Aug. 22, 2024

Fatal Fandom: The Story of Christina Grimmie

Show Notes
Transcript

Ever heard of a fan going too far? In this episode, we dive deep into the story of Christina Grimmie, a rising YouTube star and pop sensation whose life was cut short by an obsessed fan, Kevin James Loibl. From her humble beginnings singing covers in her bedroom to her meteoric rise on The Voice, Christina’s journey was inspiring. But behind her success lurked a fan whose obsession would turn deadly. Join us as we explore the chilling events leading up to that fateful night in Orlando, the aftermath, and how Christina’s legacy continues to impact the music world.

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Twenty seven year old Kevin James Loible was infatuated with

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a pop star named Christina Grimy. It started as a

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casual enjoyment of Christina's music, but it quickly snowballed into

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complete obsession. She was the first thing he thought about

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when he woke up in the morning and the last

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thing he thought about before he fell asleep at night.

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He knew absolutely everything about her, and every day he

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tried to find out something new. Christina's journey to fame

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began as a teenager when she started posting videos of

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herself on YouTube. She'd always had an interest in music,

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playing the piano and singing since she was a little girl,

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but she dreamed of making it in the music industry.

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Her YouTube career quickly became a success. People loved her

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soprano voice, but they also loved her personality and her

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unique takes on popular songs by singers like Justin Bieber

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and Miley Cyrus. By twenty eleven, seventeen year old Christina

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had more than a million YouTube subscribers. She released her

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first album and moved to LA where there were more

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opportunities for her to grow as a pop star. When

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she was twenty, she competed on the popular singing TV

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show The Voice, finishing third and securing a record deal

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even though she didn't win. Appearing on The Voice was

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one of the biggest moves in Christina's career, and by

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now she had a loyal fanbase who were willing to

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support anything that she did, But none of those fans

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were more loyal than Kevin Loible. Kevin was a loner,

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with only one close friend, Corey Dinnington, who was his

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colleague at the Best Buy in Saint Petersburg, Florida, where

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he worked for several years. According to Corey, Kevin spent

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most of his time thinking about Christina. He repeatedly watched

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every video she ever posted on YouTube and constantly refreshed

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her social media accounts looking for new posts and updates

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on her life. At one point, Corey became so worried

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about Kevin's obsession that he talked to their manager about it,

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trying to see if there was anything that can be done. However,

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no action was taken. Honestly, I'm not sure what you

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could even do about that, And although Kevin wasn't close

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with any of his other Best Buy coworkers, almost everybody

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in the store was aware of his obsession with Christina,

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although they didn't realize how unhealthy it was. When Kevin

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would claim that he wanted to get married to Christina,

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the others assumed that he was joking, but Kevin was

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completely serious about pursuing a romantic relationship with the pop star.

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He even went as far as to make significant changes

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to his physical appearance in the hope of winning her over.

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He went on a diet to lose weight, he had

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hair implants to treat his male pattern baldness, and he

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paid for laser eye surgery so that he no longer

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needed glasses. Christina had no idea that Kevin even existed.

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The two of them had never met, but that was

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about the change. On the tenth of June twenty sixteen,

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Kevin got ready to attend a concert in Orlando, Florida,

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where Christina was playing as the opening act. He'd already

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packed his bag with the necessities a hunting knife, as

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well as two firearms that he had recently purchased, with

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loaded magazines for each gun. With the draw string bag

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in hand, he took a taxi to the venue for

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the concert, Plaza Live, one of the oldest theaters in Florida.

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Security at the gates to the theater never checked inside

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Kevin's bag, and he made it inside the venue with

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all of his weapons. One witness who was at the

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concert that night stated that all the security team were

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mostly concerned about concertgoers bringing in their own food and drinks,

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but they didn't seem that worried about safety or security.

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There were no metal detectors at the entrances and nobody

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was padded down at the doors. Christina's performance went off

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without a hitch, while Kevin watched it from the audience.

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Once it was time for the main act to play,

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Christina went backstage and got ready to sign autographs and

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posts for pictures with the fans that had come to

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meet her. Kevin lined up with the rest of the fans,

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still holding that draw string back. One by one, Christina

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took the time to speak with each of her fans.

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She was relatively new to the industry, and she hadn't

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developed the professional barriers that a lot more seasoned performers

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had with their supporters. In fact, Christina cherished her fans

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and she trusted them all completely. It meant that she

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always took the opportunity to hug and accept gifts from them,

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and she never suspected that anybody would have a reason

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to harm her. At ten twenty four p m, Kevin

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was finally next in line. As soon as he approached Christina,

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she reached forward to hug him, but before she was

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able to, he drew one of the handguns from his bag.

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Christina had no time to react. Witnesses at the scene

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later described how quickly the incident took place. One moment

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everything was fine, and the next gunshots were ringing through

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the air and people started to scream. Kevin quickly fired

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three times before he was tackled by Christina's brother, Marcus,

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who was also her manager. However, Kevin was able to

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escape from Marcus's grasp. He backed away, standing against a wall,

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and fatally shot himself. Christina didn't die immediately from her wounds,

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even though she'd been shot two times in the chest

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and once in the head. First responders found that she

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had a weak pulse and carried out CPR before she

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was urgently transported to the Orlando Regional Medical Center. Her

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condition was described as critical, but at ten fifty nine

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p m, less than an hour after being shot, she

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passed away. Although it's clear that Kevin Lobul's obsession with

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Christina led to his decision to take her life, his

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exact motives for the crime were never revealed. Some people

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have theorized that Kevin was enraged after seeing Christina's social

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media posts about her boyfriend and decided that if he

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couldn't have her, nobody could. However, it appeared as if

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Kevin actually planned on killing Christina and then returning home.

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Possibly he had panicked after being tackled by Marcus, leading

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him to make the rushed decision to end his own

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life as well. The fallout from Christina's death was immediate.

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Selena Gomez, one of Christina's closest friends in the music industry,

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shared a picture that she had taken with her and Christina, captioning,

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at my heart is absolutely broken. Adam Levine, who had

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been Christina's vocal coach on The Voice had developed a

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close relationship with the young pop star, made a Twitter

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post about the tragedy, saying, there are no words. We

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lost a beautiful soul with an amazing voice. In twenty seventeen,

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Christina's grieving family created the Christina Grimy Foundation. Aiming to

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provide support for other people who have been affected by

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gun violence, They decided to release one of Christina's unreleased songs,

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a single titled Invisible, and donate all the prophets directly

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to the Christina Grimy Foundation. Christina's family were also distraught

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at the lack of safety measures that plaus Alive provided,

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claiming that the venue never used metal detectors to search

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for guns inside bags and stating that the security staff's

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bag chair had been overly superficial. They believed that a

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more in depth security screening could have prevented Kevin from

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entering Plaza Live with his firearms. If the venue had

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been stricter, Christina might still be alive. The Grimmys filed

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a wrongful death lawsuit, but three years later they voluntarily

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dismissed the case. Even years after her death, Christina's impact

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on the music world has lasted. At the beginning of

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twenty twenty four, her YouTube channel still had almost four

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million subscribers. Her family continued to release her music because

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they said it was what Christina would have wanted, and

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all of the songs were already written and recorded. A

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posthumous album entitled All in Vanity was released in June

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of twenty seventeen. The next year, the Grimmys released a

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single that Christina had written during her mother's battle with

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breast cancer. Her most recent posthumous single was released in

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twenty twenty two. Two of Christina's close friends, brothers Riley

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and Connor McDonough, wrote a song in her honor in

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twenty twenty two. The brothers were members of the band

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Before You Exit, the band that Christina had performed with

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on the Night for Murder. The inspiration for the song

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began in twenty nineteen when Riley created a voice memo

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during his grief, asking God if he could only catch

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a glimpse of Christina. The final song was titled Glimpse

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of Us, and after it was released by the popular

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singer Joji, it reached number eight on the Billboard Hot

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one hundred.

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This past week, twenty two year old Christina Grimmy died

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after being shot Friday night at the Orlando Concert Venue.

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New six reporter Lauren corn joins US Now Live from

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the Plaza Live and Lauren, how are people reacting to

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the venue opening its doors tonight some six days after

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Friday shooting?

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Well, I got mixed reactions. Some say it's time to

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move forward to not be scared, while others say, you know,

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it's still a bit too soon. Meanwhile, throughout the whole

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day today, more fans are coming over to pay their

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respects here at this growing memorial for the talented singer.

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Fans and friends still decorating a memorial full of flowers, pictures,

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and candles.

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Tell guide an angel, and we dedicated to.

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Her along the sidewalk at Plaza Live to Remember twenty

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two old Christina Grimmy. This after police say Kevin James

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Loubel fatally shot the singer while she signed autographs after

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her concert Friday night.

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Those devastated, it's it's so sad. I mean, I still

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can't believe it.

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Now fans and friends from all over the country are

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keeping her memory alive.

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I feel like her family and everyone that cares about

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her and deserves to know that they still people thinking

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about her.

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I just remembered how how awesome she was and how

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much I enjoyed working with her.

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This as the venue will open its doors tonight the

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first time since the shooting.

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I would be incredibly surprised if there isn't more stringey security.

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Some fans say the Plaza Live reopening is just that's respectful.

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I just think.

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That's kind of really to do early to do.

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I just feel they.

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Should wait a lot longer out of respect for the family,

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out of.

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Respect for her, while others say safety is still a concern.

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Would I let my son come here to a concert tonight. No,

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it's harder to discern actually whether they should, what the

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right time.

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Is for you to open.

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But it feels it feels like it was just yesterday.

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That is ten Minute Murder for today Brief and bingeable

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True Crime. I'm Joe. I'm the host, and thank you

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for taking the time to listen to the podcast. If

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your new listener, make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're

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listening right now. That's more easily going to help you

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catch up on the back episodes, and here are the

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new ones as soon as they come out. Share the

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podcast with your friends and family. And if you have

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a message you'd like to send to me, Joe at

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ten minute is my email address, And about today's episode.

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If you're like me, you're through the course of this

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wondering why did he kill her? If this whole time

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he's been obsessing over her music, over her personal life.

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He changed his appearance for her in anticipation of maybe

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there being some kind of chemistry between the two of them.

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Why at the chance where she's trying to hug him

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that he just immediately take her life. And I thought

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about that a lot when it came to the course

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of this episode, and the only thing I could come

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up with is I was attaching mentally well thoughts and

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motivations to someone that isn't or wasn't mentally well. What

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you and I might do as assumingly mentally well people

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isn't exactly what someone who is going through a mental

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health crisis would do. Just by the nature of it,

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they become unpredictable. Being mentally sound means that you're making

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rash decisions, and he clearly was not. He was very

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very obsessed with her, and unhealthily obsessed. It was to

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the point where his friend slash coworker saw that he

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was not okay and tried to tell someone about it,

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and no knock to his employers there. I mean, I

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don't know, man, you can't blame those people for not

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doing anything about it, because they're just trying to do

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a job. Is this guy doing his job? Yeah? Is

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he obsessed with this person? It's weird, but sure. Yeah.

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You can't expect people to predict unwell people's motivations, That's

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what I'm trying to say. But it's definitely a very

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sad situation and the reason why so many pop stars

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and movie stars and very famous people they have to

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have security teams around them at all times because people

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like this exist in the world and it's a scary

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place to be, I'm sure for them. All Right, that's

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going to do it. That's your episode for today. Thank

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you so much for listening to ten Minute Murder.

Fatal Fandom: The Story of Christina Grimmie

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