Episode 444: Rebecca Aylward｜Morbid

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Terms and restrictions apply visit earnin .com for full details download earnin now and take control of your pay hey weirdos i'm ash and i'm elena and this is morbid this is morbid what i copied you oh you're so annoying there's you know what there's been a lot of stuff going on lately not with us not with us but with a certain reality show that we have talked about many many times that I know a lot of you watch I know that it's our time.

These are the best days of our lives.

These are not the best days of their lives.

Maybe the worst of some of their lives, which makes my heart hurt.

Like, first and foremost, I think we said it on the JVN episode, but team motherfucking Ariana.

Yeah. In case you don't know, we're talking about Vanderpump Rules.

We just went right into it.

We're like, team Ariana.

Yeah. But like, honestly, at this point, it really doesn't even need to be described.

You know the internet.

I think somebody described it as Chandler cheating on Monica with Rachel and Joey knowing the entire time.

In case you do not watch Vanderpump Rules and you need a frame of reference.

But, like, I feel like even if you don't watch Vanderpump Rules, you've been hearing, like, the echoes.

I was actually getting my Botox done yesterday, and I had a new girly, like, injecting my face.

And she said, I was like, do you watch Bravo?

Like, do you know what's going on?

And she was like, so I don't, but I know everything that's going.

Because I know the exact situation you are referring to.

And I think a lot of people are in that situation, like the people that don't watch. And here's the thing, if you don't, like, if you don't watch it and you don't give a shit about this, don't worry.

We're getting into a true crime case in a couple minutes.

We just, I know a lot of you do.

I know a lot of you are with me, so we're going to chat about it for a minute because I swear if I say to John on the couch at night one more time, if I just look up from my phone and go, all right, so one more thing happened.

He's, and he, bless him, bless his heart.

He's good at, like, being like...

He's great. What's up?

He literally, he was like, okay.

Because I looked over at him the other day and I was like, you're my best friend.

Oh. You need to hear this.

That's adorable. And he was like, okay, all right.

I was like, I knew that would get you.

But it's never the same as talking to somebody who's been there since the beginning.

Because we started Vanderpump Rules together in 2014.

I had just graduated high school.

And I would skip going to college all the time and just do, like, my college classes.

I don't even know what the fuck they were called.

and I just would go to your house and we would literally eat, sleep, breathe Vanderpump Rules.

It's a really unique reality show in the way that it just it rarely stops giving.

Rarely. There are a couple times Here's the thing.

two or three years but we stuck through them.

We stuck through the Valley Village you know, purchases.

We stuck through them trying to introduce an entirely new cast. That didn't work out.

But we hung in there.

And we got Charlie out of it.

We got Charlie out of it.

I'm a Charlie Stan.

We, you know, and now we have always loved Ariana.

Never wavered. I have loved Ariana.

You have loved Ariana.

She's always been our girl.

Because she's real.

She is. I think she's like the realest one out of everyone.

And you know what? It's like you get your ups and downs with people in this crew.

But like Ariana's always been a ride or die.

Yeah, she's like a steady, steady girly.

And I am horrified by Tom Sandoval.

And Rachel. And Rachel.

But it's like, like, we need to talk about this just for a second.

Tom Sandoval dressed as his mistress for Halloween in front of Ariana.

That's another level of like deep -seated evil.

And then Rachel posed for a picture with him dressed as her knowing full well they were having a full -blown affair at the time in front of Ariana.

do you understand that when the two of them come out and go guys we're so sorry we're so sorry that we hurt people and and rachel's like i'm gonna work on myself it's like fuck both of you are you kidding me her saying that she needs to heal uh what about ariana dog well and it's just i'm sorry you're coming out and you two are saying we're sorry we never meant to hurt anyone oh my my goodness, but you dressed as your mistress for Halloween in front of Ariana while you were having an affair.

No one believes that you're sorry.

You created an entirely false story to make it seem like Schwartz was the one, like, fucking around with Rachel, and also that was fucked up in and of itself because he was hot off a divorce with one of their fucking cast members and friends.

And I like Katie. I like Katie, too.

And I feel like that was created and hurt Katie.

Katie. Like, it did hurt Katie.

You put Katie in a position to be hurt just so that you could save the weird, like, bro code that these dudes have is unlike anything I have ever seen.

Oh my god, I was just gonna say I've never seen anything like it.

It goes beyond, like, this plane of reality.

It does. Because they will sacrifice everything about themselves for their dudes, for their bros.

And it's like, no, there is a time where you need to go time out.

This is bad news bears.

And I'm not going to create a fake fucking scenario and like dump my life down the dumpster because you want to fuck somebody on the side and like step out on your girlfriend.

And it's also like they were together for like Ariana and Tom were together for nine years.

Purchased a home together.

Like she has a dog that like I'm sure Tom became like a dad to.

married for all intents and purposes.

I mean, that's common law marriage.

What is it? It's seven years, right?

Yeah. And it's just that existence is married for all intents and purposes without the paper.

I mean, people ask them all the time.

Like people think they're married.

Yeah. And that's so fucked.

And yeah, it's just a real bummer.

And then like seeing in the episode where I think Lala was saying like, you know, to Rachel, she was saying, you know, like when you drink, I wouldn't let you around my man, which is like, whoa, you got to really take a look in the mirror if somebody's saying that to you.

And then Rachel's response was, good thing you don't have a man for me to be around.

First of all, insulting.

It's like, whoa, you are gross, my friend.

Christina Kelly wrapped it up perfectly when she just pulled back the covers to protect herself from Rachel and was like, Rachel.

She literally goes, oh my God, Rachel.

Christina Kelly's, like, coming back this season is everything to me.

I always thought she was hilarious.

Everything. And we never got enough Christina Kelly.

But if you listen to somebody else's podcast back when you could, you would get a lot of Christina Kelly.

Yeah, and I loved that.

It's true. We love a Christina Kelly moment.

We do. But honestly, the whole thing is wild.

It's insane. It's getting wilder by the day.

And the other thing too is everything is coming out online, but then the season is airing right now and we are watching it now through such a different lens.

Because as things are happening right now, the affair is already happening.

Like right now? So you're watching it and you're like, oh, no. And it just breaks my heart, Ferrari.

It's so nice to see that all the women are just blocking around her.

And she looks like she's thriving.

She's going to come out of this.

You never needed him to be Gimlet's girl.

I can't wait to see her revenge story.

Oh, I can't wait. Just like living.

Because she's going to be just fine.

Of course she is. She's going to be just fine, Ariana.

And she's going to be just fine.

She's got like a good heart, you can tell.

Come on the podcast, Ariana.

I would shit myself.

We'll talk about everything but this.

Yeah. We don't even have to talk about it.

We don't even have to talk about it.

Should we just like start a Bravo podcast?

I know. I would love to.

Oh, my God. That's my actual calling in life.

Just to sit here and do this.

That is my actual calling.

But I know a lot of you are with us and you've – because we've gotten a lot of messages that are like, I am a Bravo head and I want to talk about this.

so yeah we just had to get this out because guys guys fucking wild dude it's it doesn't feel real but it is there's court documents and it's not just rachel no there have been other women allegedly allegedly yeah of course allegedly there have been other women like but oh my it just keeps coming out more and more and more and it's getting worse and worse and worse every day yeah it's wild yeah but you know what we just we had to get that out i'm so stressed and you know i'm sure we'll have something else to to bring forth about this on the next episode probably i mean we're probably like when this comes

out it's going to be a little old i think a couple of weeks like okay they're gonna be like all that information is two years old and you didn't even touch upon this huge thing like we're two weeks behind so well ahead but you know ahead technically on our schedule we're not behind but yeah so we had to talk about this We just had to get it off our chest, honestly.

Yeah. Because we've been screaming about it to Mikey all day.

I know. Mikey is like, I don't watch Bravo, but I would.

But he's into it now.

He will be. We're getting him into it.

He will be. He will be.

Honestly. No really good way to transition out of that and into a true crime case.

It's just that's a terrible situation, but my goodness, is this a worse situation.

This is a very sad situation.

This case is rough.

Like, it hurt me. I don't know this one at all.

Oh, you don't? No. No. I didn't either before I looked into it.

And I was just, I think I found this while I was researching something else.

That always happens to me.

Yeah. So and then I was like, oh, and I fell kind of down this rabbit hole because we'll talk about it.

One of the headlines in this case, you read it and you're like, wait, what?

So then you start reading more and you're like, oh, okay.

Well, that's layered.

Yeah. So it all starts on the afternoon of October 22nd, 2010.

So it's not old timey, guys.

It's 2010. Ash brings it newer.

Of course. Sometimes.

Most of the time. But today.

So 15 -year -old Rebecca Aylward left her house in Maestig.

I looked that up, and I really hope I'm saying it correctly.

Maestig is in Wales.

Rebecca had plans to go meet her ex -boyfriend in a wooded area just outside of Abercanfig, which I also looked up, And I hope I'm saying correctly.

Now, she was under the guise that they were actually going to be reconciling because they had recently gone through a breakup.

They were going through hard times, you know.

But this, she was really excited about.

So, she told her mother, bye mom, I love you, as she grabbed her purse and walked out the door.

And unfortunately, that would be the last time that Rebecca's mother would see her alive.

So, let's talk about who Rebecca was.

She really went by Becca so Becca Oatley Aylward was born on February 25th 1995 to John and Sonia um she was the first child of what would eventually be three kids and she was beautiful and she had one of those faces and we always say this but I mean it she had one of those faces where you would see her in a crowd and be like I want to be that girl's friend like that girl looks cool she had the perfect scene bangs oh this is 2010 yes and I tried to cut those and and I was like, We all tried to have those.

We all did, but Becca had them.

Yeah, she did. And she fucking rocked them.

But beyond looks, she was also a very smart girl.

Her mother, Sonia, said she was born inquisitive, and I knew from well before she could even speak that she was a bright girl, a girl who took everything in.

Oh, I love that. She was very astute.

She was also just a really easy child to raise and to be around.

She loved being with her parents.

She was really close with her mom, and when she was little, she loved loved playing dress up in her mom's closet.

She put together like different outfits and accessories and she'd throw the heels on and it's just like pure.

I love it. I love that.

Now, when she entered primary school, she was still known to be pleasant and easygoing.

Her parents or her teachers would always tell her parents that they wish they had a class full of Rebecca's.

Oh. Right. And of course, as a parent, that's everything you want to hear.

Oh, that's exactly what you want to hear.

And of Of course, again, it speaks to who Becca is, but it also speaks to who her parents are.

Yeah, absolutely. Like, raising a great daughter.

For sure it does. So her natural curiosity and love for things like reading and writing, those things made her a good student, but she also stood out in other ways.

She would always stand up for other students if they needed to be stood up for.

She would offer help in the classroom.

Like, once she got her work done, she was always helping somebody else that needed it.

Just a good person.

She was just willing to be there for someone.

And her willingness to help was extra appreciated at home because, like I said, she was the oldest and she took that role as oldest very seriously.

Her mom would always say that she was like a little mom.

Oh, a little mom. So when her sister Jess was born in 1980 – or excuse me, 1998, Becca loved helping with the little baby.

And it was just like awesome.

She would get her like dressed.

She loved all her little clothes.

And she wanted to always feed her little sister.

Oh, my goodness. She was so little and she was such a big help.

Yeah, that's how my twins are with the littlest one.

Oh my God, it literally reminded me of that.

Yeah, it's so funny.

It's the exact same thing.

And then five years later, she had a little brother, Jack, and he was born.

And her little mom instinct had not gone anywhere.

It was still there.

And given the age difference between Becca and Jack, he really started relying on her kind of like a second mom.

Oh, I love it. Like his mom was a wonderful mom.

Of course. He didn't need a second mom.

But he just got a bonus.

But he got a bonus, for sure.

Sure. And he would go to her if he couldn't sleep or if he was anxious about school.

Oh my goodness. And just like confide in Becca and look to her to like feel safe and happy, you know?

And think about what like a nurturing child you have to be to have that kind of instinct at young.

Yeah. And to like act on it how she did.

Yeah, exactly. So when she entered her teen years, she started thinking more and more seriously about her life beyond secondary school.

And by the time she went into high school, her mom recalled that she had already got her life mapped out, she said.

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Sonya wrote that in her book, and she said that Becca was a great student who studied hard. She wanted to pursue a law degree when she went to university.

Damn. And her ultimate goal was to one day become a barrister.

Oh, okay. An intense lawyer.

A very intense lawyer.

You know? That's how I looked it up.

It's the definition.

That's what Google says.

It says barrister. Very intense lawyer.

A very intense lawyer.

Look it up. Esquire.

Esquire. There you go.

Yeah, I forgot that part.

Of course. now of course she also had less career oriented and like more romantic goals for herself yeah of course relatable now according to her mom she would quote spend lots of time planning every last detail of her wedding drawing her ideal wedding dress right down to the flowers that she'd have in her bouquet she's multifaceted multifaceted and i just like i feel like you know who she is based off everything you get from her mom and like what you see of her in pictures like she just seems fucking rad yeah she's got that like romance gene where she can be whimsy and romance and you can talk

love but she can also sit there and be like listen this is what i want to do i want to be a serious barrister i want to work my ass off and also i have this motherly and also i can i can mum my little little siblings because i'm this nurturing wonderful encouraging human like what couldn't she do like i'm sorry like do you exist what right?

Seriously, she just sounds like an angel.

Yeah, she does. She was an angel.

Yeah. Now, she met a prospective love interest named Joshua Davies in 2008, and he quickly became a regular presence in their family home.

This family welcomed him with open arms. That makes me even sadder because I don't think this is going to be a good thing.

That's a pretty good feeling you had right there.

Mom Sonia would later say pretty much right off the bat, Josh was loved and accepted by everybody in the family.

And especially that Becca's little brother, Jack, really started to look up to Josh the more and more time they spent together as like a big brother.

And Josh really seemed to be equally as fond of them.

At an age where most teenagers started kind of pulling away from their parents, Josh actually seemed like he enjoyed hanging out with Becca and her family and like wanted to be like as a family unit.

And that's, you want that.

Totally. And he especially Ashley liked Sonia.

Like, he found it easy to talk to Sonia.

And at the time, Sonia felt like it was easy to talk to him.

They would talk about music a lot together because they both really loved music.

And Sonia would end up telling reporters in 2018, I liked him before it happened.

He was okay. He was always polite and nice.

No bad language. He seemed like a decent boy.

We all knew his family.

His younger brother was friends with my two younger ones.

so this is like a community of people and these are always the things that stress me out so much is when you hear them like people be like he was in my home like I liked him there was no reason to think anything different it's like that is the scariest thing and there's no warning sign that's exactly it because I think a lot of times when we say this like murderers and serial killers people are like oh my god like how could you not know like they were so evil like look at them and it's like no the thing is they can switch that charming like i'm an amazing person little switch on so easily exactly

and blend right they are master manipulators master and that's an alliteration there you go now in retrospect obviously sonia could see that there were red flags indicating that josh might not have been as nice and polite as he appeared to be there were times where he would stay over for like no reason and sonia didn't know why but she would tell jack to put his things away especially his toy swords or like potentially hurtful items it was like she subconsciously wanted to keep these things away from josh like a mother's instinct yeah now this is uh this is like he was racist so if you don't want

to hear that skip forward a little bit there was an incident where they were watching television television together and they saw members of the KKK.

And Josh commented that he wanted to join the KKK.

Time to get out. Time to get out.

Time to get the fuck out of my house and time to get the fuck away from my kid.

And his actual comment was like way more explicit to the point where I didn't even feel comfortable repeating it here.

I'm sure you can find it in an article if you would like to know.

Ew. But it was horrible.

So in the moment, Becca being, I mean, this is in front of her family, so that's putting her in a real shit position of like, where did that come from?

So she lightly scolded him, but she tried to play it off like he was kidding.

Remember, she's 15.

And she's probably hoping he is.

She's exactly hoping she is, but Sonia was made really uncomfortable.

She was like, what?

That came out of left field.

She's like, that is not a joke.

And that's not what we are about in our house.

That's not our humor.

Yeah, she didn't like that yeah so she ended up when josh had gone home talking to becca about it and she was like what was that about yeah and becca ended up telling her mom how uncomfortable she was and how shocked she was and she said later on actually her and josh got into an argument about it oh and it makes me so sad because that's exactly how this should have gone where like you didn't escalate things you didn't you didn't make it a scary situation because if he says something like that you're like okay i don't know what you're capable of here see when he leaves the mom did the right thing

sonia did the right thing she walked out she told her daughter that made me very uncomfortable what was that about her daughter agreed and said it made me very uncomfortable like that's a really good that shows a really good relationship and a really good like line of communication between i was just gonna say mom and daughter clear communication they did she didn't she didn't blow it up to make it weird for her kid she talked to her afterwards and her kid felt the the same way it's like that is like a really good relationship and it makes me so sad that it couldn't have translated into because what that's

such a difficult situation after that because it's like now you have to hope that your 16 year old has the strength right to walk away from that but then at the same time someone who will say something like that that's dangerous and scary and leaving them can create a more dangerous situation so it's like that's a really difficult set of things circumstances and at the same time where sonia was like so stressed out about this she also can't force her daughter to break up with her well that's the thing and it's like you are helpless and you don't want to you don't want to try to go down that route

and then lose that clear line of communication with her exactly i feel like she's hiding things from you So, I think, personally, just like you, I think Sonya went about this the best way she could have. I think she did.

I think she did the very right thing.

And I think if she had pushed, if you push too hard, especially at that age, like 16, I'm terrified for teenage years just because I know it's a precarious time.

I remember how I was.

Oh, God, I was awful.

You don't listen to anybody.

And it's like, if somebody pushes too hard one way, you might go down the same way.

And it's like, so I know she probably didn't want to push the issue and make her want to cling to him more just out of going against. Defiance, you know.

Even though it doesn't sound like Rebecca was that type of kid.

Not at all. You just don't want to play with fire with that stuff.

And you never know is the other thing.

Like, we've covered cases where, like, they were never that kind of kid.

And then one thing happens and you go down a trail.

Exactly. That wasn't the case here, luckily.

Yeah. It sounds like it was with Josh.

Like, things just started going awry with him.

and the change in his personality was happening slowly gradually like little things Sonia was starting to pick up on Becca was starting to pick up on and just getting like more and more uncomfortable and that's worse yes you're not able to absorb it all at once so it's not it's harder to manage kind of thing they've already shown you such an amazing side of them and they love bombed you and you're in you are in this now so now they can start peeling back those layers slowly.

And it makes it harder to rip away.

Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, it happened gradually, but Becca and her mom were seeing a slightly darker side of Josh emerging.

He started spending hours in the woods with his best friend, Daniel, and they would occasionally camp out in the woods overnight.

And this just made Sonia really uneasy.

Yeah, like, what the hell are you doing?

And then it made her particularly uneasy because they started trying to convince girls from school to come camp out with them in the woods.

And Sonia told Becca, she insisted, she was like, you never, ever go into those woods with them alone or with anybody else.

Even if you think there's going to be other kids there, do not go into the woods with them.

Yeah, no. Oh, how scary.

Things were getting weird. Now, Josh, obviously, like I was saying earlier, he seemed to love Becca's family.

He seemed to like spending time with them.

But at school and around their friends, he didn't really seem to be proud to be with Becca and he also wanted to hide the fact that they were a couple.

It reminded me of when we were talking about the Betty story a couple weeks ago.

It's like why would you not be proud of Becca?

Yeah it's like fuck you Becca's awesome.

She is and you're not.

And you are not my friend.

So the relationship really fell apart in January 2010 and Josh was the one actually that ended up breaking up with Becca and immediately started now the reason for the breakup or the reasons they're still unclear but josh occasionally told his friends it was because becca had quote tried to trick him into getting her pregnant which was not true doubt it doubt it doubt it that's the thing most people including us who heard this explanation thought it was complete nonsense and even becca was like uh no he broke up with me actually because i wouldn't have unprotected sex with him Thanks, though.

Complete opposite. Yeah.

Thanks, though. Yeah.

No, they had only dated three or four months, but Becca was really heartbroken over this.

Of course, you're 16.

It was probably one of her first loves or potentially her first love.

Yeah. She was devastated by the end of it, and she was going through it, you know?

But Josh, on the other hand, he seemed angry with Becca.

And it's like, but you're the one that broke up with her.

You broke up with her.

Like, I'm not, I'm confused here.

Yeah. And then after the breakup, he started making comments to his friends about killing Becca.

What the fuck? He started joking about killing her.

Guys, no one jokes about killing someone.

That's a flat out blanket statement.

One of the biggest themes in this case is joking, quote unquote, about killing somebody.

Murder is not funny.

Murder is not a joke.

Murder does not have a punchline.

And those are your three rules.

If someone's, and especially if someone is consistently joking about murdering someone, a particular person, call the fucking authorities.

Call the authorities, tell your mom, tell a trusted adult.

Tell someone. Call someone.

Tell the mailman, tell someone.

Tell someone. And especially if the comments are starting to build and build to be more and more specific.

Yeah. Like, what happened here?

And he told one friend after their breakup, I'm just going to kill her.

Wouldn't life be a lot easier if she wasn't here?

Just, no. She's not, like, go away.

way also you're fucking 16 years old life is as easy as it's possibly gonna get you're gonna live the rest of your life probably never have to see her again you could walk yourself down to the principal's office and say hey i don't really want to be in classes with her anymore and they'll probably rearrange your whole fucking schedule exactly and even if they don't deal sit at a different fucking table like you're 15 get out of here broke up with her remove yourself from the situation i don't really think she wants to be around you at this point exactly well i just said exactly like you i've been

finding myself doing that i love i think you've like rubbed off off on me.

We love a little tea pronunciation.

I just realized what I did.

I was like, oh, good job.

I pronounced that tea.

Mott would be so proud of you.

She would. We love pronouncing things.

No, Josh's friends, like we were just saying, thought the comments and the threats were just a joke.

But like I was kind of alluding to earlier, as time went by, they started getting more and more detailed, more and more specific, and more intense.

He was talking about how he could poison Becca with deadly plants and nightshades or, quote, push her over a quarry into a river.

What the fuck? Are you like the mad scientist from A Nightmare Before Christmas?

Like, what the fuck is wrong with you?

Where the fuck are you going to get nightshade?

Nightshade? And the reason he wanted to push her into a river is because she couldn't swim, and he knew that.

Oh, my God. So how fucked is that?

Guys, call someone.

Now, one friend would later tell the court it was no secret that he hated Rebecca for quite a long time after their relationship relationship finished.

But it's so confusing because you broke up with her.

Like, I don't understand.

That's what a breakup is.

You don't like each other anymore.

So you break up and you move on.

And it sounds like, didn't he start dating someone else?

Like, if I was that girl, I'd be like, um, can you not obsessively talk about killing your ex -girlfriend?

Yeah, I'd be a little alarmed.

Like, where was your brain, girlfriend?

Jesus. Now, it seems like, Like, despite his charming personality with adults, Becca had seen Josh's darker side probably more times than she ended up admitting to her mom, most likely out of uncomfortability, if that's a word, or being scared.

Yeah, of course. Now, during the investigation into her murder, detectives, with help from Sonia, actually found several pieces of evidence indicating that Josh was actually abusive toward Becca.

Fuck that guy. Mm -hmm.

There were countless pages of threatening and abusive MSN chats.

Do you remember those?

Oh my god, MSN chat.

They used to chat over that, and like he was awful to her.

And actually, there was one incident where he used colored hairspray to write, Becca is a slag on her bedroom wall.

What the fuck? Defaced her parents' property, and in her room wrote, Becca is a slag.

I cannot imagine having to deal with this shit as Becca, but I can't imagine having to deal with this shit as the parents.

No. Because there's – what a helpless feeling.

And I don't know if Sonia realized that, like, that had happened when it did or if she found out about it later.

It's like, I can't even imagine knowing that later.

Right. Ugh. It's awful.

Now, even adults obviously struggle to keep it friendly and amicable after a breakup.

So the fact that there was some animosity and heartbreak between Josh and Becca, who were two teenagers, it's understandable.

Or would have been.

But this situation is completely different.

his hatred of Becca was just like very overblown very unusual again especially considering the fact that he was the one to end it yeah like move on and Sonia thinks this anger all stems from Josh's ego because once he got what he wanted from Becca and she started setting boundaries around things like sex Josh ended the relationship yep intending to hurt Becca yep and he did hurt her but not for very long I think he thought like this was just gonna be be the end -all be -all for her.

Oh, yeah. But when her heartbreak started to wear off, she proved herself to be way more resilient than Josh had ever expected.

Of course. She completely bounced back.

Yep. She was doing incredible in school, so much so, actually, that she was doing better than him.

Good. And I think that miffed his ego.

Yep. If he had intended their breakup as another way to control Becca, his plan was backfiring, and that's what pissed him off.

He failed. And it It was backfiring in a very public way, so I think he felt embarrassed.

Oh, my God. Get over your fucking ego.

Seriously. Like, Jesus Christ. If you look up a picture of him.

Oh, I did. Ego, ego, ego, ego, ego.

Yeah. It's oozing out of his pores.

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So, by the end of the school year, Becca had actually already started dating another boy, another Josh, actually.

Ooh. But this is Josh Humphries.

Better Josh. Better Josh.

The new relationship really seemed to piss Josh Davies off because she had moved on.

And when it came—and I think he was really specifically angry about Becca's family welcoming this new Josh in.

And he would constantly ask her if her mom liked this new Josh as much as she had liked him.

It's like, are you all right, bro?

It's also like, you could still be a part of this family if you weren't a piece of shit, but you suck.

It was like he felt some kind of ownership, not only over Becca, but her family.

Yeah, it's all ego.

go he felt like he deserved their love so weird and he would say things to her like I bet she prefers me to be your boyfriend probably not like no I don't think so I'm gonna say that's a no and Becca would be like no I think actually she does like new Josh she's a big fan of him you know what Josh doesn't do joke about being in part part of the KKK yeah that's one of his most yeah wonderful qualities pretty shining quality to me but when she would tell him like yeah my mom actually does love him and so does my brother and everybody else he would like storm off away away from her in anger and like

make a spectacle. What a child.

Well, literally. What a literal toddler.

So Sonia thinks, again, that it wasn't only just the ego, but that it was Becca's resilience too that made Josh Davey so pissed off.

Yep. He hoped that this was going to devastate her, but just a month or so after he'd broken up with her, Sonia said she was doing better than him in school, she was popular, and had a boyfriend, and perhaps most of all, she was always her own person.

Go, Becca. I know. Now, while she may have been resilient and independent, unfortunately, she wasn't entirely free from Josh's influence and control over her.

It's hard, especially at that age.

When you're 15. This girl's 15 years old.

Like, I remember being there and dating awful people.

Not as awful as this, luckily, but you're in a cloud, like in a haze, and you don't know.

And you just don't know any better.

You'll believe a lot of things exactly and especially as a romantic you will learn she's a romantic so it's like you just have that exactly now just a few months after she had started dating new josh she actually ended the relationship because old josh started hinting that he wanted to get back together if she would like get rid of her current boyfriend so she did because remember she knows old josh and yeah whatever piece of her still loved him loved him yeah i get it like that he he showed you the good parts and that's what you hang on to and i think because she was a romantic and this is just

an inference because like speaking from experience i wonder if she had the like i can fix him mentality oh i wonder too yeah like my mom really did like him so like there must be some good piece of him and there was all these good times and like i'm good so i can show him how to be good i think it was that yeah so when their relationship ended toward the end of summer becca stayed friends with josh humphries luckily but she was still holding out hope that she and josh Davies would get back together.

Now, bad Josh was still privately, quote unquote, joking with his friends that he could kill Becca and get away with it.

Friends, you gotta speak up.

These friends are pieces of shit.

I was gonna say, this is on your shit too.

Yeah. So by that fall, even his friends had joined in.

Oh, fuck all of you.

Mm -hmm. They would say later that they thought it was all a joke, but again.

It's not a joke, you assholes.

Louder for the people in the back, joking about about murder simply is not funny yeah if you got friends that are joking about specifically murdering one person find new friends like you gotta move on get out of there and call someone report that let people know that's not just gonna go away especially as like a teenager if you're a young kid that's not normal behavior no and you don't just like stop joking about murder no it's never a joke it's gonna escalate like I never had any friends who joked about killing someone it literally never happened Don't let it happen.

No. So back to the morning of October 22nd.

Becca woke up early on that morning and she told her mom she was just too excited to stay to sleep because she had plans to meet up with Josh that afternoon and he was still hinting heavily that he wanted to get back together.

She actually went out shopping with her Aunt Linda the day before and bought a new outfit for the date.

She bought a red jacket and brown ankle boots.

That destroys my heart.

And she just hoped that that would impress Josh and that they could start things up again.

She spent most of the morning just anxiously killing time.

At one point, Sonia drew a bath for her to try to get her, like, you know, like excited.

She was like, okay, like, let's have, like, a fancy bath and, you know, like, we'll really do this.

See, that's so sweet.

Yeah, she was just killing time until she was supposed to meet Josh in the woods just outside of Eberkenfig. Now, as the morning went on, Becca was starting to get more and more concerned because she hadn't heard from Josh about these plans.

They had made these plans earlier this week, or earlier that week, excuse me, that he was going to text her when he was ready.

But by that afternoon, she still hadn't heard from him.

So, Becca tried to reassure her and she said, you know what boys are like.

He's probably still in bed.

Yeah. Now, when Josh finally did text, it was around 1 p .m. And Becca immediately called her Aunt Linda who was going to be driving her to the park.

And she was like, it's time to go.

and she was so excited.

When Linda arrived, she grabbed her handbag, Becca did, and rushed out the door.

But just as she was about to head out, she looked at her mom.

And like I said, she said, bye, mom.

I love you. Oh, that's the part that just ruins you.

Wrenches my heart out.

Ruins you. I mean, thank goodness she said that.

But like, seriously.

No one should ever look at their kid for the last time.

Never. You know, like it's just like walking out the door.

No. That's just awful.

So when Sonia heard about the plans that Becca had made with Josh that afternoon, she was immediately suspicious and uneasy about it because she knew how badly the breakup had affected Becca.

And again, she had learned some of those manipulative and abusive things that he had said and done both before and after the relationship had ended.

But Becca had been working on her mom and trying to convince her that things were better.

She said things had changed and she said, he's okay now.

He's back to the old Josh again.

Oh, we've all done that.

We totally have. And you just want your mom to, like – you're like, come on.

Like, I know. Like, it's always that classic, I know him.

He's different when he's just with me.

You know, like, it's always – I've said those words before.

Of course. You know, like, I remember trying – I think so many people have. Yeah.

I remember trying to convince my parents that, like, like bad John was like, no, no, you don't understand.

He's so sweet. like he's so good to me and it's like you know in your heart that it's not the truth but you want it to be the truth and a mama knows and a mama always knows and Sonia knew but at the same time I think I just think she was like a really good mom and I think she wanted to to tell Becca like you know I'm really cautious about this but I want you to be happy that's the impression that I get exactly and you also want your kid to experience and learn from situations instead of just directing them what to do right And it's like, you would never think something like this would happen,

whatever is about to happen.

And it's like, you think, okay, there might be some heartbreak out of this.

I am predicting it, but I will just be here for her.

I can only give her so much to go out there with.

But if she is dead set on trying this again, I will just be here to pick up the pieces.

And it's like, that's all you can do.

Right. And then hopefully they learn from that and they take it into the next relationship or whatever.

ever exactly and so i think she was doing all the right things in my opinion i think she was really all you can do as a parent i like that must be a really hard position to be in and i think it was because everything in her was telling her like i don't know about this guy but nothing inside of her was telling her like i think becca could get physically hurt no emotionally absolutely physically no you never would believe that no but the suspicions that things weren't going to to really go well crept back up when Becca called her mom about an hour after she had been dropped off at the park to say that she

still hadn't heard from Josh.

So he texted her at one and said, I'm ready.

Like, let's go meet.

She got dropped off at the park.

And again, I don't think I'm pretty sure Sonia didn't realize that they were going to go off into the woods because she had told Becca, like, don't go into the woods.

She thought this was the park.

And now she's been waiting at that park for an hour and hasn't heard anything.

So Sonia's like, what the fuck?

She's worried and she doesn't want becca hanging around a random park all afternoon by herself so she's getting more and more frustrated she's like this is getting ridiculous he's giving you all these elaborate directions of where to go and what time to be there he's not even showing up she was like it was like it was some kind of mission between two secret spies like it was ridiculous no on his end now becca was like no mom it's okay like i'm safe there's actually a police woman walking right behind me like i'm okay and so they chatted for a bit because i I think Sonia was like, well, stay on the phone

with me a little bit.

Like, I'm nervous. And as they were on the phone, Becca finally spotted Josh walking down the street in her direction.

So, she was like, oh, I see him.

Like, we're good, and I'll talk to you later.

And Sonia's like, okay, like, be careful.

I love you. Now, what happened next is not entirely clear.

Josh Davies would eventually admit to killing Becca.

He did kill her. But the confession actually came well after a trial was over.

And his confession was rather light on the specifics.

So because of that, the details of Becca's murder would end up being kind of cobbled together from the forensic evidence and testimony of his friends.

From what the investigators pieced together, Josh and Becca had walked to his house, actually, and spent a little bit of time there.

And while they were there, this breaks my fucking heart, because I picture, like, us doing this.

Becca gave her sister a call to give her an update and, like, said, like, it's going well.

like this is what we're doing my god this kills me it's just so pure it is like she's just this is this is everybody just like a typical like teenage girl so excited about like rekindling a relationship and calling your sister like your best friend be like it's all it's all like it's all happening you know like oh it kills me it's awful so at some point they left josh's house for the woods nearby and they made their way to an isolated area in the trees and this probably gonna kill her probably kills her mom too because her mom was so specific about do not go in those woods exactly 15 year old's

gonna 15 year old of course and nothing would have ever gone through becca's mind like i shouldn't go into the woods because he's gonna kill me she would have never walked into those woods if she had any inkling that he was gonna do something she probably was just like oh this is like a fun little like romantic little rendezvous exactly yeah it's like you know that's what she was thinking in her head yeah like oh my god taking me for a walk Did you ever go into the woods with boys?

No, I didn't, actually.

You liked it? Like, I would have, like, little meetups that, like, there was this really cute boy.

But I can get it. Like, I could get why that would be.

Yeah, and, like, why it's exciting.

Like, I have had that experience, and you're so excited.

Yeah, of course. But they'd either been talking or potentially arguing.

We don't know because, again, their relationship did get contentious at points.

And Becca turned away from Josh for a moment during this.

With her back turned to him, he grabbed her around the throat suddenly out of nowhere.

and actually was attempting to break her neck, but he didn't know how to.

And she started screaming, obviously.

And he was afraid that her screams were going to draw attention, he said.

So he grabbed a rock that was, quote unquote, the size of a rugby ball.

What the fuck? And while Becca was still facing away from him, he hit her on the back of the head with that rock.

Oh my God. So she fell to the ground and started screaming because probably most likely her skull was fractured at that point.

And he just kept hitting her and hitting her while she's down on the ground, like, face down.

Wow, what a big, tough guy.

Exactly. And he would later tell his friends, and this is very graphic, that the worst part of all of it was, quote, seeing Becca's skull give away.

Oh, my God. This was brutal.

Brutal on a level that I can't believe he's a 16 -year -old boy.

That's what is really getting me.

This is a 16 -year -old that did this to a girl he claimed to love.

Oh. He hit her a total of six times, which caused obviously significant head trauma and brain damage that would ultimately be the cause of death.

And after the sixth strike, he realized that the rock was covered in blood and hair, so he tossed it into some nearby bushes.

Wow. Just so callous.

Awesome. So callous.

You're disgusting. And he also told friends that there was blood on Becca's face, so he flipped her over to lay face down at one point.

So that, quote, nobody would see it.

What? You're leaving her in the middle of the woods.

Somebody's going to see her.

Like, if somebody finds her, they're going to examine her body, you idiot.

It's like, no, I think you flipped her over because you're a piece of shit and probably couldn't look at what you just did.

You had to look her in the face.

Exactly. Asshole. Then he left her and just went back to his aunt's house.

Just left her in the middle of the woods.

And he started working on an alibi for himself immediately.

You're a piece of shit, Josh.

Immediately. He changed his Facebook status to say that he was chilling out with friends.

And they just watched Strictly come dancing on TV.

And then he sent a bunch of texts to Becca's phone saying that people were starting to worry about her and that she better get into contact with someone to let them know where she was.

Gaslighting her even in death.

My God. Even in death, it's still gaslighting.

That is so much thought and so much wow.

And it proves that you can't go on later and say that you had gone quote unquote insane in that moment.

Yeah, you can't. You don't have an insanity defense.

You took very serious and very intentful steps to cover this up and make it look like you didn't do it because you knew that you had just murdered someone in cold blood.

And it wasn't even just like he flipped in the moment kind of thing.

And he had been talking about killing her for weeks.

Of course. And we'll find out there are entire text chains that will support that when we get time to talk to a jury.

Who are these people that are texting with him about this?

Pieces of shit, in my opinion.

Like, come on, everybody.

Jesus. Pieces of shit.

It always bums me out when you hear that like a whole group of people are like this.

It's like, what the fuck?

Where did you find each other?

Yeah. Yeah. So as the afternoon started turning over into the evening, Linda, who was the aunt of Becca and Sonia's sister.

So Linda calls Sonia and she's like, I haven't heard from Becca about where she wants to be picked up.

And I'm starting, I just have this gut feeling.

Like Linda just felt like something was off.

Yeah. This family's close.

And she actually told Sonia she isn't coming home tonight.

Oh. She just knew it.

I'd actually just, I've read that a million times.

Yeah, And Linda couldn't put into words why she felt that way.

It was just something she knew.

That's so scary. And Sonya was like, of course she's coming home tonight.

Like, she's going to be home later.

She probably just got held up somewhere.

Because I think in her mind, she was like, I can't go there right now.

Oh, of course not. And then she remembered that Becca had mentioned something about Josh's mom driving her home if it had gotten too late, like into their hangout.

But still, Linda couldn't shake the feeling.

the first indication that something definitely wasn't right came later that night when sonja or excuse me linda again called sonja to tell her that she had actually talked to josh's dad linda had and the dad told her that he hadn't seen his son or becca at all that day oh so by that evening panic really was starting to set in every call to becca was going unanswered and that that was very unsettling because before becca had left the house earlier that day sonya had actually given becca her cell phone to use because remember this is 2010 oh becca's cell phone had run out of minutes oh but sonya didn't

want her without a cell phone so she was like take mine good mama now since sonya didn't have her own phone she had to borrow a phone from her brother and it was running out of battery and it wasn't like you could just throw it on a charger and it was like good to go yeah those were the days when like you had to throw it on a charger and like let it sit.

Oh yeah. So that made her totally reliant on information from others and especially so because she was afraid to leave the house in case Becca came back.

In case she showed up.

Yeah. Right. So Sonia ended up calling the police at 7 15 p .m. to report her daughter missing and the search for Becca officially began.

This is horrifying.

It is. Now as the night unfolded, friends and family, they searched for Becca everywhere they could think of looking, anywhere she could possibly be linda and becca's little sister jess went to josh humphrey's house that the new good josh but nobody was home so from there they went to sarn where becca was supposed to meet with josh davies that afternoon like the park um now while all that was going on sonja was able to charge the phone from her brother and she was just calling becca and josh's numbers numbers over and over and over, desperate to get an answer, but getting nothing.

So Josh is just seeing millions of phone calls from this girl's mother.

Yep. And ignoring them.

Cool. Yep, totally.

And she also tried to get into contact with good Josh, but each time she would say who was calling, he would hang up on her and eventually stopped answering calls.

There's an answer for that later.

Because I was like, Josh.

I know, I was too. Good Josh.

Why am I calling you that?

Don't get mad at him.

Okay. Don't get mad at him.

Okay. There was a reason.

Now, Sonia was finally able to reach Josh Davies at his grandmother's house.

It's kind of confusing because he's at his house at one point.

He's at his aunt's house.

He's at his grandma's.

I don't know if they all just live on the same street or what.

Finally, she was able to get in contact with him at nine o 'clock that night.

My God, her panic. So Becca had left the house around one.

She's been gone for like eight hours at this point.

And he told Sonia that he actually wasn't able to meet up with Becca that afternoon.

And so So maybe she had gone to kill some time with Joshua – good Josh.

Josh Humphreys. Josh Humphreys.

Now, for a minute, Sonia was like, I guess that makes sense.

And she's in a state where she's desperate to find her daughter safe.

And that's a reasonable answer.

So she's like, okay, like in her head kind of trying to figure it out.

But then she remembered that earlier when she was talking to Becca on the phone, she had said that she saw Josh coming down the street.

So she said, are you telling me you weren't standing in front of her while she was on the phone to me?

And he paused and then said, no. Wow, liar.

So Sonia asked again, like, so did you see Becca today?

Giving him another opportunity.

Do you want to come clean here?

And he just repeated the story that he had already told.

Liar. He hadn't seen Becca, and as far as he knew, she was with Humphreys.

Your pants are on fucking fire.

God, I wish. So the police finally arrived at Sonia's house around 9 .30, And they ran the usual battery of questions.

Did she have any reason to run away?

Did she have any reason or history of doing something like this?

And so on and so forth.

It's like, yeah, let's just paint her to be somebody who just runs away when things get tough.

And it's like, the answer is no. Move on.

And so at first, of course, the officers kind of suspected that Becca had gone to a party and drank too much. So now she was waiting to sober up before coming home, not wanting to get into trouble.

Yeah, seems legit. legit.

And Sonia was like, no, Becca doesn't drink.

Probably not. Becca doesn't drink.

She said, actually, Becca did drink over the summer, this past summer, and she had a really bad experience.

She actually ended up blacking out and she fucking hated it and she never wanted to drink again.

Yeah. So, no, that's not the case.

But the police, they still insisted that this was the most logical explanation and they were going to go around and check the usual party spots.

So, they wasted time after her mom told her… She's not a partyer.

Told them she's not at a party.

And they were like, okay, we're going to go check.

We're going to go check some parties.

Which, like, I get to an extent.

I know you have to rule it out, but it's like, do you have to spread all your resources to that?

I was going to say, you want to check party spots by all means.

Send a couple officers.

But you've got to split up your resources and start checking other places, too.

You can't narrow it down right now.

Exactly. Especially when you're being told that that's probably not where to look.

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Now the rest of the night was just a flurry of phone calls, late night drives around town, just desperate, desperately searching for her.

Literal horror. No results.

So at 7 a .m. the next morning, Sonia called the police again, but they had no update for her.

Now when she called again an hour later at 8 a .m., she was told that the officer handling this specific case had been called away, quote, on a rapid response.

Oh no. So she knew.

As soon as she heard rapid response, she was like, I know.

It was harrowing. Her heart sank into her stomach and she was like, this emergency absolutely has something to do with Becca's disappearance.

And unfortunately, she was right.

Earlier that morning, officers were searching near the park where Becca was last seen, and they found her.

She was obviously, as we know, lying face down in that isolated area of the woods.

They'd spent all morning following up on leads they'd gathered throughout the night.

And they spoke to Joshua Humphreys, who told them he had been at a club the night before.

so when Sonia called from an unknown number he kept hanging up because he couldn't hear her over the music and he thought it was somebody who had the wrong number.

Oh okay. That makes sense.

I'm not going to yell at you Josh.

Exactly maybe just say.

Also like why were you at a club?

I think he might have been a little older.

I was gonna say. And also you go home.

I think you can go to clubs a little bit younger.

Yeah I think it's like it probably means something a little different than what I'm thinking of.

Yeah also um they used to have like teen nights at clubs.

Yeah. TBT to when my cell phone got stolen at one yep good times anyways he couldn't hear her so that's why he was hanging up now they then explained to Sonia that they had found Becca's body through information from actually one of Josh Davey Davey's friends Liam Thomas Liam told his mom that he knew Josh had done something to Becca so Liam's dad immediately called the police to report the information and after hearing a little more from Liam they were able to locate Becca's body Now, I'm glad that Liam finally said something.

Took a long time. Yeah, it's a little too late, I would say.

Yeah. And also, it's very interesting that you were able to send them right to where she was.

Oh, we know why. The detectives also told Sonia that they had arrested two boys that they believed were responsible, not Liam, Joshua Davies and Daniel Ninnis.

You can just imagine that if I was Sonia, I'd be like, just put me in a room with him.

Just put me in a room with him.

And she's sitting there in complete disbelief that a boy she had welcomed into her home that had played with her younger – Played with her youngest children who she treated like she would treat her own son could be responsible for this.

And she actually assumed that Daniel Ninnis was the one who was truly responsible.

Yeah, because why would you ever think it's the boy that you knew?

Right. And Ninnis actually hated Becca because Becca had turned him down on a date a year previous.

Oh my God. The fragility of these fucking boys.

Right. The fragility.

My God. So Sonia's assumption was reasonable, but the detective actually corrected her when she was like, it must have been Daniel.

He was like, no, it's Josh who's actually responsible.

And the detective chief inspector, John, I believe it's Penhal, told Sonia, I've not seen anything like it.

so liam had been the one to also bring up daniel to the police and now both daniel and josh like i said had been arrested and of course they were sitting in separate rooms blaming each other of course so it was going to take some digging and pressing to get the truth out of them but now let's get into the dynamic between the three friends and what happened the day of the before it happened that morning josh actually wasn't in bed he had met up with those two friends or excuse me, he had met up with Liam Thomas at Cafe 107 in downtown Abercanfig. They usually met on Saturday mornings for breakfast. So they

waited about a half hour for Daniel, who was supposed to meet them, but he didn't show up, so they walked to, I believe, Josh's house.

Now, during their walk, that was when Becca started texting Josh about the plans.

So later on, they ended up meeting with Daniel, and Josh told his two friends his plan to meet Becca that afternoon in the forest and said I'm finally gonna go through with my plan um guys call someone no Alina they said that they thought he was joking my god I can't and they said actually they thought he was joking and informed investigators actually that they joined in themselves and suggested various ways for Josh to kill and dispose of What is wrong with these little fucks?

Like, just typical breakfast behavior?

Yeah. The fuck? I guess by this point, everybody knew about Josh's hatred of Becca, and killing her was just a regular topic of their conversation.

That's so fucked up.

Because a few weeks later, excuse me, a few weeks earlier, when the three of them had met up at that breakfast cafe, the subject had come up.

And when they all parted ways after breakfast, Josh texted Liam, who I don't like, and said, what would you do if I actually did kill her?

And he responded. Liam said, oh, I would buy you a breakfast. I would buy you a breakfast. If you murdered a human being.

Wow. So, like, round them all up.

Cool that you told your daddy and your mommy that you were so scared.

Yeah. and that Josh had done something.

You knew that he was going to do something the entire time, and you lolled and said you were going to buy him breakfast for it.

Yeah, these are disgusting little shits.

So go fuck yourself, Liam, truly.

Now, around 1 o 'clock that afternoon, Josh headed out, as we know, to meet Becca.

And before walking off, he solidified what he was going to go do and said to his friends, the time has come.

straight up implying that he was about to go head off and kill his ex -girlfriend.

And not one of them said shit to their parents.

Yeah, no, I'm not impressed.

Not at all. Not impressed by these kids.

It's like, sure, maybe he was joking the first 99 million times.

But if your friend is walking away from you implying that they're heading off to go murder someone, call someone.

Yeah. And then reevaluate your friendship.

That's the thing. I'm like, what are you doing?

So about an hour and a half had gone by, and Liam decided to text Josh to find out what was going on.

It's like, were you excited?

Yeah, like, did you do it?

So his text went unanswered, because as we know, that was going on.

So Josh's silence prompted both boys to actually leave Daniel's house and walk down to the park where Josh said he was going to meet Becca.

Which to me says, they were starting to worry that he was going to do something.

Absolutely. They were going down to see if it was happening.

Mm -hmm. But after finding nobody there, they returned to Daniel's house.

And a short time later, they ended up calling Josh, and he actually answered.

And they were like, are you still with Becca?

And his answer was, define with.

I want to wail on this kid.

Like, I cannot. I would.

Vlogging. I would get on a plane to Wales just to like throw a cup of piss in his face.

Just to spit in his eye.

literally. My God. So he said define with and then he asked both boys to come back to the area to meet him which they did and they got there just after 2 30.

So this all happened very quickly.

So standing at the entrance to the forest Liam called Josh again and when he answered Josh demanded to speak with Daniel and he said Daniel needed to come meet him in that remote part of the woods.

The only reason that Liam didn't go with him is because he was on crutches because Because of a rugby injury.

So off Daniel went into the forest. Mark my motherfucking words, if that boy hadn't been on crutches, his ass would have been following like the little piece of shit follower he was.

Like the little lamb that he is.

So Daniel returned a little bit later and told Liam that he had seen Becca's body lying face down on the ground and said that Josh didn't seem fazed or upset by any of it.

Oh my God. And then they all went back to Daniel's house to hang.

oh okay he had just taken a human life and showed you showed you it and now you're all just gonna bro out this afternoon disgusting what the mother fuck dude truly disgusting so at the house josh told them everything that happened i don't know if daniel was like overwhelmed or couldn't accept it or if he's a fucking piece of shit i think the latter but he didn't seem at all emotional liam said now liam was starting to freak the fuck out as you should he couldn't tell whether janiel and josh were telling the truth but at the same time nothing about what they were saying felt right to him so he

called his mom and asked him asked her to pick him up as soon as possible and before he left josh made liam delete all the text messages between them and told both of his friends if anybody asked to say that they had all been together all afternoon my god this kid is is diabolical.

And also, sweetie pie sugar buns, text messages don't go anywhere.

Exactly. If they want those, they're going to get those, honey.

So when he was arrested, Josh Davies told the police, oh, it was all Daniel.

He murdered Becca. I had nothing to do with it.

No, of course not. He said he had only told Daniel that he killed Becca in order to prank him because LOL.

And then when Daniel arrived at the scene and discovered that Becca was in fact not dead, he went into a rage and grabbed a rock from the ground and murdered her in anger.

Yeah, that's likely.

What? Seems like a legit scenario.

Didn't take long for investigators to determine that that was a lie.

Yeah. And Daniel Ninnis was actually released into his parents' custody 36 hours after he was arrested.

Which he shouldn't be.

No, and I think Liam should have been arrested in my opinion.

You're an accessory.

I agree. You were there.

So the news about Becca's murder and the arrest of the two local boys was reported a few days later to the absolute shock and horror of this small community.

Horrifying. The area actually had recently seen a large uptick in the number of murders that year.

And at that point, it was second on the list to the village of Pontripit, I believe, as Wales' murder capital.

Oh my god. So they were like, what the fuck is going on around here?

And then the details in Becca's case, they seemed worse than anything else that had gone on that year.

And it would only get worse when more details would come out in trial.

Oh god. Now, because Josh was a minor at the time of this, the police actually couldn't release his name to the public.

So nobody knew who this was.

But they were able to release his age, which, again, came as a major shock to this community.

He was—I think I may have accidentally said earlier that he was 16.

He was 15. Oh, my God.

15. That's horrifying.

Like, it's one thing for a teenager to be murdered by an adult, but, like, that's horrific and terrifying and scary.

but for a teenager to brutally kill another teenager for quite literally zero fucking reason that community was rocked yeah they were terrified and they were like of course is this the start of some kind of social shift that no one wants to go through what the fuck so josh actually pleaded not guilty to becca's murder okay even though there was a ton of evidence against him and interviews to the contrary but he continued to insist that it was Daniel who had killed Becca and since his arrest he had been housed at I believe it's Vinnie Green it's on the outskirts of Bristol and it's for young offenders

who have committed like really serious crimes so like an intense juvie yeah now the authorities were actually so nervous that the inmates might want to take revenge like the local inmates who would maybe would have known Becca or even still just like knew where she was from yeah they were scared that they were going to want to like like, retaliate.

And so they couldn't tell anybody that Josh was in there for the murder of a local girl.

So instead, they said that he was being held on possession of GHB.

I was like, okay. Yeah, let's not do that.

Like, let's not protect him.

I agree, but at the same time, I'm like, protect him during the trial so that the family can get peace and then feed him to the fucking wolves.

But then, but then you deal with the consequences of your actions, my friend.

Exactly. And I think that's kind of what this was.

as it was like, let's get through trial.

Yeah, no, it makes sense.

It's just like initial reaction.

You're like, no, don't hide what he did.

Oh, that's my initial reaction too.

But you are absolutely correct.

So he was mostly kept away from the other inmates to avoid any issue before trial.

Now, after eight months of negotiations, plannings, pre -trial hearings, it all took forever.

Josh Davies' trial finally began at the Crown Court of Swansea on June 22nd, 2011.

And it was expected to last around five weeks.

So the prosecutor was Greg Taylor, and in his opening statement, he told the jury all about the breakup, how Josh had bragged about wanting to kill Becca for a while now.

He continued to place the blame for her murder on his best friend.

And he said to the jury, quote, there's no doubt Rebecca was murdered.

She was hit a number of times to the head with a rock in a forest in Abercanfig. It was raining.

She was left for dead on the forest floor and new clothes bought for her the day before.

The prosecution says this boy sitting on the bench before you committed the murder.

And then he went on to tell the jury in full detail about all the abuse that Becca had suffered from Josh in the months after their breakup and during their relationship.

Fuck this kid. And he included when he was telling the jury that Josh had told a friend, I want to make her life hell and you won't convince me otherwise.

What the fuck was wrong with him?

So many things. Ugh.

Oh. Now to close out his opening statement, Taylor drove home just how callous and cold Josh was by telling the jury about the breakfast bet between the friends.

That's truly incredible.

And then told them about the group chat that the three of them shared where they went back and forth with ideas on how to kill Becca.

You know, jokingly.

That's why these other two should be in trouble.

I agree too. You're an accessory.

Like what are you doing?

And I'm worried about you two if you were talking about them.

And I don't understand why they couldn't have been got on conspiracy to commit murder.

That's exactly what this was.

They were planning it.

Exactly. It's so messed up.

You want to pretend it was a joke?

It's not. She was murdered.

So now you're in trouble.

And you should be. Yeah.

So that's really frustrating to me that they weren't.

It's infuriating. The first two witnesses called on the first day of trial were Becca's friends, and they were able to give even more details about the abuse and the constant talk of killing Becca.

One of the friends actually who was testifying had even been in a fight with Josh over how he was treating Becca, but things were getting so contentious that Becca actually texted him thanking him for standing up for her, but saying not to because it was basically implying it would just make things worse.

Yeah. Now, the third witness called that day was Becca's mom, Sonia.

Among other things, she told the jury about her daughter's relationship with Josh, the way he had been welcomed into her family and she told the jury how she had been and she said she was very cross with him in that past year for how he was treating becca after the breakup and she told them how she was anxious that fall when becca started bringing up the idea of getting back together with him and finally she told the jury all about the morning that becca had spent getting ready so excitedly to meet josh that kills me she said how she was so excited she couldn't even sleep.

She told them about the bubble bath that she had prepared for Becca to get ready, just like a little girl time.

Yeah. And how nervous Becca was, but excited to start their relationship back up again.

That kills me. And I'm, I, it must have been fucking gut -wrenching for her to go through that.

Yeah. But I'm so glad she got the opportunity to paint that picture for the jury.

Yeah. Like my little girl was so fucking excited for this, and this is what he did to her.

Oh, that's fucked. So when she finished answering the prosecutor's questions, Sonia prepared herself for the cross -examination by Josh's defense lawyer, Peter Rauch. Since Josh had tried to place all the blame on Daniel, Sonia was expecting a ton of questions about Daniel and his relationship with Becca.

But he only had one singular, very bizarre question for Sonia.

Just one. He asked her, could Becca swim?

And when Sonia said no, she couldn't, he declared he had no further questions.

That's chilling. How weird is that?

Now, the question confused Sonia, and it would actually be weeks until she learned it was asked because there was a supposed plan that Josh Davies had developed with Daniel Ninnis to throw Becca into a lake or quarry, which he thought would be easy because of her inability to swim.

That is, my brain like won't even comprehend this.

I don't really understand what the defense thought they were doing here.

Like, what was the rest of your line of questioning?

Or was it bolstered when she said, no, she couldn't swim?

Well, I think that's probably like, but what a risky move to make.

Yeah, it backfired.

Because it's like, that was a 50 -50 shot.

If she says yes, then maybe you can say, well, then this wasn't him planning her death.

She can swim. like they were just gonna that must have been pranking her right but if there's a 50 shot she says no and then you've just outed the fact that he was definitely planning to kill her because she couldn't swim well and i think that's why he had no line of further questioning like why would you even give that a shot that is a risky that's bad lawyer bad lawyer bad lawyer now there was a ton of testimony given in court but once they had adjourned for the day all the press could report on was the ridiculous joke about Josh winning a free breakfast and that was actually the headline that I

saw and I was like what the fuck so I started reading about this case now the headline of the times the next day read youth murdered girl after promise of a free breakfast so fucked up like sensationalizing this entire thing yeah and also completely ignoring the detailed accounts of abuse and threats that led up to the murder yeah he didn't just murder her for free breakfast exactly way more at play there but of course following lead countless other news outlets honed in on the free breakfast just concentrated on that and this became the free breakfast case of course it's like you're completely

ignoring the themes of domestic violence and abuse here but cool can we please talk about that now of course while it may have been blown out of proportion the comment about the free breakfast was of significance to the prosecution's case because it shows how callous and cold no it's definitely important for sure but it's the The fact that it was sensationalized by the media is not cool.

And the fact that it's being, like, touted as, like, this is why he did it.

It's like, no, it's even worse.

Yeah. That, like, there really is no reason.

Like, that was just a joke.

Mm -hmm. But for the prosecution, they were like, we can use this because it shows intent and premeditation.

That I understand. I totally get that.

A little malice of forethought.

There you go. So, the jury was actually shown two text message chains between the friends.

The first messages shown were sent the week before and included that original comment about the breakfast. And the second chain occurred the Thursday before the murder, and I'm going to read it to you.

Okay. So Josh texts Liam and says, don't say anything, but you may just owe me a breakfast. What the fuck?

And Liam says, best text I ever had, mate.

Seriously. If it is true, I'm happy to pay for a breakfast. Pick up Liam, everybody.

Let's go pick up that little shit stain.

Then Josh said, I hope by then it will be done and dusted.

Liam said, I want all the details, you sadistic bastard. Smiley face.

Josh said, large breakfast with extras of everything.

And Liam writes back, sick, sick boy.

You are fucked. Fucked and you are just as motherfucking guilty.

guilty that that's like shocking that kid was just out fine like free sick sick boy also you guys are being fucking weird well i was just gonna say are you all right yeah like like okay do you need a minute and then to act like you're this terrified little puppy dog who's so scared that you're gonna get in trouble that you had to call mommy to come get you go fuck yourself like here you are talking a big game to your friend the murderer and did you tell your mom that part Were you scared of yourself?

Did you tell your mom that you wanted every detail and you told him that with a winky smiley face?

And that you were the one going to get the free breakfast?

Did you let mommy and daddy know that?

Did you let them know?

Liam, you piece of shit.

I'm like red in the face.

I'm so angry. I can feel it.

That's so gross. So in the next day at trial, Daniel Ninnis and Liam Thomas' statements were given in two parts.

First, the jury saw video testimony where both boys gave their accounts of what happened.

and then each boy was called to the stand to testify again to what they had seen and heard on the day of the murder and I hope they were shaking in their fucking boots.

And I hope everyone on that jury saw them for exactly what they were accessories to murder.

Exactly. There were slight variations in their stories of course because they're two teenage boys and they're not going to see things the same but they were pretty much the same.

And like many of the other teenagers who gave statements and testimony they both said they never took Josh seriously.

Daniel told the prosecutor, I thought it was a joke, a sort of slag off sort of thing.

God, shut the fuck up.

But he did admit to the jury and to the prosecutor that in the weeks before the murder, Josh's violent rhetoric got, quote unquote, a lot more weird and specific.

But still, everyone just thought he was angry and just talking shit.

But still, we decided, let's not say anything.

Eh, whatever. Yeah.

So after the testimony from Ninnis and Thomas to pieces of human garbage and wet lettuce and everything awful in the world, like that junk that gets caught in your dish strainer when you're like in the sink and it starts to smell bad.

Absolutely. After that, a forensic analysis provided the jury with an overview of the physical evidence collected at the scene, which included 12 fibers from Josh's jacket on the rock that had been used.

So you really want to sit there and say it was Daniel?

Daniel, good try. Not going to lie, Daniel's a piece of shit.

I was going to say, they're all pieces of shit, but varying levels of pieces of shit.

Exactly. Now, the pathologist, Dr. Stephen Ledberger, I believe it is, provided a detailed account of the injuries that Becca had sustained.

He told the court, Given the fragmentation of the skull, there had been blunt impact to the back of the head, but the grazes, bruising, and splits to the face might not have been due to direct impact, but from the surface against which the face was lying, lying against further impact from the back of the head okay so basically what he was saying was like there was a lot of damage to the back of the head but then when we looked at the front of her face there were scratches and bruises everywhere but that was because he was essentially beating her into the ground from the like as she was lying face

down oh that's awful brutal absolutely brutal truly and his and his testimony stressed how brutal this was because not only had josh tried to break Becca's neck.

He also continued this assault on her after she was motionless on the ground.

This was overkill. So closing arguments were given by the prosecution and the defense on July 21st, and then the jury adjourned to deliberate.

And they actually deliberated for nearly three days.

Oh, wow. And they returned their verdict on Wednesday, July 27th.

Guilty guilty as fuck guilty guilty guilty so on september 2nd 2011 josh headed back to swansea for sentencing and the judge in the case justice lloyd jones read him to fucking filth good and showed just how disgusted he was with josh's complete lack of remorse for the murder he described him as devious calculating and controlling and added that he robbed the aylward and outley families of watching their quote precious and perfect girl flourish into to a successful young woman.

It's so true. It is because she would have been like a star in this world.

Yeah, she would have. She would have gone on to do huge things.

And she would have added like so much kindness to wherever she was.

She just seemed like that way.

Oh, it makes me so sick.

Now, when he finished with Josh, he sentenced him to life in prison with a minimum of 14 years, which was the maximum penalty allowed for an underage offender.

Bye, bitch. And when the trial concluded, Sonia was able to make a statement to the press where she called for the return of the death penalty.

Oh, damn. And told them she hoped Josh would never see the outside of prison again.

She said... I don't think I blame her.

I don't blame her at all.

I would have said the exact same thing.

Yeah? She said, we will never forgive him for tearing our world apart so brutally.

And I would welcome the return of capital punishment for the likes of Joshua Davies, who forfeited his human rights when he chose to take my daughter's life.

Yeah, and I don't blame her one bit.

I still, like, my goosebumps have goosebumps.

I don't blame her one bit.

Nope. I would have said the exact same thing.

That's her baby. And that's like her first baby.

Yeah. That is your baby girl.

You have a right to say whatever the hell you want to this piece of filth.

Like Becca made her a mom.

Yeah. And he took that away.

Oh, I can't. He could never take that away, but he took Becca.

Took that baby away from her.

So at the end of the day, Sonia was as happy as she could be with the outcome of the trial, and she knew that the judge imposed the maximum sentence allowed. So there was that.

Mm -hmm. Now, overall, just the fact that a teenager could be so cruel to murder his ex -girlfriend for what they thought was a free breakfast was totally sensational, like I was saying, and readers were shocked around the UK.

But I think it's so important to stress that it wasn't about free breakfast. Josh was controlling and he was abusive and he manipulated Becca during their relationship and after it.

I think he hoped that dumping her would be devastating to her, but it wasn't.

So this was like a final dig when he didn't have any use for her anymore.

Because she didn't need you.

And that's what upset him.

That's exactly, exactly what it was.

He was an abuser, and I think killing Becca was his final act of control over her.

Absolutely. Now when the trial ended, Sonia actually ended up moving her family away from the area to start the grieving process.

And in 2014, she published Bye Mom, I Love You.

which is a memoir about her experience with the justice system in the wake of becca's murder oh my god destroy my heart and i actually ended up using it a lot for research on this case and so did dave dave and now in 2018 josh davies actually finally confessed to becca's murder interestingly enough he actually confessed in 2018 though but you had said he didn't get he was very vague he was very vague his reasons for murder still remain unclear piece of shit to the the end.

And Sonia believes that his confession was only made in preparation for an appeal.

Yeah. Which I agree.

I absolutely agree with that.

She told reporters, he's only doing it for his own benefit.

Not that he has any empathy for this family.

It's cruel. It is cruel.

Mm -hmm. Now, if that is the case, like if he does try to go up for an appeal or probation or anything like that, Sonia and Becca's sister Jess are ready and waiting with their own victim impact statements and they are hoping that that will keep josh in jail for as long as humanly possible.

hell yeah. and i will get on a fucking plane to wales if they need me to and stand there next to them.

after hearing this i'm like hell yes.

like keep that motherfucker in jail.

is there a petition?

i don't i don't think anything has happened yet like no kind of appeal that i saw.

when the time comes if there's an appeal we're doing it.

get that shit going.

hell yeah. because Because that is a horrifying tale.

A horrifying, horrifying tale.

It reminds me of the Slenderman stabbing.

It does, yeah, it's got that same vibe to it.

It does, but even— It's just the kid stuff.

Kids hurting kids, like always, oof.

It's just awful. Destroys me.

And it's like, oh, for what?

So senseless. Yeah.

For what? For your ego?

Because you're a piece of shit and exactly, for your ego.

How is your ego doing now?

Yeah, seriously. How's it doing, Joff?

How you doing in there?

and he thought he was gonna get away with it yeah of course he did he thought he was diabolical he was like oh i got this i'm cunning i can do it and then i'll just go get free breakfast i'll get free breakfast and i'll blame it on my friend and it'll be fine i hope the every breakfast he has gives him food poisoning oh yeah for sure yeah fuck you diarrhea fuck you fuck you but yeah guys horrifying that was the sad sad case of rebecca aylward wow well thank you for sharing No prob.

So yeah, guys. We hope you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it weird. I don't have to tell you not to keep it this weird. And if I do, oh my God.

Call someone. Everyone.

Or someone to call someone for you.

Call, call, call. Yeah.

911. What's your emergency?

This. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

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[레베카 아일워드의 비극적인 사건: 통제와 집착이 낳은 15세 소녀의 죽음]-[Episode 444: Rebecca Aylward]

📋 Summary

15세 소녀 레베카 아일워드의 비극적 죽음

조슈아 데이비스의 기만과 가스라이팅

'무료 아침 식사'라는 잔혹한 살인 계획

사건 당일의 진실

재판과 그 이후

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript