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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.
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Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is a mini-morbid.
It's so mini. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini morbid.
Mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbid. And it's an ash-centric mini morbid.
I feel like it's been a while since I did a mini.
It has been a while. I think the last mini I did was like that really good one that people actually liked.
Oh, the Daniel LaPlante one? Yeah. So I hope that everybody really likes this one.
You have to live up to that. That's tough to live up to. this one is good this is a great one I'm excited for it but I'm nervous Daniel's a hard act to follow it's Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood You've been around my kids too long.
Yeah I have. You really have. We want to talk to you about where you can get these really fucking cool shirts. do you know where you can get them if you go over to instagram and type in murder m-u-r-d-e-r apparel A P P A R E L. I think you can check out their website.
If you go to their bio and click the link.
And you could find our shirt that says Morbid and it's like a planchette and it's really fucking cool and we like love it.
Says morbid. Says morbid. Says it. And you can find other shirts that are like Freddy Krueger that say like Stay Woke.
And the husband did it. And dead inside, which yes, I am.
And I just got one that says basically a detective and it's one of my favorite shirts.
Love that. So if you want one of those shirts and you also want to get 25% off of your order, you can use our code MORBID.
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Do it. Please. You want to. You won't regret it.
You will not. That's all. Also, so I guess there was like a little bit of. drums on the facebook group this week guys we're really sorry yeah It wasn't anything crazy or big.
It was just kind of like people were like slightly uncomfortable by a post that was made.
And I think. It just slipped by us because we have not been as vigilant on the Facebook page as we could be.
Mainly because we're not good at it, so...
We are not good at Facebook. So we really gave it a shot.
But I announced it on the page as soon as I saw this happening. that we're going to be grabbing some of you fine, beautiful people to help us moderate the page.
And I asked you guys to send me emails. We got a ton.
So thank you so much for that. I'm peeking through them right now.
Like right when we get done recording this, I'm gonna go through them all.
And so thank you so much for even being willing to do this for us.
Yeah, we really appreciate that because honestly, we need you.
It's a huge help, a huge weight off our shoulders.
And I know some of you are way better than we could ever be at this. this kind of thing.
So I just wanted to thank you for being willing to.
Guys, we also just want to say that if you have gone through anything in the past, like trauma or anything, anything that you need to work out, there is absolutely no shame in going to therapy or talking to a friend or...
Just let it out. Talk to somebody in a safe outlet that you trust.
Exactly. It makes you feel so much better when you have someone to talk to.
And there's zero shame in it. Self-care is necessary.
Guys, I have a therapist. She's lit. I love her.
She's lit. She's not lit like that. No, she's just great.
She's the best. And again, and honestly, we hope the group is a place, the whole podcast.
A safe space. Is for it to be a safe space for everybody to talk about whatever they want to, but just...
You know, we just need to make some boundaries so that everybody feels safe.
Right. And I think what happened was people just felt uncomfortable, and I don't want everybody feeling uncomfortable.
I just want to thank you guys for being right on top of it and letting us know what was going on.
And again, mental health is serious. Take care of yourself and take care of the people you love.
Yeah. And we love you. We love you so much.
So we're going to take care of you. We are.
Come here, you little nuggets. Just come here.
We just love you. So because this is a mini episode, we don't really have any business to get to.
We'll save that for next week when we come at you live with...
Part two of Phoebe Hanschuk. Yes. But it won't be live.
So anyways, let's just dive into this mini morbid right now.
It's really late just seeing this. Guys, my birthday's tomorrow.
It's true. This is my last podcast as a 22-year-old.
Guys, that's big. It's huge. It's huge. My last meal was my favorite pizza joint.
As a 22-year-old, my last meal. I was just going to say, what's going to happen?
I don't know. God only knows what 23 has in store.
Anyways, so Jesse Madison Holton grew up in eclectic Alabama.
And this caught my eye because it kept saying eclectic teen and I thought it was going to be like an eccentric teen.
Yeah. But it was just where he was from.
Aww. I love that, though. Yeah, I'm from Eclectic, Alabama.
So... Before high school, he wasn't really popular and he was actually teased a little bit in like middle school and those years for being like the small skinny kid.
Aww. But then right around like senior year of high school, he had a growth spurt and he was suddenly popular because that's how life works.
Hey, good for him, man. You get tall and you get chicks.
Yeah. That's what happens. What happens?
I don't know. It's just life. So by all accounts, growing up, he was sweet, helpful, like a very typical kid.
But senior year is when he kind of started to act out a little bit.
Wow, he was like a late bloomer with the acting out.
He was a very late bloomer with the acting out.
Uh, cause I started acting out and like fucking like I was five.
Yeah. I'm just kidding. You were on that like right out of the womb.
I was like, it's time, bitches. You're like, I'm rebelling against things I don't even know exist yet.
I have arrived. arrived and i am here with a vengeance i made my voice really weird for that it's cool I liked it.
So he kind of started, like I said, acting out.
He was hanging out with a new crowd of people.
So I think that's kind of where it came from.
The bad kids. Yeah, he was on the wrong path.
He was smoking and drinking and partying just like everybody else.
And his parents weren't really happy about it because parents are never happy when you're Parents just don't understand.
Parents are just never happy. I am a parent.
Parents just don't understand. That's a song, right?
Yeah. It's Will Smith. Parents just don't understand.
Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah, they were like pissed off and they were like, hey, maybe you should stop doing this.
And there had been like multiple incidents where they were like, you know, like if you do this again and then he did it again. so it's like okay stop doing that we've asked you nicely and also his parents were going through some of their own shit they had decided to get separated.
Which really sucks. You're like a senior in high school and you're Yeah.
And it's like he's going through all this stuff.
You're going through all this stuff. That house was probably like tension filled.
There was two other kids, too. I believe he was the oldest.
They don't really talk about his siblings a lot.
And I watched this case on Dateline. Nice.
So yeah, me and Lester were like chilling.
Wasn't Keith. No it wasn't I was really bummed It's okay But Lester will do Lester will do Yeah In a pinch.
In a pinch, just grab a Lester. Yeah, like I said, they were getting separated, but they were on the same page when it came to Madison. so oh yeah also he goes by madison his name i was literally like i don't know what that means They were on the same page when it came to Madison because Jesse Madison Holton went by. madison oh okay so like like his name's essentially not jesse i guess oh okay So they agreed that if he kept going down this path with the people that he was going down it with, they were going to have him locked up in juvie.
Whoa, because he was making some really bad decisions.
I was going to say, so he was really going at it.
Yeah. That didn't really scare Madison at all because kids are dumb.
Yeah. So it just didn't work out. Yeah, that's...
Really it? The only explanation I have for you.
And on a Sunday of all days, he decided to have a house party at his dad's house.
That is a weird day to do that. So it was September 11th, 2016, when he decided to throw this house party while his dad was at work.
God help my kids. They ever decide to do that.
I wrote hashtag casual. Very casual. Your dad is just at work.
He's going to come back. He's at work. It's on a Sunday.
And I'm like, what time was this? That's what I'm wondering.
It was like, it must have been around like noon-ish, maybe like two based on an event that happens later.
What a weird time to have a house party.
It's like almost like he was having like a barbecue, but it like wasn't a barbecue.
Oh, okay. You know what I mean? It just kind of turned into something else.
I'm confused, Jesse. Where are the hot dogs?
I don't know. I don't get it. He had bongs.
No hot dogs. Oh, okay. So it didn't really go to plan.
I'm shocked. Another parent called Michael, Madison's dad, who was at work, like I said.
And was like, yeah, my kid just came home from your house wasted.
So what the fuck is going on? Oh, no. So, Michael, who, by the way, was the former mayor.
Oh. Yep, he was like a fire chief. I want to say he was...
I don't think he was a police officer, but he was like a fire chief and then became the mayor.
He was literally all the things. He was very prominent in the town.
Like everybody knew him. So he goes home to find this rager going on with drugs and bongs and, like, shit everywhere.
And he... flips out can't say I blame him no of course not calls the cops so when the cops see like I'm sure he like kicks everybody out too yeah When the cops get there, Michael tells them that he has Madison handcuffed inside.
Like, he handcuffed Madison. Which I'm like...
I mean, do what you gotta do. Do your parenting.
And it's obviously this kid was big, huge trouble.
If they were thinking of having him put in juvie, then he has already shown that he is like beyond. right so he might have even been like dangerous yeah that's true yeah The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
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So, yeah, he was Michael was asking the deputies what he and Madison's mom, who was also there at that point, he called her and was like, you need to come down to my house, like.
Madison's fucked up again. That old chestnut.
So he was basically asking the deputies what him and Madison's mom could do to get Madison in front of a judge and like sent to juvie.
Good for him, man. Because they just wanted him to get straightened out.
Yeah, you've got to take control. So the deputies were like, well, it's Sunday.
So tomorrow what you can do is come down and you can get a copy of the report and then we'll go from there.
Oh my god, this must be so horrifying. And then they leave, because they don't have to arrest him.
I don't know how it worked that he didn't get arrested, but...
Yeah, he didn't. Well, yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah. So they leave. So 11 minutes after that.
The police get another call and are rushing back to Madison's house.
Oh no. Where his dad was laying dead on the ground.
Oh, I knew it. And his mom was dying. They had both been shot.
Oh no, I knew this was going to happen. So Madison's story is that right after the cops left, his mom and dad went into the master bedroom to kind of, like, the dad was like come in here so we can talk about what's going on yeah and then Madison was like outside because they just wanted to have like a private word yeah So Madison says they went into the master bedroom to speak privately and then suddenly it turned violent.
He says he kicked the door open after he heard his mom yell help.
And... he saw his dad like, like holding his mom, like in like a violent way, sort of like in like a way where it was like, he was scared.
So Madison says that he ran to get help at the neighbor's house.
And that's when his dad shot his mom and then turned the gun on himself and shot himself.
That seems like a very quick turn of events to go from A to Z.
So, the only issue with that story is the logistics of the gunshot wound.
Yeah, I was gonna say, and it's pretty easy to tell when someone has... Right.
Yeah. So at first it looked as though that Michael had shot himself in the mouth.
But then when investigators turned his body around... they realized that he had done this to him if he had done this to himself.
He would have had to use his left hand, and he was right-handed. he would have had to reach around to the back of his head, turn the gun upside down at a slight angle, and then pull the trigger.
I don't see what's so weird about this. It just doesn't seem very likely.
I mean, yeah. Not the most likely scenario, but, you know.
And it didn't seem likely to the pathologist either who determined Michael's death a homicide.
Yeah, quite obviously. So Madison, which how dumb are you, Madison?
Right. It's like you shot him in the back of the head and you're like, no, he did it.
No, he killed himself. He totally did it.
So, well, and Madison was the only suspect, obviously.
Yeah. So he was brought in immediately for questioning.
But his story never changed. Like, not once.
He claimed to be innocent and said there's no way he pulled the trigger because he was running to get help.
But there's some things about Madison's story that don't exactly add up.
Huh. He said he didn't hear the gunshot, like any of the gunshots while he was running to his neighbor's house.
But when Investor... Investigator Lester?
Yes, Investor. But when investigators got the chance to recreate the scene... it would have been essentially impossible not to hear the gunshots.
The neighbor's house was like 250 feet away.
Yeah, so that makes sense. And they recreated the whole thing, like sent somebody over there and it was like, you hear gunshots from like miles.
I was going to say, I mean, you can hear, maybe not miles.
Gunshots from like... you know, a far distance, what seems like a town over sometimes, you know, So he also didn't seem very upset by the death of his parents at all.
And in a video, he's actually caught flipping off the sheriff right after he leaves the room.
Oh, damn. Kids are so fucking dumb. It's like, dude, have you seen any crime television?
Like you're being recorded right now. It's just like.
Just control yourself. Not that I want him to, because I want him to be caught.
But it's like... Just don't do that stupid shit.
They do such dumb things. He also is recorded on a phone in jail.
It's like video recorded right in front of him. asking if any of the girls he slept with are like, quote, oh damn, I fucked a murderer.
Oh my god. Yeah. Interesting grieving techniques that he was going through.
Very interesting. Yeah. You know, it's very important to know.
We all grieve in our own way. Yeah, totally.
Who are we to judge? Also, the sheriff was like really pissed off about the fact that, which I don't blame him.
Madison was like really sad that he couldn't go to homecoming.
But every interview the sheriff gave, he was like, all he was concerned about was homecoming.
Fucking homecoming. Like he said it in almost every interview that they had on Dateline.
Because he was just like, what the actual fuck?
He's like, fuck your homecoming. So a week after the deaths of his parents, Madison was officially charged with both murders.
Shocked. His friends and family, including his mom, his mom's family, who he... supposedly shot in the head or not yeah she she was shot twice because she had one bullet go through her hand She put her hand up to stop it.
And then she got shot, I think, in the side back.
She was turning away. That's awful. Whenever I hear about them getting like because you hear that every once in a while.
Like a defensive wound. A defensive wound like through the hand because you just picture someone because you would put your hand up.
Right. Not that it's going to stop anything, but it's so sad.
So, like I said, his friends and family stopped by him and they said there was no way in hell that he could have committed. a double murder like this I feel like anybody who says that though needs to like take a step back and be like This is what every single person says about an actual confirmed murderer.
I'm about to take you on a totally different path than the movement going down.
Oh, man. I love these ones. During the investigation, a lot came out about Michael, too, the dad.
Oh, yeah. So was he capable of killing his wife and then turning the gun on himself?
I just don't know. So Madison and friends of the family.
And the family all agree that Michael was having a very hard time accepting the divorce.
Okay. When he found out that April, who was the mother. was seeing somebody else.
According to Madison, he was distraught.
He called her and said he couldn't live without her.
And... In the investigation, they found pages from his diary. which are like very freaky.
A little dark. And yeah, so he wrote, quote, I loved you more than you will ever know I just can't go on knowing you're with somebody else I know you will say I'm being selfish but it was either me or the both of us Oh, yeah.
You know, that seems a little fishy when you line it up against a double homicide.
And... It was also revealed that at the time of his death, Michael was on tramadol, oxycodone, and hydrocodone.
Wowzer. All at once. Wow. Yeah. That is a lot of.
That's a lot. That's a lot of drugs. That's just a thing right there.
And obviously they asked the family about this and it was revealed that Michael was had a drug problem.
And they knew it, but they, like, the family knew it, but it was just not something that was talked about.
It's just one of those things that gets...
Brushed under the rug, which it often does happen in families a lot.
So then there was the physical evidence that corroborated Madison's story.
Michael had scratches on his face and April had Michael's DNA under her nails.
Oh. And... There was no blood on Madison whatsoever.
Which doesn't really make sense. Doesn't make sense, but also it was a very small... One of the arguments that the... not defense attorney, but the prosecutors made was that it was a very small gun.
So it wouldn't necessarily give that much like, A lot of blowback.
But you would assume that there would be like some blood on him.
Yeah. Or like... gunshot residue. They didn't mention anything in the Dateline that I watched about the gunshot residue, but I'm like, why didn't they just check his hands?
I was going to say, because normally they would swab his hands for... Right.
So they must not have found anything. Huh.
So things continue to point toward Madison's story being true. when he met Greg Biggs at church.
Greg Biggs just so happened to be a former FBI agent and state's attorney.
Oh, so when he met Madison at church, he had no idea that Madison was indicted on a double murder charge.
He was like, what the fuck? When he found out.
Oh, hey. So when he got closer to the family, he wanted to kind of help the family because he believed that Madison was innocent.
So he offered to go over all of the paperwork and everything like that.
So the most key part of his findings have to do with the gun and the argument of whether or not Michael would have been able to shoot himself at the angle in which he was shot.
So using the exact same gun, he replicated the scenario.
Okay. And he showed it wasn't actually that difficult at all to carry out a self-inflicted gunshot wound the way that Michael would have had to.
All he would have had to done is just reach into the back of his head.
And when you reach, it's like your hand flips anyway.
Oh yeah, it flips kind of to the side. So that's why the gun was upside down.
Oh, it does. Right. Your hand automatically flips.
Right. And we're literally both slightly angled.
We're both sitting here with our hands and finger guns.
And we just keep... Like over and over again.
And we're looking at each other going, oh my God, it does.
And if you look, it's slightly angled every time.
For sure. Because the gun literally was like about the size of our finger guns.
I'm sorry, I don't know exactly what gun.
It was like a handgun. A small handgun. Yeah, it was very small.
That doesn't make sense. At first I was like, that's ridiculous.
That doesn't make sense. Then you do it with your finger gun and it makes sense.
Exactly. I'm so stressed out. There's that.
And then let's also remember that the first time the deputies were called to the house, Michael came out and said Madison was handcuffed.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I actually wondered that.
I was like, did they just go in and like unhandcuffed him and be like...
They gonna pick you up tomorrow, son. That's what I thought they were doing.
And I was like, oh, he was probably pissed and didn't want to go to jail.
No, I think, well, that's like what the whole prosecutor's argument was.
But I think when they left, he was still handcuffed.
And according to him, he was. So he's like, hi.
Hi, I'm here. Hi, I'm here. They probably, because the parents went into the room to talk.
Oh, yeah. They were probably going to come back out. unhandcuff him and have a family discussion that's so bizarre it really is like i'm not laughing at death here by the way yes just to be clear I'm just laughing at the really bizarre scenario that it's like you have your kid handcuffed and you're like...
Me and your mom are just going to talk real quick.
We'll be back. We'll handcuff you when we come back.
Well, so when the deputies came back the second time to respond to the 911 call, Madison was still handcuffed when they came back the second time.
Why was that not like immediately like, okay, he couldn't have probably done that.
Right. I mean, I guess it's possible. Well, the sheriff arguments against that.
He says investigators did find the key to the handcuffs in the living room.
And according to the sheriff, he had two of his men recreate this scenario where they were able to get their arms under their feet And then like which brought their hands obviously to the front of their body.
And then they were able to unlock the handcuffs using the key and freed themselves.
There's so many recreations happening here.
There really is. In the sheriff's opinion, Madison took the handcuffs off Shot his parents because he was afraid that they were going to send him to juvie.
Then put the handcuffs back on and behind his back again.
Side note. Madison's prints weren't found on the gun.
This is bonkers. And actually, which this is super weird, only April's prints were able to be fully lifted off of... the gun really yeah so there was no they weren't able to get a full print of any like any full prints at all off of the handgun oh okay So while the last phases of the jury selection were going on,
All of the sudden, the DA came out and said they didn't have proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Madison committed the murder.
Yeah, no shit. And all the charges were being dismissed.
The pathologist came out saying that he was not prepared to go on the stand and say for 100% that Michael's death was homicide.
Wow. And according to the sheriff it's an open case and he feels as though Madison has gotten away with murder.
Madison says that he has plans on becoming a criminal defense attorney so that he can help someone someday if they ever end up in the same position as he does.
Oh, my God. So all the charges were dropped.
And they were just like, we don't know. And the sheriff was like, no, this is an open case.
Like, I'm going to get him someday. But and like people are totally like split.
I was just going to say this. This must be one of those cases that it's like you're either on this side or you're on this. side but i don't fucking know i don't know if you watch the date line it kind of makes you lean more toward the dad did it.
Yeah. Once everything is said and done. But the whole, the entire beginning, I was like, wow, this kid's a fucking asshole.
That's what I was, the whole time I was like, oh yeah.
And if you watch it, you hate him. And it's like, well, and it's like the, for the first part of it, the motive is there because it's like, he knew he was going to be putting juvie yep you know so it's like he had motive to be like i'm angry exactly He could have been on, I mean, who knows if he was on drugs or anything.
Probably just on pot, I feel. Just on pot.
On pot. Just on pot. I'm on pot right now.
But it's just to think that this kid had the like wherewithal.
He just became a fan. fucking contortionist really quick became this like criminal mastermind real quick and like moved his handcuffed hands in front of him undid them Went in there, shot his parents in that way, where it could be considered either way.
And then walked back out and handcuffed himself again and then put his hands behind his back again.
It's like... It just doesn't make any sense.
I don't know. But it also is like you. I mean, the only like one of the weirdest things about his story is that he says he didn't hear the gunshots.
Yeah, that's weird. The only thing I'm thinking is he was just so focused on getting help that he, like, blanked it out.
But I'm like, you didn't hear them at all?
Like... Or that, like, it was just such, like, an adrenaline rush that he just doesn't remember hearing them.
It just seems weird. Yeah. That's bizarre.
The entire case, I don't know where I stand.
I need to look... I think I need to watch the Dateline like six more times.
I need to watch that Dateline 17 more times.
Me and Lester just have to chill for a little while longer and I'll make a decision.
Wow. But I want to hear what you guys think.
Yeah, I want to know what everybody thinks.
I want to put a poll up on the Instagram and see what people think.
We should put up a poll. We'll do that because this is one of those cases that I don't even know.
It could go either way. I don't even know where I stand.
It makes you question a whole bunch of things.
It really does. Wow, you took me on a roller coaster.
You're welcome. Alright guys, well, thank you so much for listening.
If you want to keep up with us, you can follow us on Instagram at at Morbid Podcast.
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Wow. Yes. Morbid. A true crime podcast. You can donate to the Patreon if you're feeling so inclined.
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And you can also check out the website that my lovely co-host designed at me, me, me morbid podcast.com minus the me, me, me.
We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird.
But it's so weird that you throw a house party on a fucking Sunday and you think that you're going to get away with it.
And then your dad comes home and he handcuffs you and you're like, oh, my God.
I'm going to turn into a contortionist, but maybe you didn't because I don't really even fucking know what happened in this case.
And the sheriff's really mad about homecoming.
And that's all I know. Don't keep it that weird.
Bye. Homecoming sucks, guys. I love Homecoming.
Bye. Thank you. 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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