The Sunliner Diner

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Haley. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries, Tales from Appalachia. Welcome back. Oh, you sound so close.

I'm like in the microphone tonight. Is that how you're feeling? Yeah, just really in the microphone. I'm in your feelings.

We actually took a while to get started tonight. We did. We haven't seen each other, you know. I actually got to have a good conversation in a while.

Yeah, like, you know, not a quick look for us. Right, like fast and furious. Yeah. So you got to see my son out down.

He did. My tantrum. He was fantastic. Your mother had purchased him.

So she purchased him two boots. My son has a boot obsession. He loves boots. He loves boots.

So he particularly light up boots. So she had found him these light up boots that were a little too big, a couple sizes too. So, you know, Haley, we put them in the entryway and we're like, yeah, we'll just hide them and he won't see them. We'll give him the boots that fit.

So we put the boots on that fit. He loved them, of course. But he walks down the stairs and he sees them. And like in a bag hidden behind like, I don't know how he found them.

Yeah, but he, oh, he found them. He did. So he puts them on and it was really comical and he said, I want to listen to boots, googie. So it was a full dance performance.

Turned on little brooks and done and he got the job done. It was really cute. It was adorable. Yeah.

It was so much happening. Then there were like different trucks that came out of his room and magnetiles that I played with for a minute. It's a great time. It's a great time.

Yeah. Yeah. He's all of us. Build a tower, knock it down.

It's fun. But yeah. So Haley got quite the show tonight. I did.

I was after I struggled to get here. Holly asked me when I walked. Oh, George was like, by a chance to shoot past my house. I have to turn around, come back and then visit again.

And the answer is yes. So, I did. Randy always alerts us when people come through. So I got the alert from Randy saying the notification saying, you know, you have a guest.

You were on the approval list, obviously. You were coming, which probably excited him. But I got the message that you would do. So I was like, oh, okay.

It's a matter of time. And you were coming sort of the loop. The circle and you were coming from the opposite way. And I was like, wait, what?

And then she passes my house, gets to my neighbor's house, backs up, and then pulls into the driveway. It was really funny. Well, this is all after I had missed the normal exit that I did. There's like a few different ways to get here.

And I missed the normal exit I take and ended up taking a different one. And I'm really not sure how that. I think because there was a wreck in front of me on the way here, like it had just happened. Like I didn't see the wreck happen.

But like I was probably, you know, I'd just come over the hill. I had just happened. Cars still smoking. People are pulling over.

So by the time I got up there, there was like three or four cars stopped to help. So I'm like, mmm, they're fine. So I didn't stop. I thought about it, but I didn't have anything to offer.

And they weren't like panicked or anything. And I could see the lady sitting there, like her airbags had gone off, but she was like, okay, like conscious and sitting up and everything. So I didn't stop. So I think I was still like kind of thinking about that and then missed the exit.

So then I had to go some weird backway that I'd never been before. So I put him on GPS and I'm like, oh, this is a seating route and came in and just like totally missed the driveway. I don't know. But wait, this is not just not to turn to the road before.

I think so. Yeah, I think I turned in somehow different. I did pass Randy, like I do every time and I'm like hello and he waved me through. And I just missed the driveway.

So that's where we're at tonight. But I'm going to tell you a story from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Been there? Yep.

Yeah. So I was on spring break from work since I work in school system. I get spring break, which is really nice. And so I was spring break and my family, I went with my mom and my aunt and my grandmother and we took a little girls trip to Pigeon Forge.

And I thought, well, what a fun time to research murders. Oh, I think that happened there. So when I got back home, I was like, well, let's just look and I found a really interesting one. I cannot wait.

So when I hadn't heard of it, it's really recently 2020. For context for you guys, this is near like Dollywood and sort of that area where Dolly Parton grew up. It's like, if you've never been to Pigeon Forge, it's kind of like, Hillbilly Vegas, a little bit, like in the best way. Yeah, it's really family oriented, I would say, but also kind of rowdy at night.

Yeah, very like Southern, like yaw. Down home. I mean, it's a lot of pancake houses. So many pancake houses.

Yeah, ice cream shops. Ice cream shops. There's lots of go-karts. Mountain coasters are apparently the new thing, where they build like really sketchy looking rollercoasters inside of mountains where you're kind of just like seep-belted into it.

It is terrifying. They have a Hollywood wax museum, which is really cool. It's really a neat place. I love it.

I love it. I like it. But yeah, and they're kind of shopping. They do.

But it is very like, I haven't seen Redneck. No, I was like, down home. I think that's a good. It's fun.

It's fun. In the best way possible. Southern yaw. It has become this.

So, you know, being where we're from, there's always that cliche of like, you know, couples get married and, you know, the honeymoon and pigeon ford, like, oh, that's the biggest. Yeah, you're like, oh, so cliche. So, a friend of mine, Jenny, I'm sure she doesn't listen. But a friend of mine, Jenny in college, was getting married.

And I said, where are you going for your honeymoon? And of course, open mouth and her foot. Where are you going for your honeymoon? Something cliche, like pigeon ford, and she goes, she's so sweet.

And she goes, well, you know, there are really nice cabins. And I was like, oh god, oh god. There's a yes, of course. I'm so sorry.

There are. I mean, there are gorgeous cabins. We've stayed in house board this time. We stayed at a micro tell.

And it was so sketchy. It was terrifying. Wouldn't that would not recommend the micro tell? My grotesque.

Yeah, the micro tell. I've never heard of it. Micro tell by wind them. We stay there and it smelled like pee.

But the beds were very comfortable. Hey, well, and they did have a continental breakfast, but it was not good. That was very disappointed. I mean, that's kind of what would happen to be a state here.

He'd be like, kind of smells like pee. Mattress is pretty comfortable. She doesn't make the best breakfast. But you know, it was, we didn't spend a whole lot of time in the room.

So, sign it. And as you wouldn't with your grandmother and your mom and your aunt. Yeah, they're, you know, they're go, go, go. Well, and it's a grill strip.

So you're like shopping out about working on all the things. But yeah, so that's kind of setting the scene. There's a lot. So there's kind of like a main strip.

And on that main strip, there are like some museums, different attractions. There's a crime museum now, the Alcatraz crime museum. We didn't know this time would have been before. Super cool.

Check it out. We are not sponsored, but if you would like to Alcatraz crime museum of pigeon forage, please reach out. I think we need to do this together. So cool.

And we need to go to Alcatraz. It's really, really cool. I'll take a dream let me know. We'll get there on that.

It's fine. It's fine. So they had, they have like that kind of stuff going on. They also have a lot of family oriented stuff.

But we're going to talk about the Sunliner Diner and a pretty crazy event that happened there. So the Sunliner Diner, think of it like, it's a chrome on the outside. Very 50s style diner. There's another diner that's been there for ever.

Mel's diner that we go to all the time wherever they're fantastic food. This is kind of like that. So very 50s, very retro, like the waitress is where like, like little dresses. Like it's really cute.

It's really cute. It's really cute. But it's big. It's a big restaurant.

So 2020, January 8th, 18 year old Gabriel Enrique, I don't know how his name is, T-U-R-C-I-O-S, turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. I'm so tired.

I can't think. So that's what it is. So in Gabriel and 19 year old Savannah, her last name is hard for me to, Burford. It's not Buford.

It's B-U-R-F-O-R-D. Burford is how they even like listen to a newsletter try to figure out how to say it. So they're working together at the Sunliner Diner in Pigeon Fortunately. That danked.

Around 8 40 p.m. Savannah and Gabriel were talking outside the diner in the parking lot when Gabriel pulls a knife on Savannah. What? Gabriel then stabs Savannah 17 times in the neck, chest and head.

Why? We'll talk about that. We're gonna get on all that. So this is what's happened.

This kind of crazy like very quick event. After stabbing Savannah, Gabriel takes off running out of the parking lot. Savannah's mother, Julia Cutter, was actually parked nearby waiting for her. So she was picking her up at the end of her shift.

I'm gonna take her home. So like she saw this happen. So she rushes over to where Savannah is on the ground. Apparently when I listen to the news report, like I think Savannah was like right near her car.

So she like gets out, goes to her and tries to you know provide aid to her. Another bystander runs over and is also trying to help. And Savannah was wearing her blue and white polka dot dress that she waitressed in and it was quickly covered in blood. And then we get just rental.

Yeah, use. Yeah Gabriel. Gabriel. Gabriel and we get yes.

He runs away. He's taken off. Savannah was taken to Le Conte, I think Le Conte, medical center. And then she was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center where she would die from her injuries.

So just really horrific. The autopsy showed that the stab wounds to her neck were the primary cause of death. The medical examiner stated that the first stab wound alone likely would have been fatal. And one of the stab wounds actually ended up like hitting her brain like from where it went in.

Like so so just so why? Why would he do this? Yes. Why would this happen?

Did she break up with them? Were they in a relationship? So in text messages between the two a few days before the stabbing it was revealed that Gabriel had a big crush on Savannah. It seemed like from the text messages that I found in red that Gabriel had like lone Savannah some money or like given her money for something.

And she had texted him back to say, you know, thank you so much for you know, letting borrow some money. Gabriel through conversations reveals to Savannah that he cares about her quote like a lot and said quote and this is hard to decipher quote. I've never had a big of a like crush on a girl this much before. So he's like kind of shooting a shot putting his heart out there in the text.

Yeah, via text which like one does. Great. So Savannah tells Gabriel, you know, hey, flattered but you know, just kind of want to be friends right now. I continue.

Let's like keep getting to know each other before this kind of turns into anything else which is like fair. 100% fair. Helene's had many of those conversations. I said okay then we'll just be friends.

No, no, no, it's fine. She told me that over text. I just want to be I don't want to be put your podcast as anywhere. I just want to be friends.

I want to be both. Oh god. But that is that awkward. Like I mean on both ends.

Like it is but she also did the right thing. She's pressing it and not like ghosting him or like leading him on either. I've never been the leader on her. I haven't the ghost or before.

I'm both. I'm not the I'm very quick to shut things down. But I'm really bad at doing it in a nice way. So I'll just stop responding real quick.

So I know what we were talking about. Haley said between issues on a date and she said between one stop and another stop, dinner and another place. We're going to tell them what you told me that you were going to say. So I was trying to figure out a way out of the situation because it was so bad.

It was such a bad day. And I was like, oh my god, how do I exit this swiftly? But also respectfully. And so I'm driving to the next location and I'm like, what if I'm just gay?

All of a sudden, like what if you know tonight was the night that I'm like, I actually do not like men. Surprise. Thanks for turning me. So I just yeah, I ended up saying something like I have to go let my dog out or something like that.

It was really it was really awkward. Instagrams. Instagrams. It was not great.

Yes. So yeah. And then so but I've also been ghosted. I think I ghost more than I've ever been ghosted.

I think I've maybe been ghosted once. I was ghosted like hardcore twice. Oh yeah twice. I was ghosted recently ghosted too.

And then another time like yeah, it was traumatic. Yeah, we process that. We process that greatly. There were tears.

The second one not a tear was shed. Sorry dude, if you listen. I consider myself the runaway bride. Oh, now not in the like now we're at the altar and I live here.

But I am very much a and by oh, you're like an all inner and then you're just all this I'm gone. Somewhat like not that like I don't think that series but like a lot of more of like they're really like hot too. She's so into me and this is just gonna be forever and they're talking about these things and like gone and goodbye. I fled for I fled the state once.

I didn't flood the state. Did you get away from somebody? Well, I was graduating and I well I didn't tell him I was leaving and then I just left and I was like and then you know not marrying a good friend of mine. Well then you know, I mean it works out.

It works out well like they're great together. It's probably good that you ghosted him. Yeah. I mean he found his love and they are I assume still happily married.

Well my ex suddenly on Leon Leon. Oh, Leon Leon. You know, remarried? Not yet.

I thought we will be. Whatever. I'm fine. I'm not better.

It's fine. Okay anyway back to this. So what are we doing? We're gonna get into this.

I know. Whatever. Mike's right now. Anyway.

Okay, so he sends her another text. She said don't really want to relationship right now. Just want to be friends. Great.

Cool. He texts her again and says there's apparently some sort of like incident where he was talking to another co-worker and sends her a text that says quote like asking if she was with everything we had just talked about like about just wanting to like still get to know each other and like hang out. He said that co-worker had told him quote those milkshake girls are just using you and that one co-worker said he was wasting his time quote if they're not giving me anything in return like sex. So is this guy?

You can't just apparently be friends with somebody or like try to get to know them without it being a thing. Horrible advice. Whoever this friend is you need to be mentioned in the nuts. Yeah.

So while these are also 18 year old boys like if this was my son giving that advice I would he'll be grounded forever and ever. So this conversation continues and Gabriel continues questioning her and says you know that the conversation quote got in his head and started to convince him like that this was the way like that this out was like if you're not putting out then we can't be friends. Which feels very like and again juvenile. So a friendship is very different than a romantic sexual relationship in my book.

These are two completely different things. Very different. I don't ever try and sex up my friends. No.

Can't say that that's something I do regularly. Even on occasion. No. No we neither.

Me neither. And that's good because I know when Haley like makes food for me when I visit she's not making a mess. I'm not expecting anything. I never shame my legs.

That's just the same. Yeah. So that's a weird. It's weird.

It's weird. So Savannah comes back saying like you know I can't believe you even think that and tries to reassure him like no we're still friends. And this is in person or be a text. They're like no we're still friends.

And she then comes back and says you know I think we should you know for real just be friends. I'm sorry to maybe have led you on you know that wasn't my intention at all. So that's kind of where they were. He was really wanting this relationship.

She wasn't really into it was trying to be nice. It seems like like and that's an awkward situation when you work with somebody to of like they kind of put this out there. You're like not really feeling it. And then you still have to work with them.

So you're trying to make it like you know amicable I guess or like yeah because it does put you in a sticky situation. Should you like quit the job but maybe you like the job. You know you're earning money. Why should you have to quit because some dude got his feelings.

Exactly. And then you're just hoping he quit. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So that's kind of where that ended. So when police ended up capturing Gabriel that night of the stabbing. What did they find him?

So like a few parking lots over. Like he didn't get to work. No no no. He said that quote my intention was you know to stab her and then kill myself.

I eventually just stood there and was like I guess I'll just wait for them to come. So he did inside himself. He like check it out. And he was in some kind of dissociative state.

So we'll kind of get into that a little bit. Okay. A little bit. In the interrogation video that was shown to the court.

Gabriel admitted to stabbing Savannah telling police that he had been thinking about stabbing her for days and that the devil made him do it. And then said that the two you know they weren't in any kind of relationship. They were just friends. And then he said I stabbed her while smiling.

When he asked what happened the night. He just like smiled and said I stabbed her. Which is creepy. He then said you know after I did it I regretted it.

As I was running away I realized that for realized that for some reason I stopped. I just stopped stabbing her because if I continued she would have died. So he thought oh she was still alive. And she wanted to still alive.

Until she was pronounced at a nuts Knoxville. So and he said you know that's why she's still alive. Because like I stopped because I realized what I was doing. So I'm the student passing away from her.

And she's so which is awful. During the trial so that's kind of like he sat in I guess that in jail waiting for trials is 2020. So amidst COVID everything. Yeah everything's crazy.

So he's going on trial in April of 2022. And his mother actually takes the stand to defend her son. She stated that her son suffered from anemia and a lifelong sickle cell condition that required medication and regular blood transfusions. Now I don't know a whole lot about sickle cell but like I know people who have sickle cell anemia and like they are not murders.

No actually Tion from TLC. And that's a cool me. I mean she's went to high school with a girl in a sickle cell and she was not a murderer. Yeah there is.

That's really no excuse. Also like I'm sure that they need me to go see. But like I'm anemic. I'm not a murder.

I have often been anemic and I have not killed anybody. I just need to you know I have some some spinach. Yeah I just have to take an iron supplement every night. Talk about constipation.

It's a problem. So as well as TMI is why I stopped taking it for a long time and I felt so bad I had to start taking it again. But then I got my gallbladder moved and that is not been a problem since. Yeah I tell you what.

Not any of the constipation. Yeah I'm just going to switch right now. Just you don't process anything anymore. You just eat me.

Go. Anyway we're going to get emails and people that are like please I'm talking about your poop on the podcast. Oh but it's fine. Okay anyway so he has some facility.

And is requiring all his medication and blood transfusions which like yes that is a thing. This information would later be brought up in the trial by a psychiatrist who said the condition is also apparently known to cause brain dysfunctions which I didn't know but apparently it's like a thing. It could cause like strokes and other issues. I could see where it could cause a stroke but not maybe not murder.

Maybe not murder but it's a little bit of a stretch. I think there are other mental health issues that either weren't addressed or I think that they were underlying mental health needs. Yes and we're yes so he had apparently also been exposed to violence at a young age. She said that he saw her being tortured by his father until they separated when he was four years old.

So she didn't say that he was abused but like who knows you know how the brain processes that. And you know working with we both work with kids who experience trauma and you know even just witnessing trauma is a and I will say when you are that young of an age so for older individuals you know like let's say you witnessed somebody hurting me. Yes it would be traumatizing for you but your brain wouldn't take it in the same way. Your brain would compartmentalize it.

Well that event happened to Holly. Yes it was traumatizing but it didn't physically hurt me. A child's brain kind of doesn't work that way so in that way there absorbing it the same way even if you know they weren't being hit. So he takes in the trauma the same way you know puts it in the back of his brain and potentially has the ability to become that.

And who's to say you know his father was abusive maybe it runs in the genes you know. There's some some genetic stuff on there. His mother also said that there were times that a counselor would come over to the house. So it sounds like maybe some in-home therapy.

That happened for about two years and the counselor told her that her son had problems determining between right and wrong. Mother also said he had made concerning statements to her and would accuse her of things that weren't true but she said he was never violent. Like he was never physically aggressive. So the night of the staffing.

It's an escalation I mean pretty quick. Yeah. His mother said that she was concerned about something her son told her before his trial. He told me that Gabriel wasn't the only one that was going to come to court but it was but it was going to be the skeleton that was in control of him.

So are we trying to set the stage for a multiple personality which is now called associate dissociative identity disorder. Right and it's one of those like and the idea is really really hard to diagnose. It's also really rare. True cases of the idea are really rare.

And it seems like it's one of those that it's a default. It comes out a little like because people can fake it. All the time. You know people can fake it and you just tend to see that when they're trying to get a lesser sentence.

Not saying that like he doesn't have it like maybe he does but like I've met people and worked with people who have true DID and they're I get that they're not violent people. And like can be treated with medication and therapy. We also may be looking at some type of schizophrenia some type of personality disorder with some psychotic moment like you know hearing voices does not mean necessarily that you you know you're so DID just to separate for you guys out there. This is not an I hear voices.

DID is a little bit more of taking on a persona a different person who like steps forward. So in moments of extreme fear sometimes you'll have kids sometimes individuals will revert back to childhood and they'll you know have like a little kitty voice. And then sometimes you know the big strong personality will come out as a protector and we'll have a totally different voice totally different mannerism. So DID looks different than somebody who's maybe having a psychotic break or suffering from schizophrenia tends to run more of the I hear voices.

You have a mix of bipolar schizophrenia together. It's called schizoaffective disorder. This is very hard to treat but also you hear voices but have that same mania and then low lows. So anyway sorry for you guys.

It's my fear of the mental health. But just so you are aware I he's not my client I haven't diagnosed him but it doesn't seem like that's a genuine DID. No and then they yeah they didn't go that route. Okay good.

Sorry. So no no that was good intervention. So Dr. James Alexander is a psychiatrist and longtime consultant at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center and some other regional hospitals was part of this whole process and the defense and he was tasked with reviewing all the case material interviewing Gabriel to determine his mental state at the time of the stabbing.

And he eventually concluded that Gabriel did have some brain dysfunctions. He said the majority of patients he sees have brain dysfunctions that change the way they perceive the world and then this affects their actions. In his review of the case he said he interviewed Gabriel for three hours, interviewed his mother and co-workers and went through the videos and messages that were shown in court. He said he believed that Gabriel suffered from a paranoid schizophrenia based on the evidence and showed on some scans that he had signs of previous strokes.

He said he just was not able to think in a straight and reasonable manner. Now I don't know about like I'm sure that this guy's great at what he does but three hours like a three hour interview doesn't feel like it's not at it. Yeah there is there is a validity that if you've suffered from strokes or if you have like a tumor that it does affect your ability to have some of that self-control in those sorts of things. However three hours with somebody is not a long enough period to be able to say definitively ah yes and not just that but I mean I will say having done clinical assessments we don't have a lot of time with those individuals.

No. Usually you know for insurance purposes we get about an hour and a half when you're done with that you create the diagnosis based on what they're presenting in the moment and then you create a treatment plan, diagnose and create a treatment plan. To me they get a lot of trouble presenting this but to me that is not a lot of time to give a proper diagnosis to what someone is presenting in front of you. So this clinician would be looking at how is he acting right now and not just what happened in the past and if he's presenting well in this moment it's gonna get skewed.

Yeah and like he reviewed all the other stuff too but it's and I hate that about her mental health in general because like I've seen and I've known so many people who are misdiagnosed like all the time and it's some like if you have a good clinician they will go back and do a reval and like look at like hey maybe this is a CCA didn't actually what actually what's going on with you maybe it's you know this or that or whatever it's just it's all very subjective. It is actually so when we're talking about someone spending the rest of their life in jail potentially the death penalty was that on the table for him? Yes. Okay.

It was. Yeah. It's huge. So in this doctor's opinion his sickle cell disease was significant to his mental state.

He said that people with a condition often suffer from painful blood clots that happen across their bodies including in the brain. So people who suffer with disease are unknowingly they unknowingly suffer silent strokes with the risk increasing with age. So he ordered a brain MRI and an EEG on Gabriel and the reality reported that there were some small strokes in the form of white matter lesions seen on the scans. I almost wonder if he didn't have some kind of like early lily body stuff.

Yeah. Something on a brain scan when you see those like white patches oftentimes never not always but sometimes they're indicative of like a lily body. Yeah. Like a dementia.

It's a lily body dimension which is very different than another type of dementia that you've heard of. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I had hostel patients with lily body. It's terrible. It's usually happens younger. It's usually when that happens for younger people.

Robin Williams they discovered lily body dimension. And can cause really altered can also look like Parkinson's by the way is very often this diagnosed super super interesting really horrific disease awful. Let me see more research. Anyway.

So the state though argued that Gabriel's medical history had not established a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia or mental illness at the time of the stabbing. They told the doctor then tells the prosecutor that he believes the text messages exchanged between Gabriel and Savannah in the days before the stabbing showed a dramatic change in his mental state saying that he appeared to be in this paranoid state where he was thinking the co-worker. Now I read that as just this is just a normal teenage asshole dude. Like that's not like I work with teenagers.

They're like and he's like I mean I work with teenagers and this would not like I could see this kid in my office. Yeah. Like you know like this would not be like this would be normal Tuesday for me. Kind of thing.

I think this would not be out of the norm of like well you know Bobby Joe said that if you know Sarah's not putting it out then I shouldn't be friends with her and I'm like whoa let's back it up. Like you know this is I feel like a very reasonable not reasonable but like normal conversation I might not have. I'm horrified that his name is Bobby Joe. I think they need a left hill building name.

But we're in the south. That is true. It is true. I do know Bobby Joe but she's a girl.

Yeah. I was going to say that feels more like a girl. I'm like yeah. I think that we're you know he's being kind of revved up by this guy.

So there's a sense of like yeah you're right. You know how guys do that sort of revving up with each other like come on man. You know like you go to her you tell her about your feeling. Come on.

You know like that sort of revving. So if you have that moment of like revving up I want this from her I'm actually shocked. He didn't try and actually let her. Yeah.

I'm really kind of shocked by that since that feels like it was a little bit more of the hormonal motive. Right. And then it just you know he didn't have any coping skills or anything like that and he had this knife and it's just snapped. But premeditation is the fact that he says I thought about it for three days.

And there was video of him. They could track him on video in the restaurant where he gets the nut like he has a knife that he takes the knife out he opens it and then conceals it back in. So like he knew it like he didn't just go in the parking lot. They have this argument and he just lost it.

He knew like what he was going to do. Exactly. So the jury though quickly returned a guilty verdict for first-degree murder in less than an hour after they went into deliberations after two days of testimony. Gabriel automatically would have been would have served a minimum life sentence with a possibility of parole for the murder conviction under Tennessee law at the time.

However state prosecutors pushed that they wanted him to face an enhanced sentence without the chance of parole due to the heinous nature of the murder and it fell into that category because of the excessive stabbing. And because he was young because I know in Tennessee isn't at 52 years that's considered life. So I mean there's one of the longest ones. Yeah.

So I mean even if he served a life sentence and was allowed parole at 52 years he would still only be in his early 70s. Right. So I can see why they went for the enhanced. They didn't want him ever to get out.

Yeah. And the defense argued that he should be allowed the possibility of parole due to things like his mental state his young age and the absence of any prior criminal history. So they were but like you violently attacked a girl and murder her uncle would like sorry just because you're a kid doesn't well and if their whole defense was well you know he's got these mental health issues who's to say if not under control and they let him out it doesn't happen again. Right.

You know. Yeah. This is not a one-time thing. Right.

So with that the judge had to send the jury away against deliberate on the enhanced sentence and after discussion they returned to announce that they agreed with the state's argument that Gabriel should serve his life sentence without the possibility of parole. So and he's in jail. He remains. Is he in any type of like mental health ward or I don't know it didn't say where he was sentenced to because the trial was in April of 2022 so like a year ago.

So I didn't say where he was sent to. I would hope that he would receive mental health care with his also Tennessee. So it's they don't have great access to mental health care like a lot of I mean most states don't but like especially southern states we just don't have a great rep for mental health care something we just don't all around this is a complete trav- trav- trav- trav- I was putting tragedy and travesty together as a travesty but also tragedy. I think you know for the victim you know her family and what they live with she was taken out so young in her life and she had so much out of her but also for this kid who honestly you know he had a lot going for him too and it's it's so sad how it had to be you know what I mean and the the new news clip that I watched they interviewed Savannah's mom and she was not ready to be interviewed and she's like crying hysterically on camera you know saying that she couldn't save her baby you know like she held her child in her arms and while she bled to death and like that's horrific and they just described Savannah as this like sweet kind full of life she wanted to be a singer and they played a little clip of her singing and that one and she was really good like she was like so just a really sad all around you know as a mom like I can't even imagine I cannot even imagine I yeah they'll kill me yeah and it's one of those like something that I think women as women we we think about you know when we have to be like we're in an awkward situation like that like it does kind of cross our minds of like if I shoot this guy down or like tell him no is he gonna come back and like freak out and something you know I some of our data has revealed that most of our listeners are a little more on my age just like but for those of you that are younger that are listening I want to offer you this advice that it is okay to put in those boundaries it is okay to say I just want to be friends it is okay to not have to feel like you have to say yes to somebody because you work with them or because you feel like you have to you do not have to and his actions were completely wrong and now he's paying the price for them but you know please don't let this scare you to put in boundaries don't be fearful and if you are fearful if there's if this person has given you cause tell somebody like I'll reach out say something in this scenario she didn't realize that he would snap like this right you don't but but it is still fair and is still appropriate for you to put in boundaries yeah and so one of those things like I've been in you know in my young at 20th and I'm in or whatever mid 20th mid 20th now um weeks yeah like I've gone to bars with friends or like I've been out like I've been drinking with friends and like I've had somebody like hit on me or something like that and I've said you know you know I'm out with my girls like I'm really not in that and they've gotten me like gotten aggressive and it's one of those things like it's it's a scary time to be a woman so it can turn crazy really quickly but just being confident I think and it sucks that we have to think this way but like I am always trying to be aware of my surroundings and like if I have an experience like that when I'm out I make sure that I leave with a group and that I you know I check my car and you know make sure that somebody's not following me to my car and all that stuff so it's what sucks I had a time in college where a friend of mine um we were rooming at the time um we met up with it was just this one guy and and he kind of lived in the area so we went to his house I was very adamant that I was gonna drive there we were gonna drive my car there and he was insistent that he was gonna pick us up and tell me the story and every time you tell it I freak out he and I'm gonna tell you guys this quick I know you're like oh god um but I was adamant I'm gonna drive my own car and I that was the thing that I think is I just yeah so we go to his house we're watching this movie which is like Malcolm Tanner's very gruesome very like intense anyway suddenly he tells us oh yeah I invited my friend to come over and we're like wait what and so we start to get outnumbered and my friend and I got really nervous because the whole tone of the room changed and I said we need to go to the bathroom and he was like what you guys going pairs whoa and I said yes we have to go pee together so we went into the bathroom and we were looking for a way out is there a window we can crawl out is there some way we can get out because I knew they were gonna rape us I knew it she knew it I knew it we were terrified so there was no window we did not know how to get out of this house he was like blocking the exit there was nobody out so I started I told her we need to make an up and excuse like my parents were out of town but he didn't know that so I told him that my parents were waiting on us because we were gonna go stay at my house they knew exactly where we were and you know in the next five minutes if I don't leave here they're gonna come looking for me now this was early cell phones but I had mine on me you know just in case and I told her this is the game plan we've got to get the hell out of there yeah as I tell him like oh we've got to leave all man you know my mom's waiting he blocks the door and tells us that we're not going anywhere let me tell you I feel like I'm reliving this oh my adrenaline kicks in and I tell him you know like let us out like my mom is on like she's probably on her way she knows exactly where you live and so somehow he gets out of the way and we go running out the door I get in my car so quick and she gets in we lock the door he is running after us he's trying to pull on the door he's banging on the window so hard I know he's gonna break it and I'm praying to God and I'm fumbling and I'm praying to God like I can start the car she's screaming at me let's go let's go let's go and I'm like this is my one chance like this car better when he can start you know and I am so scared and he is pounding on it his little friend comes out and starts screaming obscenities at us and the way his driveway was and I am not a good back-up uppercut I can feel the way and this was before cameras on cars and stuff but the way the driveway was if you didn't back up absolutely perfectly straight you went straight down in a ditch and I was on each side and I thought this better be the one blink in time that I back up on a pro and he is banging so hard that she's screaming he's gonna break the window he's gonna break the window and he was you know yelling at us and so I put it in reverse and just pray just let me get out here and so fortunately I back up straight as narrow and I and he is like running after us and I drive and we get the heck out of there and we go to my parents house and we like take deep breaths and do all the things that we need to do and calm down I'll never forget that but you know what it saved my life yeah so I will tell you this in scenarios where they say like oh I'll come pick you up that sounds gentlemanly no that's not great no it's not in these scenarios you have the control take it bring that car bring a friend had I've been there alone 100% would have right me yeah he was going to hurt us there was no doubt about that in my mind but fortunately I feel like we were able to but yeah yeah to this day and I was almost 19 I guess yeah to this day and this has been 20 years yeah I still think about that yeah it's it's powerful traumatic experience but like you got survived and yeah no no sorry that was a complete side now that you guys are like oh my god but it please use your instincts like go with your gut protect yourselves true crime story yeah and know know how to save your own life like just be smart be as smart as you can say whatever you need to say make up bullshit it doesn't matter why just say become gay so maybe come back I didn't think I'm actually but I think in that scenario that would have made it yeah worse yeah yeah so I think that well and I've done the thing where like and go ahead and set this up with a friend like I've done the thing where like I know I can like I can text Holly and be like call me yep and I know she's gonna call like and whatever I say she's just gonna go with it yep like if I need an out like an SOS like she will 100% lie for me oh without us and like without me having to explain like you need to have that already set up with something waiting for her to give me the call and just say you need help with your son oh no there's an emergency well of course I'm on my way of course I'll help you and I know just yeah just to go with it actually it sounds like pretty babysitting so I'm probably down yeah yeah yeah I've done that I've been there and I think that's important let people know where you're going absolutely let them know the time let them check in let them you know call you and it may sound silly and a lot of you guys oh my gosh really no this is putting safety precautions in place because a lot of people you don't know you need them online you know maybe don't know them really well and you know safety first yeah for sure well well you've got a bonus story tonight I'm really sorry no don't be sorry that's like a such a good lesson but also like I'm always on the edge of my seat every time you don't say and I know how it is yeah even me telling it after all these years brings back those same memories and emotions and I get a little like yeah like I feel my inner um my core just sort of tends up and kind of go into that but we also have the gift of not just our intuition but adrenaline and after that experience we were so exhausted because our brain and body were working overtime yeah to get us out of it we were in fight flighter freeze and thank god we flew yeah we flew we flew you you fly this I don't think I ever drove that fast in my life I think I was going over a hundred miles an hour and I thought in this moment I do but I thought in this moment if a cop pulls me over I would be happy to tell him why I would be happy I know and I never there when you know but yet they're there when I'm going 40 and 35 come on dude now not what I haven't had a ticket since 2004 oh good for you yes and I live in an area where cops are like everywhere yeah same we have some of these beach raps where I live it's all sort so cops they'll lower which I mean like I'm grateful for them like thank you for being there to protect me and I do appreciate you but at the same time like please don't you know what's funny is so Haley and I live in two different counties and they're in the county in between us the county in between us eh they're like they're like they're kind of overextended they don't have any you know but then the counties that she and I both live in is like there's a cop in every corner jeez well and like just with the nature of like what we've done for work and like the people we know like we also know a lot of them and like I live in a small county like I usually know who's on shift down I'm like oh yeah I know like if I like they know me and sometimes I'll come and park on our street and you know because we had a lot of college students live on my street well you know we have Randy who was like I'm I know he was in the military I think he was in like yeah you know he seems like the type oh yeah big burly big burly randy officer like big dude so he has a lot of connections as well and he also he's the one that makes me nervous sometimes and I'm like I'm actually I'm not doing anything illegal like I'm actually fine I can't say your name and reason you're here I I'm here for murdered but not like what I don't know I know you know it's not the worst Saturday night I'm not looking at it I'm not I did not I did not I hope you didn't listen but one day I did it because I mean but also I'm here like every week so it's true you know because I'm here for like I don't know what I think so here for I told him I told him I'm gonna podcast so I don't he was he said doing drugs or no no no no no well I was very much on that but you know like he knows like I'm a professional like you know what I'm saying but you know I'm saying but you know I'm saying but you know I'm gonna pay a salary but basically no no no I don't think he listens but when I said I have a podcast he was like that's really cool he was like right here doesn't care no he just said that's really cool and I was like oh nobody thinks the podcast is really cool nobody thinks the podcast is cool I think the action of action of podcasting us all right well um whoa sorry y'all you have a wonderful night like protect yourselves um I'm not even gonna tell you were email y'all know it by now um I'll tell you do you want me to go through the I'll do it for you okay look up a location okay all right so if y'all want to give us your feedback if you actually want to tell us some of these stories please don't even email us about this episode just say wow thank you for sharing that was amazing that was a heavy story it was it actually really was you can email us at mountain mysteries dot apple at chin at gmail.com you can find us on instagram at mountain mysteries dot apple atcha find us on facebook at mountain mysteries tales from apple atcha and last but not least patreon it's patreon.com slash mountain mysteries that is where you can subscribe you can be a member extra stories bonus content and a lot of good fun times so good times good times hilly uh what's our shout out um let's go I know right let's go king sport tennessee hey that kind of that other side knocks well yeah there's a tennessee yeah i've been to king sport a lot yeah a good friend of mine lives there i'm starting moving recently soon though should i know about that all right y'all we'll catch you next week be safe bye bye bye