Episode 334

Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. So how did you kill her? Tell us how you killed her. I don't know because it wasn't Jared. It wasn't Jared. So I come back from basically almost less than a week of a break. And I put out three episodes for you. I put out Sword and Scale television. I put out Nightmares. The Return of Nightmares, by the way, season three. And brand new Sword and Scale. And what do I get? I get complaints. I get some guy complaining Oh my god, this isn't the kind of story I wanted So oh my god, I'm gonna complain You guys are miserable Would it kill you to just say thank you? I mean, really? You don't work this hard. I know it. I can tell. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. I promise you that. I'm so negative. I'm just always complaining. I bring you all the true crime in the world and all you do is complain. You people owe me. Go buy a shirt right now. Go buy a shirt. You owe me a shirt. Go buy a hat. Go buy a hat. Sword at sword and scale.com. Go right now. Alright. Is that enough silliness? Can we start? This is Season 13. Episode 330, I don't know, something of Sword and Scale. Show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Thank you. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your 1 euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Every family has a story that they don't expect to tell. In Waller County, Texas, two families were bound together by a relationship, a marriage, and a moment of unimaginable violence. On the 11th yesterday, approximately 4.18 p.m., we received a call through dispatch. There's a possible deceased person, 21-year-old female, inside a residence located behind 206 Ocala. Upon arrival, they did find a deceased person inside the house. It was a portion of a body dismembered and a residence that was covered in blood. It's a gruesome scene at best. Further investigation led to the family being detained and the suspect placed into custody for what we're assuming is going to be a murder charge in the end. On the flat coastal plains of southeast Texas, something unthinkable happened. It was January 12, 2023. The sheriff of Waller County stepped up to the microphones. He told the press what he could. By then, most of the facts were known. What happened, who was involved, where, when, and how. The only question left was, why? That would take some time. Days later, investigators sat down with someone who knew her best. Her uncle, Irvin Orellana. She hasn't been here very long, correct? Can you tell me about how she got here? and she was brought illegally, as you already know. But she came along with her two brothers. Angie Diaz came to the United States when she was just 17. She crossed the border with her two brothers. They were undocumented, but hopeful and determined. Like so many before her, she was chasing something simple, a better life. She landed in Waller County, just northwest of Houston, and moved in with her uncle. It wasn't glamorous, but it was safe. It was clean. And for Angie, it was a start. She was always, uncle teach me how to ride the lawnmower, I'll do it for you. And she was always, she always had that initiative of doing something for the house, because she felt grateful that she was living with us. But in a way, she felt like, I can't put so much weight on your shoulder, Uncle. I've got to help you somehow. Angie carried her weight, helping her uncle and contributing in any way she could. They were family, but she didn't want to be a burden. Her uncle didn't put any pressure on her about finding a job or contributing financially. She was still young. But one eventuality worried him. And I even talked to her one day. If I know, eventually you're going to meet someone. And when that time comes, there will be some set of rules at home for you to follow. Of course, Angie accepted her uncle's rules. She settled in, started to learn English, and found a job at the local Hispanic meat market called Chepez. Chepe is Spanish slang for Jose. It's like calling a place Joe's for those monolingual people out there. And it wasn't long before she proved her uncle right and met someone. She followed the rules and told her aunt and uncle she was just starting to get to know him. Their relationship would build, and the family would finally meet him. But not long after that, she broke it off. I broke up with Jose. To us, it was very surprising news. But before we went to vacation, she had even bought a wedding dress because they were thinking of getting married. And then we came from vacation and all of a sudden she broke up with Jose to us. So very surprising. Angie was young, but she was clear about what she wanted. She said there wasn't another guy. What bothered her was Jose's indecision and his reliance on his mother. He was a bit of a mama's boy. Angie wanted something more. I have not met anyone. It's just that I don't think things are going to work out. I need a real man in life. In my life, I can't keep wasting my time with a kid, she says. Angie had large aspirations in life and had the work ethic to achieve them. The last thing she wanted to do was waste it with a mama's boy. She needed a man instead, with similar life goals. Her uncle, though, suspected that maybe she'd already met him. Later, I had a conversation with her, just one-on-one. I told her, I need you to be honest with me. Is there anyone you're getting to know? Is there anyone you're talking with? and I need to know if there's someone else in your life because I'm responsible for what happens to you. You're looking out for her. And she said, yes, I met someone and right now we're not going out. We're just getting to know each other. And I said, okay, it's fine. Thank you for letting me know. That's when Jared Dykus showed up. He was quiet, but there was something about him. Put it that way. Here's how his dad, Rodney, remembers the first time Jared met Angie. The pickup line that he used to get her to call him. Apparently, he had gone into the store where she was working at, and he was looking at his phone, and he told her, he said, I'm sorry, I don't know what to do, or something to that line. And she's like, what? He said, I cannot find your number in here. And she gave him his number. and that's when they started dating. What kind of relationship did they have? Did you know? I thought that it was a pretty cool relationship because every time you heard them two, they were laughing. They were laughing. It was just something special. It was just pretty cool. Pretty cool to hear that were going to laugh. Jared wasn't anything like Jose. He had a career as an electrician and more importantly, didn't have to ask his mom for permission every time he did something. He was also white with bright red hair, which earned him the nickname Rojo around Chepe's meat market. In case you didn't know, Rojo is Spanish for red. They talked constantly, video calls, voice messages, that sort of thing. They were falling in love. Eventually she came home. She's like, look, uncle. I really love him a lot. and he loves me a lot and we have decided to get married and I would like you to be the witness. He thought to himself, what can I do? I'm just the uncle. If Angie wanted to marry Jared, he wasn't going to stand in her way. By this time, she was 21 years old, a grown woman who could make her own decisions. She could do whatever she wanted with or without his approval. But even before the family could meet Jared, she tied the knot. She texted her uncle a picture of her and her new husband on the steps of the courthouse. Jared carried Angie across his arms as they kissed. Her white dress shimmered in the sunlight. When Angie's uncle finally met Jared, he was impressed. Jared was always clean and well-dressed. He was polite. He always shook hands, but he was quiet. He couldn't speak Spanish, so he was often lost during conversations. But he tried to be part of the family. During Christmas, he bought Angie's little cousins Nerf guns and played Nintendo with them. It was all very wholesome. He gave me this perspective of a mature person. It was a whirlwind relationship. They had been dating for a few months when they got married in the fall of 2022. But both Angie and Jared gave it their all. Jared started spending all his money to convert a small outbuilding on his parents' property into an efficiency apartment for them. Angie started taking beach body training courses, even flying to Florida to attend. She had her sights on becoming a fitness instructor. They were happy with their whole lives ahead of them. Isn't that usually how it starts? Where is he at? He's in my house. Okay, this is your house. He's in their house. They have a building on my property. Oh my God, please. Send somebody. Oh my God. Okay, sir, just calm down. We're getting people on the route, okay? Oh my God. And you said... Okay, and you said this is who to you now? You know? She's my daughter-in-law. She's my daughter-in-law. Angie was dead. Rodney Dykus found his daughter-in-law lying in a pool of blood in Jared's apartment. It was clear, even to Rodney, that only one person could have been responsible. Oh my God, please hurry. There's something wrong with my son. Please hurry. He has no weapons. He's in my house. He's laying on the floor crying. Okay, okay. Oh my goddammit. Oh, son. Rodney was clearly in anguish, but he had to call 911 because Jared's mother, Lynn, couldn't. She saw Angie's body too and just lost it. her legs gave. She went down on the ground in the front yard and couldn't get back up, crying wailing waiting for the police to arrive Her husband Jared was balled up on the floor inside his parents house also crying The whole situation didn make any sense but Rodney had felt something was coming The scene got hectic quickly. While the dispatcher was relaying this information over the radio, the EMTs were out of the loop. They walked into something they never expected. There looked to be like a towel on the floor and pink socks, from what I could originally see. As I began to step up the steps, I could see underneath the towel, there looked like blood. It looked like there was some blood on the floor as well. because we had no information, didn't know what had happened. Had she committed suicide with a shotgun? You know, what we were walking into. There was a desk immediately to the right of me when I walked in the door. It looked like it had a computer on it. And as I looked around the desk, I could see her feet. Stepped in further, and I could see the rest of the body. And then I realized the patient did not have a head. At that point, my crew was coming up behind me. I stopped them. I said, back out, we're in a crime scene. And they said, they kind of looked at me and they realized the look on my face. They even told me later that, like, we saw the look on your face. We knew there was nothing we were going to do. So they backed out. I backed out. EMS got there. Vice paramedic, what we had. I said, there's nothing we can do. This wasn't a suicide or accidental death. This was a crime scene. And very obviously so. I need crime scene and detectives out to this location. Deputies were already en route. Still, more surprises were waiting on Oak Hollow Boulevard. Hello, constipation. Thanks for coming. Who you got detained? Come here, sir. Sir, come here. Oh, no, sir. Yeah. Okay. The lead deputy assessed the scene. Jared was already in the back of a patrol car. His mom, Lynn, was weeping on the front lawn. His father, Rodney, paced back and forth when he wasn't seated on his riding mower. Other deputies kept them separate and took all of their phones. The lead deputy had the big picture, but the lead paramedic filled in the details. She was just brutally decapitated. The redhead? No, she's dark as pink. No, no, no. The one you got detained, the old redheaded boy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The responding deputy thought he knew exactly what this was. That redhead boy. He'd seen him before. But as the scene unfolded, something didn't sit right. What they found inside that small apartment was worse than anyone expected. And the truth was far stranger than the assumptions that had brought them there. Whatever happened wasn't just violent. It was something deeper. It was something harder to name. www.shopify.nl It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. in a more expensive community. ASR does it. So, we can listen to your podcast now. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. The body of Angie Diaz was found on the floor of a small apartment she shared with her husband, Jared Dykus. but her head was found in the bathtub. And this was taking place in a residence occupied by himself, the suspect, and the wife, the deceased, living behind the parents' house. Turning now to what appears to be a horrific case of domestic violence in Waller County and we do want to warn you, the details in this case are very disturbing. Everything happened on the property and all parts and pieces were recovered and submitted for evidence. She was found dead this past Wednesday. Investigators say that her husband, Jared Dykus, had killed her with a kitchen knife severing her head from her body. It is gruesome. It's a gruesome crime, and the best you can say is that's the world we live in today, and it's a gruesome scene. And both sides of these families are going to be altered by it. Either way, suspect and or the victims. They were only married in October, and now he is charged with her murder. Newlyweds Jared and Angie had so much promise. Now, Jared was charged with her murder. But the media calling it a horrific case of domestic violence didn't really tell the whole story. You see, the sheriff's department was familiar with the address. Did he say anything to you? He didn't say anything. I'm a sick person, and I didn't say shit else. Okay. When they got there, they assumed it would be more of the same. But his deputies talked with the father, Rodney. We're done. Was that all the information you needed for me? You wouldn't have to know Miss Angie's maiden name. They said your wife's... P.S. D.S.? A.Z. And the mother, Lynn. Hello, ma'am. I'm Deputy Lewis. I think I've talked to you at the door here a while back about maybe some dogs or something. No, your son's truck. Remember I come knocking on your door one morning and I said, hey, you know where that truck's at? And the brother, Wayne. I was telling your mama, I think the last time I was here, your brother's truck was broke down or out of gas or something. It was yours? Yeah. They realized it wasn't what they thought at all. It's a mom and daddy and two brothers. And then unbeknownst to me, one of the brothers got married back in September, a little girl that worked at Chappie's, and they're living in the shed back behind the house. But when I heard possible BOA at 206 Apollo, I thought it was the brother that's sitting up in the carport. I just figured he'd O.D. I didn't think this other one would be involved. Between Jared and his brother Wayne, Jared was the good son. Jared. Randy Lewis, remember me? Yes, sir. You okay? Yes, sir. Wayne was the one who had previous run-ins with the law. Even the deputy was surprised to find Jared in the back of the patrol car. But interviews with the parents would shed light on Jared's recent behavior. He'd been acting unusual for some time. But the day of the murder, all the parents' worries would come to a head. I think it was around noon when Jared came in and told me that we needed to go to a Houston store. And he gave me the store number. I kept telling him, that doesn't tell me anything. I don't have an app to look up store numbers like you did. Because I don't work for an app. You have to give me an address so I know where we're going. He said, it's Houston. I said, it's Houston. It's fairly large. It doesn't tell me shit. And he went back there, and his mother was asleep, and he came back. And that's when I stopped him and cornered it, and he heard where we're going. I said, I don't think he was going to talk to me at all. I don't get the impression that he was there to talk to me. I got the impression he was there to talk to his mother. And then I asked him, what does he need? He told me he needed his gun. What did you tell him? Told him you're not getting that gun back right now or you're like this. I said, what do you need your gun for? And he did this. Already suspicious of his behavior, there was no way Rodney was going to give Jared his gun. When he asked him what he needed it for, he pantomimed putting the gun up to his own head. but then quickly tried to play it off like he was just scratching an itch. Odd, for sure. I just needed it. And I said that shit and I wouldn't work his mother up. And I started asking her, who do we call? Do we take him to the hospital? Jerry, do you want to go to a hospital? Do you want to go to a mental hospital? What do you want to do? And that started the conversations and I laid down. and the next thing I know I woke up and my wife was yelling at him from our bedroom to the hall bathroom the common bathroom because she heard him on the phone and that was around 4 4 p.m. today and his behavior just kept getting weirder and weirder and weirder from 1 o'clock on? yeah he just wouldn't answer my questions I said, Jared, do you need to take you somewhere? Do you need to talk to someone? And then I just found him sitting in the bathroom on the toilet. He's looking at his phone. And he was talking to someone. And I said, well, who are you talking to? And he wouldn't like to answer me. He felt like that was my boss. I said, well, you didn't say much. I said, what did he want? I mean, he was giving me my instructions for tonight's job. And then he came in my bedroom, because I asked him to come here, because he said, let me answer my questions. I heard a phone ring from the bathroom, and I was like, whose phone is that in the bathroom? And he's like, well, I have two phones. And then I said, why do you have two phones? And then he goes, no, I only have one phone. But he would just go back and forth and back and forth with these weird answers. and he went and picked it out of the bathroom and put it in his pocket and I said, why do you have two phones? And then I said, give me your phones and he gave me both of them and then I noticed one of them was in Spanish. I said, well, this is Angie's phone because I saw a picture of Jared and Angie on the phone. So I just recognized that as her. Everything's in Spanish. And I just kept asking, why do you have Angie's phone? When you thought he was supposed to be at work, right? Yes, and then it just me and my husband just right away ran outside. Already worried about their son's behavior, their stomach sank when they saw that he had Angie's phone. They didn't know what to expect, but they knew it wouldn't be good. I opened the door and I walked in and he couldn't see anything. And I took a step in and I saw it on the floor. And that's when I told my wife, I said, you don't want to come in here. And she came in. And I said, call 911. And I knew she wasn't going to be able to. I grabbed my phone and I started calling. When y'all walked in, what did you see? I heard anyone. Can you describe that? I mean, I know it's hard, but... Just she was on her stomach. Okay. And just blood on the left side. On the right side. What's that? And then we just... Any other type of injuries? I didn't see her head but I don't know. You didn't see her head at all? No. But it was a quick glance that I didn't see her hair because she had long long long hair. I didn't see her hair. And we ran back to the house and I said what have you done here? And he was already on the floor crying. Where? In your bedroom? I ran. What did he do? He just said, I'm sorry. He wouldn't give me any answers. I'm sorry. I'm not that person. Rodney and Lynn found Angie's body lying on the floor of the apartment. They knew it was already too late to help her. While they scrambled to call the police and keep Jared from doing anything else, their minds flooded with all the little weird things Jared had been doing for a while now. At work the night before, his father noticed some odd things. That was his demeanor. He's quiet. He's quiet. He been I don know what the words are but I think the word is lethargic They just detached away He was happy because he was going to work. And he was really happy that he was laid off from November. It was because they're slow during that time of year. It happens every year. And he doesn't like that. But he was laid off during November and December. and this was his first job back. No, I'm sorry, this was his third job back. He did have two other jobs prior to that. But he was happy and he was going to work. But other than that, he was just distant and we didn't talk. When Jared wasn't laid off, he was an electrician. And the company he worked for had a contract with Home Depot. The night before the murder, he was supposed to work at two different store locations. At the first one, Rodney noticed Jared was just off. So I started the demo, and then he came over and said, I'm sorry, Pops, you're on the wrong aisle. You need to put these back up. I'm like, oh, shit. So I put them all back up, and he said, make it look like we weren't on this aisle, you know, kind of to say that, you know, we didn't mess up. I got them all back up, And as soon as I got him back up, he cut back and said, I'm sorry, Dad. He said, it is the right aisle. You need to go ahead and demo this. That was a little strange because they've been doing this so long. Him and my older son, they don't usually start on the wrong spot, you know? Other than that oddity, the rest of the job went fine. Afterwards, they headed to the second location. The store was closed by them, and the manager had to meet them at the door to let them in. That's when Rodney learned that Jared had gone to the two locations out of order. Another uncharacteristic mistake by Jared. So when we got there, she said, well, hold on, you're not going in. You've got to tell me what you're here for. And of course, those managers, they know what's happening in their stores. They know what aisles people are supposed to be on. They know what people are supposed to be doing. and she was asking him that and I don't have that information so I don't say anything and she asked him for and I don't remember the words that she used it's his ID code or job order code or something and he said I love you father and she asked him what and I looked at him and I was like I can't believe he just said that and he looked at her and he said I love you father So he wasn't looking at you. No, he was not looking at me. He was answering her question. And it kind of took me back a little bit. I said, Jared, she needs your job number. It's on your phone. So he started working on his phone, and it looked like he was just despondent and distracted. Eventually, Jared found the work order. He and his dad got the job done. He read the blueprints, followed the instructions, and everything went the way it should. But something still felt off. Jared wasn't acting like himself, and on the drive home, his dad noticed. And did he ever make, on the way home, he make any remarks? He said, when we were just leaving the store, we were getting onto 290, what did he tell me? He said, I'll never give up again. And I said, you're not supposed to give up, you're supposed to keep going forward. So whatever was bothering him over the last few days or whatever was going through his mind over the last few days, I think I thought at the time that him going to work made him realize that, you know, you don't need to give up. You just need to, you know, of course, they were, you just need to keep going forward. And I felt really relieved that he said that. Rodney took Jared's comment as a good sign that he was getting over whatever it was that was bothering him. Both Rodney and Lynn had noticed the change in their son over the last few months. And it all started with the death of his best friend. This is where, yeah, it was Tony first. And his brother lost his job. Then he got a date at the Y in November. He said, oh, now he can't drive with his job. It started when he, I think, the night that he got to DWI, he was crying and wailing in my front yard about the death of his best friend. In May of 2022? Yes. He said, really, I said I was left. In May of 2022, Jared's best friend died suddenly. It shook him. Not long after, he met Angie, and by September they were married. But whatever stability that brought didn't last very long. He was laid off from work, tried to start a business, but couldn't get it off the ground. The failure seemed to wear him down. Then came the DWI in November, and with it, the loss of his license. But it wasn't until the final week, the week leading up to Angie's death, that his parents started to fear something was truly wrong. And everything seemed normal with him at the time? No, nothing has seemed normal with Jerry since Sunday. Okay, since the Sunday before, he seems, yes. But it seemed like he wasn't as bad as he was before. Okay, so no, he's not been himself for a few days. Explain to me how, describe him. He answers yes or no sir, yes or no ma'am, recently. Before, you know, you say, are you thirsty? Yeah, I'm thirsty. Here lately, are you thirsty? Yes, sir. It's just a quiet, it's not him. While being polite isn't the biggest red flag, it wasn't like Jared. Like parents do, they started asking him what was wrong. He kept saying that he was on meth. And then you would start grilling him about it, and then he would say, I'm not on that. I just told you that. When Jerry tried acting strange, I kept asking, you know, what's wrong with you? And he said, I said, are you on drugs? And he would say, no. And the next time I would ask him what's wrong, he would say, I'm on drugs. Okay, well, are you or aren't you? Where is it? Where did you get it? and he would convince us that he had gone and gotten meth and that's what he was doing he wasn't sure on how he was using it you know because you would ask him questions are you smoking it? are you shooting it? do I need to look at your arms? you know how are you using this? are you snorting it? smoking it? shooting it? what are you doing? I don't I don't know and things like that it would be like you would believe that he is but then you would be like Like, he's not telling the right stuff to be using that. They couldn't get a straight answer from Jared. He was acting like he was on drugs, but people on drugs can still tell you what they were doing. They were convinced he was having some sort of mental episode. When my husband did tell me that there was something that happened, because Jared has something that's been going on with him. Mentally, physically? Mentally. And this is dead. I'm going to say about a week. When I asked him, are you doing drugs? Then he'll say yes. Then he'll say no. And then, I'm not sure what day it was. A couple of nights ago, he called an ambulance on a show. Waller County 911. Yes, this is Jared Dykes. Hello? Waller County, go ahead. I just, I did a little bit of drugs and I need help. I'm not seeing what's the so-called warlord. Okay, and what's the problem? I just don't feel well. Okay, and you said you took drugs? No, ma'am, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm still here, so I don't know why I called. Okay, and, um, are you there by yourself? Is there somebody with you? No, ma'am, my family's here with me. Oh, your family's with you, okay. Okay, so you don't... Okay, but do you need an ambulance or no? Are you good? I need an ambulance. I gotcha. Okay. We have an available north end unit to 206 Ocala Boulevard, 206 Ocala Boulevard. We have EMS en route for an unknown problem. Further information sounds like he is possibly under the influence. Jared called 911 for himself. He claimed he did drugs and now he didn't feel well. But then he changed his mind and then he changed it back. Even more bizarre, after he called 911, he called again. Well, it's any 911, what's your emergency? Yes, this is Jared. Hi, Mr. Jared, how can I help you? Um, yes, I'm at 206, I'll call it, B.O.1. Yes, sir, we have EMSN out to you. Are you okay? Did something change? Yes, ma'am. No, I'm not okay. Okay, what's going on? I just, I just don't feel well. And I didn't do anything. I don't know. I'm sorry. That's okay. I have EMS in route to you. Okay, thank you. Yes, sir. He sounds confused, like a spun-out meth head. Regardless, the ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital. They ran various tests, including different types of drug tests. Then they said he was perfectly healthy. So, and everybody believed that he was on drugs because that's what he called 9-1-1-4. And he told them, just like, nothing out of doing that. So, of course, they did a urinalysis, Tombo Regional, Sunday, Monday morning, Sunday night, and then they released it even after I told him he's hearing voices he's thinking that people are gonna hurt the reason he can't stay in his hospital is y'all are gonna kill him and things like that and the doctor questioned him about this stuff and he told the doctor yeah and I told the doctor please don't send him home let's send him somewhere instead they referred him to a psychiatrist So I don't know if he's actually did some drugs. We didn't even get the results of his blood test or urinalysis when he was at the hospital. So I don't know. I can't say that he wasn't, but I don't know that. Jared's parents didn't know what to do. He wasn't violent. He wasn't angry. But something was wrong. Something they couldn't quite put their finger on. They hoped the hospital would figure it out with all those fancy doctors and expensive equipment and whatnot. They hoped that someone, anyone, would see what they were seeing. But that's not what happened. That's not the state of our medical system. So you know what they did? They just sent him home, as they usually do. He was released the next morning with a clean bill of health. Days later, Angie was dead. I had him in the hospital two days ago. He was hearing voices. I told the doctor to keep him in the darkness of his voice. Was it drugs? Was it psychosis? Was it both? Or was it something else entirely? Thank you. And start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. I understand that you want to listen to your podcast, so I'll keep it short. Because if you think it's important to make a cost-effective choices, maybe Acer can help. I think I'm going to think, how then? For example, when you want to pay for the cost-effective products you love to save. Will you know more about the insurance where a cost-effective cost-effective can be? Go to asr.nl slash duurzamekeuzes. This is ASR for you and a sustainable community. ASR does it. So, we can now listen to your podcast. today at shopify.nl. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. In the aftermath, the focus shifted. The horror of what happened to Angie Diaz was undeniable. But what no one could explain, what haunted those left behind, was what drove Jared to do it in the first place. You are Jared? Can you stay here? Okay. I don't know. So I keep calling you Jared and you don't know? I used to know. Okay. And it was like somebody came in here. Jared didn't even recognize himself. It was like someone came in here, he said, pointing to his own head. So, it's my understanding we were just in the hospital, is that right? Yes, and after that, I started feeling weird. Jared said he went to the hospital after doing a substance two weeks. I've been up for like two weeks. You've been up for two weeks? Okay. And then when you just went to the hospital, what, two days ago, you said it was for the substance? And after that is that's when it was in there. Have you used again since then? Okay. meth or something different? When was the last time that you remember? You don't remember when it was? Jared mumbled and shook his head to most of the questions. But when he did actually speak, it still didn't make any sense. He claimed that he had never touched meth in his life until that day. But then he said he'd been doing it for two weeks. The timeline was a little fuzzy. Jerry, this is on you to decide how this goes. It's not a question. I've already told you that. It's not a question that you did it in the main room that you did it. But what matters is the why. What happened? You said you're on drugs. Okay. But that didn't tell us what happened in that room. What was going on? Just drugs and you gotta stay away from drugs. Well, I understand that. So you did it and tell us what happened after you did it? Drugs just make you go crazy. It makes you leave a sign. It makes you not be able to see straight. All right, so what did it make you do this morning, last night? Jared was blaming the whole thing on drugs, but he was reluctant to be specific about what he did or why. Sometimes he would just stare back at the detectives, refusing to say a word. He would look as though he was about to cry, then return to a dazed and confused state. I just lost my way. I lost my way with God. That's clear. We're not asking for generalities. We're not asking about your personal relationship with God. Obviously, it's a struggle. It's a struggle for everybody. That's not a question. Nobody has a perfect relationship with him. but we're going to ask you one last time what happened and if you don't want to talk about it that's fine but your opportunity to have any kind of looking like a good guy of this is what I did and I'm sorry and I can't believe I did it that door is closing on you I didn't do it You can't even keep it straight for anybody. This dude cracks a joke. It was hard to gauge where his head was at. Almost crying one moment, stoic the next. Then, making jokes. I'm crazy. I was just up to, Mom. So what did she say to make you mad to do that to her? She had to say something to be that man to do what you did? I don't know. Something that was told me. Okay, so it did. So it made you do what? Something on the screen. What did it make you do? On the screen. It was telling me. Okay. Telling me what she did. What did it tell you to do? Jared was speaking in broken sentences. It was hard to follow his train of thought, but he said that something took control of him. Something on the screen was telling him what to do. And it would stop time. He claimed he wasn't in control of himself. I was being forced. Not in my free will. Okay, forced to do what? Forced to just walk, forced to go. Okay, what did it force you to do to her? What did it force you to do to what? It forced me. To what? To kill her. So how did you kill her? Tell us how you killed her. I don't know because it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't general. It wasn't general. What did you do? What you saw. What did I see? Tell me what I saw. I cut her head off. That's what I think I do. And made you cut her head off. He tried to explain that when he got home, Angie turned on the TV. That's when he started hearing commands. Time stood still, and the screen was filled with numbers. A voice told him what to do, and if he didn't listen, it would make him hurt. But after getting all of that off his chest, he started answering questions. It was unclear if he did rape Angie. She was found fully clothed with no defensive wounds. There wasn't even a single sign of a violent struggle, which is disturbing in and of itself. Why did you put her head in the bathtub? How come? I didn't tell them to. Her hair was wet. How come? Did you turn the shower on? Yes. To wash yourself or to wash her hair or what reason? To wash. Did you have plans on hurting your mom or your dad when you went over to their house? There were no voices that told you to hurt them? And then the voices can tell me they shoot us. And shoot yourself? Jared's explanation did little to actually tell us why he did what he did. He contradicted his own account. He said drugs were involved, but he was also hearing voices. The only thing we know was true is that he cut her head off and put it in the bathtub to wash her hair. And she didn't fight back because he probably took her by surprise. But after talking to Angie's family, friends, and co-workers, the police had a theory. Do you know what he did? Do you know anything? Right now it's just a theory. When I told you about theories, they could be wrong. But from what we're gathering, it was possibly a combination of him being on drugs and his jealousy. Friends of Angie said her normally upbeat attitude changed shortly after she got married to Jared. When asked, she said he had changed. She was clearly having second thoughts. But this theory all hinged on drug use. And to be fair, Jared was high as a kite during his interrogation. In his intake photos, his pupils are the size of saucers. But that's where it gets weird. When the police checked his toxicology report from the hospital stay two days before the crime, when he called 911 claiming meth use, it was completely clean. There were no drugs in his system whatsoever. If he did drugs the night before, it would have shown up. While the drug test the police conducted after his arrest showed drugs in his system, it wasn't meth, it was cocaine. He didn't even know the difference, I guess. And it wasn't a lot, not enough to cause psychosis, that's for sure. So maybe the drugs didn't cause what happened. Maybe it just unleashed what was already in his brain. So an alternative theory is that Jared was unraveling mentally long before he ever tried drugs. He lost his best friend. The layoff, the failed side hustle, the DWI. It all compounded, weighing on him at a time when he just wanted to be able to provide for his new wife and seemed to be failing at it. Meanwhile, she was living the dream. She had a job, she had friends, and was pursuing her goal of being a fitness trainer. She was succeeding while Jared was failing. Maybe there was some jealousy involved. Maybe he was jealous of Angie. But that didn't matter. Jared pleaded guilty. There would be no trial. There would be no courtroom drama. No chance to explain what really happened. And no chance to be evaluated for mental illness. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He'll be eligible for parole when he's 65. The family of a young woman found decapitated inside her Waller County home is planning a vigil for her this weekend. The person accused of killing her is her own husband, Jared Dykus. And friends of the woman found decapitated inside her Waller County home held a vigil in her honor tonight. Angie Diaz came to this country in search of a better life. She found it. She found family. She found friends. And she found love. She was chasing something bigger than herself. Maybe Jared wanted that too, but somehow he lost himself along the way. Slowly. Quietly. Secretly. until it was too late. Thank you. It's a Hot Hole I'd better see my Shopify light up with dozens of orders after this. I ain't even kidding. You guys are annoying as fuck. 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