Roommate From Hell: The Maribel Ramos Case

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I'm just calling to let you guys
know that if something happens, that I

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did it because I was trying to
defend myself. That was how a nine

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to one to one call from Orange
County went in twenty thirteen, and as

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far as friends, family, and
local law enforcement were concerned, Mary Bell

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Ramos was certainly more than capable of
handling business herself if she needed to.

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Mary Bell Ramos was born on November
twenty second, nineteen seventy six, and

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from the get go she was a
strong, hard working person. She had

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a passion for law enforcement, and
even as a child, she saw herself

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one day working for the police.
Mary Bell actually got a taste of what

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it might feel like when she graduated
from high school and got a job as

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a security guard for a local kmart, But it was shortly after that that

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she got the real deal. Actually, maybe more accurate to say that she

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got even more than that, because
instead of joining the law enforcement, Marybell

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joined the US Army. It was
shortly after nine to eleven, and like

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so many others, Mary Bell found
herself deployed to Iraq later that year.

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She did two combat tours before being
honorably discharged and coming home back on American

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soil, Mary Bell returned to her
roots and went to cow State Fullerton to

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study criminal justice. That was Marybelle's
future settled. She was well liked,

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physically strong and fit from all of
her military training, and she was well

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in her path to achieving her childhood
dream of working in law enforcement. It

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looked like things could only continued to
keep growing bigger and better for Mary Bell,

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But then she got some devastating news. Her mother was sick, and

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Mary Bell being Mary Bell, she
moved into her mother's apartment to take care

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of her, to look after her, and she continued to go to school

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to get her degree during the day
and during the night she'd be there for

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her mother, and she was still
in the apartment in Orange County when her

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mother died about a year later.
Mary Bell was now alone in her mother's

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house, and when the dust had
settled, she quickly realized that she could

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not afford the rent by herself.
Mary Bell's first stop was her sister,

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Lucy Gonzales, but Lucy had her
daughter and she didn't want to uproot her

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child. If she could avoid doing
so, Lucy made Mary Bell a promise

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that she would move into the apartment
if Mary Bell couldn't find another solution.

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But Mary Bell knew that she couldn't
put her sister and niece through that.

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She put an ad out on Craigslist
and began screening potential roommates instead. It

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was amidst all the messages that came
in response to her ad that one name

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stood out, Qwang Choi Joy.
There was something about his profile and about

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him that just seemed right. He
described himself as an easygoing guy who just

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needed a place to stay while he
was looking for a job. Mary Bell

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and Lucy met up with Casey in
person, and they liked him even more.

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Lucy found Casey quiet and sweet.
He had no wife and no children,

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and didn't look like he was going
to be any trouble at all.

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Mary Bell agreed, and the temptation
of a future with a quiet, well

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mannered roommate who pretty much kept to
himself was too enticing to pass up.

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Casey moved in, and for all
Mary Bell could see, living with him

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was exactly as advertised. He was
low maintenance, didn't make any noise,

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and never had people over. In
fact, Casey usually spent most of his

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time just hanging out in the apartment
on his own. At first, Mary

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Bell could not believe her luck,
but then once she'd gotten over her initial

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joy, empathy, and concern,
Arne quickly took over. Quote it's sad

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because we felt his loneliness, Lucy
later said and gave an explanation for why

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Mary Bell and their family took Casey
in as one of their own. They

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began inviting Casey to family events,
and everyone grew incredibly close to him.

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That closeness continued to grow back at
the apartment as well. Mary Bell and

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Casey started spending more and more time
together and would often be seen running errands

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and walking their dogs together in the
neighborhood. For Mary Bell, she found

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the perfect roommate who turned into an
even better friend. For k C,

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he'd found the love of his life. That summer, Lucy got a call

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from Kse. He told her that
he was in love with Mary Bell and

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he wanted to marry her and wanted
to have children together with her. Lucy

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was shocked. She tried to soften
the blow by telling Casey that he deserved

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to have all of that, but
that she did not believe that it would

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be with her sister and then she
tried to call Mary Bell to warn her.

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She advised Mary Bell to do what
she could to manage Casey's expectations and

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to make it clear that she was
not interested in him romantically. Mary Bell

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did just that, and Casey seemed
to take the rejection on the chin.

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But then again, Casey also seemed
to take it as a challenge and his

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mind, all he had to do
was win Mary Bell over and then he'd

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have the woman and the life of
his dreams. Casey completely changed the way

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he looked. He bought new clothes, he got a tattoo, and even

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spent about ten thousand dollars on plastic
surgery to make himself look younger, and

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then he started trying to woo Mary
Bell. He kept buying her expensive gifts

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and even took her on a cruise, probably thinking that she would be enticed

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by his new good looks and lavish
gestures. But Mary Bell wasn't quite the

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opposite. Actually, Mary Bell found
it annoying and concerning that Casey was now

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spending so much money on everything else
that he couldn't afford to pay his rent

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and shared expenses on time. Instead
of nurturing a budding romance. It looked

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like all of Casey's efforts were pushing
Mary Bell away instead of pulling her in.

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And then, about nine months after
Casey called Lucy to confess his feelings

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for Mary Bell, Mary Bell suddenly
disappeared. She missed a scheduled event without

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letting anyone know beforehand, and friends
and family couldn't reach her when they tried

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to call. Knowing that this was
completely out of character for Mary Bell,

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her family rushed to the apartment to
see if she was all right. She

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wasn't home. In fact, they
couldn't find any signs that she had been

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home even recently. Her family reported
her as missing, and an investigation quickly

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ensued. It took no time at
all to uncover surveillance footage from the evening

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before that showed Mary Bell dropping off
her rent check, and then she simply

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disappeared. Casey was obviously front and
center of the investigation. Not only was

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he her roommates, but he was
also the last person to have seen Mary

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Bell the night that she disappeared.
He told the investigators that he and Mary

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Bell had gotten into an argument over
expenses, and then he'd left to go

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out on a long drive to clear
his head. According to Casey, when

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he'd come back home, Mary Bell
was gone and he had not seen her

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since. His story was somewhat believable, but mary Bell's family kept pointing the

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finger at Casey and his unrequited feelings, and then investigators found the recording of

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mary Bell's call to the police.
She'd made it only twelve days before she

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suddenly disappeared, and it completely changed
the investigation. Irish Pa Okay, Well,

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I just want to let you know
that I have a roommate that should

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be moving at the end of the
month. We had a conversation today as

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he kind of freaking me out.
I'm not saying from the ball around him

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anymore. I'm feeling threatened. What's
your name is? My name is Barah

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Ball, my name is Thanks.
You're laughing, Maraba Robe Sor I is

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okay. At the end of the
month, I wanted to leave, and

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from now until then, I just
feel like I have to lock my door,

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which I will, because he sounded
like he would hurt me, like

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it was weird. Why cry the
good love phrase? What you know,

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Amy, I'm not comfortable with him
anymore. I'm just like colleagues will let

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you guys know that if something happens
that I did it, because all the

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time is just send myself. Given
her military training and physical strength, mary

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Bell was more than capable of protecting
herself from k C if she needed to,

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and with his constant advancements and growing
in patience, she was starting to

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think that a physical altercation between the
two of them was on the horizon.

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In fact, it turned out that
mary Bell actually asked case to move out

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the month before, but k C
had kept coming up with excuses as to

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why he couldn't. The argument over
expenses the night before Mary Bell had disappeared

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had actually escalated so far that Mary
Bell apparently ended up telling k C that

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he had to move out the very
next day. The timeline and growing tensions

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between the two roommates had the investigators
looking into Casey's past. It turned out

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that he had moved to Orange County
to escape his previous life that had been

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on a sharp downward trajectory. Before
moving, he had lost his job in

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both of his parents and disputes over
inheritance, and driven a wedge between k

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C and his sister. The whole
bunch of family chaos. Differences of opinion

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had led to a full on war. Case ended up flying off the handle

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and took things too far that his
sister was able to get a restraining order

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against him. It was then,
with no job, no money, and

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no living family that would speak to
him, that Case walked into Mary Bell's

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life. What he found in California
was a kind and loving family that took

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him in, and gratitude slowly morphed
into obsession. While the investigators continued to

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look for Mary Bell, her biggest
fan was nowhere to be seen. He

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stalked online platforms, commenting on social
media posts about her and telling the world

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how much he missed her, but
in reality, he'd stopped all contact with

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her family and showing up to vigils
held in her honor. However, the

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investigators kept k C firmly in their
crosshairs. They still had no idea what

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had happened to Mary Bell, or
even if she was still alive, but

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they were sure that Casey had something
to do with it whatever happened to her.

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Maybe thinking that he was covering his
tracks, Casey began going to public

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libraries to follow updates on the investigation, not knowing that he was being very

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closely watched by the authorities. How
long does it take a body to decay?

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Read one of his searches, and
then he looked up the strangest thing.

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Casey searched for a lone tree in
a remote canyon on a map where

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he zoomed in, almost like he
was looking for something. The investigators made

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a note and rushed to the location, only to discover the badly decomposing remains

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of a woman. Dental records revealed
that it was unfortunately, Mary Bell.

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She'd spent about two weeks under the
California sun, and no cause of death

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could be determined, But seeing as
he'd known the exact location of her remains,

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it was pretty safe to say that
Casey was at the very least somewhat

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responsible for her death. Chances were
that because of her military training, case

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had attacked Mary Bell in her sleep
and then killed her, and so the

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investigators wanted to talk to him again, But case then made himself look even

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more guilty by jumping out of a
window when the police came to arrest him.

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He luckily didn't make it very far
and was quickly charged with her murder.

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He was found guilty and sentenced to
only fifteen years in prison. That's

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ten minute murder for today brief and
bingeable true crime. I'm Joe, I'm

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the host, and thank you so
much for taking the time to listen to

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ten minute murder. And this story
today is a good example of why.

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Usually I'm fully supportive of the justice
system. I think that they do an

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incredibly difficult job. And then there
are times and I'm like, when the

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hell is happening, what are we
even doing? This man was found guilty

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of murder. He left someone's body
in cold blood, killed them, and

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left their body in the desert to
just decompose, and he got sentenced to

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fifteen years. There are people serving
more than twice that for seemingly minor crimes.

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In comparison, I don't get it. Sometimes I'm fully on board and

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like, yeah, you're doing the
right thing, but then their case is

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like the one today. Anyway,
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