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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, 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 that 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 Daniela plant 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 nervous. Daniel's a hard act to follow and 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,
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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 pages. 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. Yeah. 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 going to 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 kind of thing.
So I just want 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 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 just makes you feel so much better when you have someone to talk to. And there's zero shame in it.
It's self care is necessary. Yeah. Guys, I have a therapist. She's lit. I love her. She's not lit like that.
No, she's like just the best. And again, and honestly, we hope the group is a place, the whole point of this 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.
So 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. So 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.
We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We 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 E-Live with Part 2 of Phoebe Hans Juck. Yes. But it won't be live. So anyways, let's just dive into this mini morbid right now. It's really late.
Just like this. My birthday is 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.
I was just going to say my last meal. What's going to happen? I don't know. God only knows what 23 has in store. 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. But it was just where he was from. So I love that though. I'm from Eclectic, Alabama. So before high school, he wasn't really popular. And he was actually teased a little bit in middle school in those years for being like a small skinny kid.
But then right around 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. 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 very late acting out because I started acting out and like fucking like I was five. Yeah. You were on that like right out of the wall. It's time. It's like I'm rebelling against things. I don't even know exists yet.
I have arrived and I am here with a vengeance. I think my voice is 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 kid. Yeah, he was on the wrong path. He was smoking and drinking and partying and just like everybody else. And his parents weren't really happy about it because parents are never happy when your 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. Yeah. It's a well-smill. Yeah. 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 inside separated. 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. 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. And 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 is Jesse. I don't know what that means. They were on the same page when it came to Madison because Jesse Madison went by Madison. Oh, okay. So like his name's essentially not Jesse. I guess.
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. So it just didn't work out. That's really it.
He doesn't just dumb. He'll be explanation. And on his 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 have decided to do that. I wrote hashtag casual. Very good. So 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 must have been around like new-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 wasn't a barbecue. Oh, okay. You know what I'm just kind of turned into something else. I'm confused, Jesse. What are the hot times? I don't know. I don't get it.
It bons. No hot times. Okay. So it didn't really go to plan. 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, yeah. 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 blame him. No, of course not.
Calls the cops. So when the cops, he like, I'm sure he like kicks everybody out too. Yeah. When the cops get there, Michael tells them that he has Madison hand cuffed inside with his hand cuffed. Madison, which I'm like, what? Like, I mean, do your what you got to do. You take your parenting. And it's a man. Obviously this kid was big, huge trouble.
If everything you've having him put in juvie, obviously he's already showing that he is like beyond right. So he might have even been like dangerous. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. More of it is brought to you by audible. He lurks in the shadow. He slips into dreams. He casts no reflection. Audible presents Graham Stoker's Dracula, a new full cast audio thriller starring Jonathan Bailey as Dracula, Ella Pernella's Mina Harker Maggie Gyllenhaal is Van Helsing and more.
When Mina's fiance vanishes in Transylvania, she pieces together letters, diary entries and chilling testimony to hunt the predator stalking those she loves. Only to discover Dracula is already hunting her joined by the enigmatic Van Helsing, Mina in a fearless band, race against time to stop an ancient terror. Her intellect and resolve may hold the key to bringing down the count if he hasn't already found his way inside her mind. Featuring a haunting original score and spatial dobe atmosounddesign, Graham Stoker's Dracula invites you to feel the terror of being hunted and the thrill of the hunt. Now on audible, listen to the darkness. Go to audible.ca slash listen to Dracula.
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So, yeah, 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'll just not. 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. And like, they did, because they just wanted him to get straight. Yeah, let's, you gotta 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 like they don't have to arrest him. I don't know how it works that he didn't get arrested, but he didn't.
Yeah, that makes sense. So they leave. So 11 minutes after that, the police got 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 holding his mom like in like a violent way sort of like in like a way where it was like he was scared. Yeah. 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. Yeah, I was going to say 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. They homicide. Yeah, quite obviously. So Madison, what time 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 totally did it.
So well, 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. He said he didn't hear the gunshot like any of the gunshots while he was running to his neighbor's house.
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, since we were there and it was like, you hear gunshots from like miles. I was gonna say, I mean, you can hear it maybe not miles 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. All the damn kids are so fucking dumb. It's like, dude, have you seen any kind of television? Like you're being recorded right now.
Like, just control yourself. Like not that I want him to because I want him to be cut. But it's like, you just don't do such dumb things. He also is recorded on a phone in jail. Like 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. Interesting grieving techniques that he was going through. Very interesting. Yeah, you know, it's very important to know all grief in our own way. Yeah, totally.
Also, the sheriff was like really pissed off about the fact that what I don't blame him. Madison was like really sad that he couldn't go homecoming. But every interview the sheriff gave, he was like, all he was concerned about was homecoming home. Like he said it in almost every interview that they had on day one. Because he was just like, what's the actual one coming? So a week after the deaths of his parents, Madison was officially charged with both murders shocked his friends and family, like, including like his mom, his mom's family who he supposedly shot in the head or not. Yeah, she was shot twice because she had one bullet go through her hands.
And then she got shot, I think, and like the side back, like she was like turning away. Oh, that's awful. It's whenever I hear about them getting like, because you hear that everyone's a defensive one, like through the hand because you just picture someone because you would put your hand up, right? Now 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 murder. I'm about to take you on a totally different path than I'm going down. Oh, man. Oh, man. So I love these ones. During the investigation, a lot came out about Michael to the dad. Oh, so was he capable of killing his wife and then during 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 spishy when you line it up against the double homicide. And it was also revealed that at the time of his death, Michael was on Tramidal, Oxycodone and Hydrocodone. Wow. All at once. Wow. Yeah. That is a lot of drugs. 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 had a drug problem and they knew it, but they did like the family knew it, but it was just not something that was supposed to be. Yeah. 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. It doesn't make sense, but also it was a very small one of the arguments that like the defense attorney, but prosecutors made was that it was a very small gun. So it wouldn't necessarily give that much like a lot of bladder, but you would assume that there would be like some blood on it or like gunshot residue. They didn't mention anything in the date line that I watched about the gunshot residue, but why didn't they just check his hands?
I was going to say because normally they would swap his hands for right. So I think that's not found anything. So things continued 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. So when he met Madison at church, he had no idea that Madison wasn't on a double murder charge. He was like, what the fuck when he found it?
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 like 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. Yeah. 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 just reach into the back of his head. And when you reach, it's like your hand flips anyway. Oh yeah, flip side to the side. So that's why it would allow you to lie down. Oh, it does. Your hand automatically flips. Right. And we're literally slightly angled.
We're both sitting with our hands and finger guns and we just keep going over it over it. And we're looking at each other and we're looking at what it does. And if you look, it's slightly angle every time. Because the gun literally was like about the size of our finger guns. I don't know exactly what kind of hand guns.
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. So, so stressed out. There's that. And then let's also remember about 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're going to 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 prosecutors argument was.
But I think when they left, he was still handcuffed according to him, he was. So he's like, oh, hi. I'm here. Well, they probably, because the parents went into the room to talk. Oh, yeah.
They were probably going to come back out on the gun handcuffs and have a family discussion. That's so bizarre. It really is. Like, I'm not laughing at death here, by the way. Yes, seriously.
I'm just laughing at the really bizarre scenario that it's like you have your kid handcuffed. And you're like, me and you're just going to talk real quick. We'll be back. We're going to be 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 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 it, the handcuffs using the key and freed themselves. There's so many recreations happening here. It 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 print 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 is like, no, this is an open case. Like I'm going to get him someday. But in 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 is fucking awesome. 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 them for the first part of it. The motive is there because he knew he was going to be putting juvie. Yup. 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. So it's like, I just don't pot. I feel. I just don't pop. I'm 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 fucking contortionist. Really became this like criminal mastermind real quick and like moved his hand cuffed hands in front of him. Undid them. Went in there, shot his parents like 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.
But it also is like you. I mean, 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, yeah, you didn't hear them.
You didn't hear them at all. Or that like it was just such a like an adrenaline rush that he just doesn't remember hearing them. Like, it seems weird. Yeah. That's bizarre. The entire case. I like, I don't know where I stand. I need to look. I need. I think I need to watch the day line. Like six. I need to watch that day line 17 year master 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 I want to pull up on the Instagram. Yeah, we should. We should put up a poll. We'll do that because this is one of those cases that I don't know 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 roller coaster. You're welcome.
All right, guys. Well, thank you so much for listening. If you want to keep up with us, you can follow us on Instagram at morbid podcast. You can find us on Twitter. A morbid podcast. You can join the Facebook group. Facebook. Wow. Yes. Morbid. Call in a true crime podcast. You can donate to the Patreon if you're feeling so inclined. Patreon.com slash morbid podcast. Send us an email morbidpodcast at gmail.com. And you can also check out the website that my lovely co-host is signed at me me me morbidpodcast.com minus the me me me. We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep.
We're not so weird that you throw 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 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 in the sheriff's really mad about homecoming. That's all I know. Don't keep it that weird. Bye. I'm coming back guys. Bye.
At MedCAN, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health from the big milestones to the quiet winds. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician led full body checkout that provides a clear picture of your health today and may uncover early signs of conditions like heart disease and cancer.
A healthier you means more moments to cherish. Take control of your well-being and book assessment today. MedCAN. Live well for life. Visit medcAN.com slash moments to get started.