hopes he's kept in jail until the day he dies. And honestly, he didn't hold back. At one point, he straight up told him that if he were ever to be let out, he would finish him off and, quote, peel him like an onion. And you know what? I don't blame him at all. I would probably say the same thing. I mean, after what he did to his son, yeah, I would feel the same way. And obviously, they were not having that in court, so they shut it down pretty fast. But I'm glad he was able to get that emotion out and say it right to Greg's stupid face. And I would also be as pissed as all of them are about the fact that the restraining order did next to nothing when it came to protecting Patrick. And don't forget, they weren't even able to get a restraining order for Patrick. They only were able to get one for Jessica. And of course, I understand that a piece of paper can't stop someone from doing something, but if you remember, he was supposed to turn over all of his weapons, and that never happened. So his family is rightfully very upset, infuriated that this wasn't upheld, and Patrick should be here today. He and Jessica should have been able to start their life, and their life was just getting started. His mom talked about how she was really looking forward to him having kids, meeting her grandchildren one day, and she'll never get to do that. And as I mentioned earlier, Patrick loved kids and would have been a great father, I think. It's just so sad that they had their whole lives ahead of them, this dream of their future that they had been planning and were so excited about starting, and they never even got as far as her actually getting to get the ring from him. But I did want to say that she wore the engagement ring that he had made to trial, and she actually still wears it to this day, which I think is very beautiful. She believes wearing it is a way of honoring Patrick and the love that they shared, and yeah, I thought that was really, really special. His mom actually said that the only solace she found in all of this is knowing that her son died with love in his heart. And I think tragedies like this, you know, it's important to find even small ways to experience comfort and kind of get some sort of peace in your mind. Now, as for his father, Max, I learned that he pretty much kept the house the same since Patrick passed. And I'm sure it's got to be so hard living in that house. But then at the same time, it's a place that they shared. So I can see how it would make him feel close to his son. And if there's one thing I know, it's that he will still continue to live on in their memory and that they will always find ways to celebrate him. Now, just a week after Greg was convicted, it was actually Patrick's 29th birthday. So they went to the cemetery to have cake and champagne. And I just love that visual of them all being together and sharing stories about what a special person he was and at least being able to celebrate justice. And I also think there's something comforting about the fact that at the end of the day, Greg was never able to destroy that love. That Jessica will always carry Patrick's love with her that his parents always will as well and yeah, Greg can just rot alone in prison for the rest of his miserable life. That is gonna be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode, and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you wanna watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.